The food travels thousand of miles from farm to consumer. Some people think that it would be better to our environment and economy if people only ate local produced food. What extent do the advantages outweigh disadvantages ?

Currently, supermarkets all over the world are stocked up with different types of products from different

countries

. It is the view of some individuals that consuming imported foodstuff is detrimental to the environment and economy and it will be wise if individuals ate only local

foods

. In my perspective, the benefits of consuming foreign goods outweigh the risks associated with it. I will discuss both views and give examples to support them. On the one hand, patronizing foreign

foods

has a lot of merit to help the society and economy.

Firstly

, people get the opportunity to choose from a variety of food sources.

Countries

that do not have certain food get the chance to eat those products when imported.

For instance

, Togo has strawberries

while

Ghana does not produce that but because of importation, the majority of supermarkets now sell these fruits which people can buy.

Secondly

, it creates job opportunities for the citizens. In the sense that, they get the chance to sell these foodstuffs when it arrives in the country and

also

help boost their business.

Lastly

, it helps build country-to-country relationships since two

countries

will build a relationship per their trade model.

On the other hand

, importing foodstuffs from different

countries

also

has some disadvantages. It leads to health problems

such

as cancer, heart disease, diabetes etc because of the products used in processing these goods

such

as salt, sugar and other substances to help preserve it. Some business owners focus on profit and ship expired items which are later sold to consumers.

Also

, local farmers may lose out on the business field when citizens become addicted to foreign

foods

and

this

destroys the economic value.

Lastly

, cars, ships and other means of transporting

foods

cause environmental pollution like air pollution and noise pollution. In conclusion, consuming foreign

foods

have a positive and negative impact on society. Individuals will suggest citizens consume local

foods

because of the harmful effects on the people but consuming foreign

foods

creates job, build relationships among nations and give the public varieties of

foods

to choose from. In my opinion, the merits outweigh the demerits.