Again it's a systemic problem. There is no way to move these innovative products from small producers through the system and into the grocery stores. You have to pay a fortune to get a new product into a decent spot in a grocery store.
The so-called organic or healthy stuff that the big grocery chains are labelling are all based on their own systems. They won't tell us their criteria for calling them organic or healthy. I'm pleased to see that the federal government has made some moves to control some of that, but again it's a systemic problem. You have the very big guys, and you have the little ones.
I applaud in some ways the concept of a farmers market, but I would never buy meat or dairy products from a farmers market. With unpasteurized apple juice, the government had to step in and make rules. People were actually dying because stuff was produced at home and then sold to the public.
The public is so unaware of some of the real issues around food safety. They don't realize how much food safety is in their own transportation, handling, and storage or food. If I knew they'd bring something home from the farmers market, cook it right away, and then freeze it.... But they bring it home from the farmers market, and maybe it wasn't stored quite like it should have been on the way there. They leave it in the trunk of the car until they get home, put it on the kitchen counter until they cook it, and you have an accident waiting to happen.
It's not good for any part of the Canadian food system if we have incidents of serious food infections, as they've had in a lot of other countries.