40% of our food is imported
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September 20th, 2007
I’m really amazed how dependant we are on other countries for our ingredients. I recently learnt that 40 percent of our total food is imported and that 70% of our processed food is imported. This is very concerning and for a country so dependant on everyone else. I am told that the local garlic industry is just about dead, and it is easy to see why. Chinese garlic is a fraction of the price and while the flavour is nowhere near as nice as the NZ, it seems price is more important in our industry. Chinese garlic is constantly 2.50 a kilo whereas NZ is around 12.00.