Buying foreign owned/produced food

That's why I take as many opportunities as I can find to go down to the farmer's market. Not only is the food fresher and less expensive, but I'm supporting the local economy too!

The number one biggest problem with Australia has always been that the government does not support its own manufacturers. Not only it does not support them... but it tax them to the hilt by penalising them with all sort of legislations and licences to make their life a nightmare. The Australian government has always relied on its raw products to make a living. One of the typical example is the textile industry. The government did kill it off. As a result we export our wool... which is used overseas to make clothes... which we then import in Australia. Australia producers and manufacturers have to compete with the rest of the world on an open market as they receive no protection from the Australian government. This also explain why many Australian companies move overseas in order to use cheaper labour. It is not always about the company wanting to make a bigger profit. It is a question of survival. Move overseas or go broke in Australia. If it cost an Australian company one dollar to manufacture something... while a company in China manufacture the same thing for fifty cents... the Australian company will go broke... if the government does nothing to prevent the product from China being exported in Australia. The government can do two things... subsidise the Australian company... or tax the product coming from China... or both. But it does nothing.

I am surprised that there is so much food imported to your country. I am from the US but I live in Nicaragua and we mainly shop at the farmers market, but there are times that I am hungry for some particular food imported from the US and I can usually find it. But I have to pay a big price for it. It is cheaper to eat foods produced in your own country, I would think. It is cheaper here, at least, to buy local foods.

it is very true but if you know that the local products are far beyond quality and if the imports are better and cheaper i would rather go for the imported products.the government should be the one controlling these kind of things to protect local manufacturers, and they should set up a high standard of excellence because it is called service and that's what consumers are looking for.

well of course i would like to see locally made products more on the supermarkets or grocery. but this foreign products are for people who visits the country. or for people who have husbands or wives from a different country.

i have tried not to shop in supermarkets.... and i am trying to buy as much locally produced food as i can.... i have now started to grow more as to be honest there is a lot of imported food these days....and my main concern is that pesticides that are banned in our country are still used on food production/growing abroad....where's the sense in that.... good topic of discussion.....

It is common to find foreign food in our supermarkets. USA has so many different cultures living with us that we have specific aisles that cater to Asian and Latin people, and I think they stock products and brands from their respective countries on the shelf. We find it pretty cool, because we find many spices to use from the Asian aisle that we love.

This is how I do it. I see Shopping from local and global markets are both good. However, IF you can buy something made locally first.. It cuts down on the risks of poisons, diseases, uses less additives, less cost on transportation, and it supports local economy... So first I look in the local markets, or even in my own back yard.... to see if it is there, and Go there for the item, if what I want or need is not local.. Like if I wanted Tropical fruit.. It is very rare to find tropical fruit on the farmers market in Wisconsin, USA..... Then I would go to the Supermarkets and buy it up. There needs to be a proper balance between local and global economy... This goes for toys, and companies etc. It is the small local companies and stores that need the tourists and the locals to visit them the most, they are the little guys and often the little guys are overlooked and end up closing their doors. - DNatureofDTrain - DNatureofDTrain

We Filipinos have unthinkable habit of preferring imported stuffs over our very own items. The idea that imported goods are better has been encrypted in our culture through times before. Some of our countrymen don't have enough confidence that our local brands can compete with imported in term of quality. Only this latter generation that some Filipinos become aware that we make products that we can be proud off. Like in direct selling industry which like had been monopolize by Avon but now we have Natasha.