When is a farm not a farm?

When is a farm not a farm? Apparently quite often... I picked up the usual assortment of frozen organic veggies at the store a while back, and as I was getting ready to rip open a bag of broccoli I noticed a box on the back that was stamped "Product of China".

WTF?

The front of the bag said this was a "mom & pop" farm in Washington with nice pictures of rolling hills and dells (or is it dales?) and lots of happy cows and what not. What gives? I felt cheated. Honestly, if I wanted Chinese broccoli (not that there's anything wrong with that) I would have gone to Walmart and simply picked up the cheapest thing on the shelf. I very specifically picked a US farm that grew organic vegetables only to be the victim of the flim-flam shim-sham.

I picked up the package and began looking for clues. Ok, they say their farm was "headquartered" in Washington and that it was "started" in 1972, but no where on the package do they literally state: WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY GROW THESE VEGETABLES.

Now, in all fairness their website states the following: "...we're a leading grower, marketer and distributor of a wide range of delicious organic products..." However, most of us don't have internet access as we are standing there in the grocery store. So, the moral to this story is be careful of what you buy and a little googling can go a long way in making you a happy consumer.

BTW, when you buy shrimp/shellfish you do look at the ingredients don't you? It may contain more than just crustacean goodness.