Yesterday Leafy Green offered an insightful perspective into the Maple Leaf listeria crisis, with a major point being that meat consumption habits could use a healthy overhaul. A columnist for the Edmonton Sun recently made a similar point, but instead of relating it back to the consumer's health-related issues (as most do), pointed out the environmental implications of this catastrophe.

Increasingly, Canadians are hyperaware of what they eat. This is partly a result of higher food prices. It's partly due to the childhood obesity epidemic. And it's partly due to greater concern about health, driven by baby boomers who are trying to extend their active life spans.

Mainly though, the trend is driven by the Green movement. Concern about food quality and safety is a sibling of the fight against climate change.

It's true, isn't it? Listeria risks aside, there has been a growing interest in where our food comes from, what goes into it and the impact it's having on the earth. Nearly a year ago, a phenomenon called the 100-Mile Diet started to pick up steam. The basic idea is that participants only eat foods produced within 100 miles of their home. When oil rose to more than $140 a barrel only recently, it made a concept like the diet a real probability rather than a novelty. Talk of cloned animal products making their way into the food supply had some meat purists worried. And now this: another big black strike against mass-produced food shipped to and from all over the world. The argument for finding local food sources and knowing exactly where your meat comes from just got stronger.

Was this a incident a rare occurrence? Most likely (we aren't reading about listeria outbreaks every other week). On it's own, would it bring the food industry to it's knees? Of course not. However amid growing environmental concerns that are causing consumers to contemplate the lower emissions and reduced additives of locally-produced food, this risk of listeria almost makes a discernible noise, Is that another nail in the  non-local food coffin we hear? We can't say for sure, but programs such as Eat Local America will surely only receive a boost in the wake of this nightmare.

While local food is not immune to such risks, there is no denying it would be easier to contain if such an outbreak occurred on a much smaller scale.

Tell us: Will this Maple Leaf catastrophe cause you to look at your meat sources any differently? Are you more likely to purchase locally-produced meat now or will your usual habits go unchanged despite this?

» Edmonton Sun