A study by Swiss newspaper 'SonntagsBlick' has shown that many vegetables sold as Swiss in the nation's supermarkets often come from abroad.
The paper found that Dutch companies in Morocco, for instance, plant leek and tomato cuttings for Swiss vegetable producers - conventional and organic. The leek plants are in the African ground for around 12 weeks before being the 30 centimetre tall plants are transported to Switzerland. Swiss vegetable growers then plant them and after the harvest the leeks end up on the shelves of Migros and Coop - as Swiss leeks. "The first organic leek cuttings of the season are from Morocco," says Bio-Suisse spokesman Stephan Jaun, "It wouldn't be possible to plant cuttings this early in Switzerland."
Swiss vegetable producers and organic growers imported 24 tonnes of vegetable cuttings from the North African kingdom in the last year, reports the 'SonntagsBlick'.
But Morocco isn't the only place of origin for Swiss vegetables by far, the cuttings come from all over the world. Every year 500 million conventionally grown young plants end up in Switzerland. 90 million are planted in Switzerland itself. But even they are not just Swiss, sprouts also come from foreign seeds and grow in foreign ground. (13 March)
Source: FreshPlaza
