Because of the highly efficient supply chain model utilized by Walmart, the retail chain is able to get the freshest produce delivered at the fastest speed compared to competitors like Trader Joe's and even Whole Foods Market.
"If all you care about is nutrient content, SPEED is the only factor that matters," Carmen says. "That means time between being picked and ending up in your mouth."
It turns out that appearance, texture, and taste are not quality indicators of nutrient content because there is no way to know when a produce item was harvested.
"Price doesn't matter, organic doesn't matter, marketing hoo-ha about how fancy the produce is doesn't matter. Literally just speed," Carmen says. "Fresh spinach loses almost ALL of its vitamin C within 7 days of harvest when stored at 68°F (20°C). When stored at 39°F (4°C) which is about fridge temp, it loses 75%. The apples you buy at the grocery store can be up to a *year* old since they've been harvested, especially if you are not buying them in season."
"Taste, texture, and smell are not good indicators of nutrient content, because you can't tell how long it has been since it's been harvested. Modern shipping and storage methods can be deceptive, combined with practices like spraying strawberry fragrance on otherwise bland strawberries so you think you're buying the good stuff (yes some places actually do this)."
(Related: Did you know that Walmart is converting 65 percent of its stores to "automation" with no more human employees?)
Grocery stores don't want customers to know how old the produce is
It is no secret that nutrient levels in produce have been on the decline for decades. Compared to the early 1900s, produce today is upwards of 90 percent less nutrient dense, which means eating an apple or an orange today provides only about one-tenth of the nutritional density compared to fruit from way back when.
"There are several reasons for this, but most of them are due to modern agricultural practices," Carmen says.
"These reasons include: selective breeding, soil depletion, synthetic fertilizers that provide basic nutrients necessary for plant growth but not others that would make them nutrient-dense, higher CO2 levels in atmosphere diluting nutrient content in plants, over-irrigation washing away nutrients from soil, and long storage times."
While eating produce in season can help improve your nutritional intake, purchasing the freshest produce from a place like Walmart is another solid bet, according to Carmen, because of the retail chain's scale and supply chain, which allow it to "get things from the farm (wherever it is in the world it's growing in season) to the store where you can buy it, really really fast. Oh, and for the lowest cost."
Carmen utilized the services of Brent Overcash who co-founded a now-shuttered startup company called TeakOrigin that specializes in testing the nutrient content of groceries. Every week for several years now, Overcash has been testing thousands of produce items from all sorts of retail outlets.
"They'd go to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Costco, Wegmans, Sprouts, Waitrose, farmers’ markets, and many more retailers. The 'winner' varied depending on the specific type of produce / brands / exactly what week it was, but Walmart tended to come out on top. The more important point is that price and taste and organic certifications had no impact on the actual nutrient density."
"It went out of business because no major grocery store wanted to partner with them, because the transparency would hold these retailers accountable for *so many things* the consumers aren't even currently aware of."
More related news can be found at FoodisMedicine.com.
Sources for this article include:
X.com
NaturalNews.com
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