Path to the Plate is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s program to educate the public about where their food comes from and how understanding food labels can save you money at the grocery store.
Path to the Plate helps consumers also understand how their food choices impact their health. County Extension Agent Robert Scott said 12 percent of our income goes to buying food, and terms like ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’ have no formal definition. He said misinformation shared only adds to the confusion.
“Most of the time you are going to spend more money on a product based on the way it is labeled,” Scott said. “It is not because the product that is next to it is any better because it is not labeled that way.”
Scott said knowing how your food is produced is the first step in bridging the gap between producer and consumer.
“Farmers and ranchers make a living off of providing a product for America and for the world, and they will not do anything to compromise that,” Scott said.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is even taking this program to the classroom to give younger generations the proper knowledge about where their food comes from.
“Those kids will grow up and appreciating agriculture and appreciating what farmers and ranchers are doing to make their products so safe,” Scott said.
You can find all of the science based information at pathtotheplate.tamu.edu/
