More than 40 people turned out Saturday afternoon for a rally in front of the Kootenay Co-Op aimed at raising awareness for changes in the definition of local food.
The local grocery store is on the leading edge of a movement to stop the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from making changes to the definition of local food.
The agency is proposing to define it as food sourced anywhere in the province and extends 50 kilometres across provincial borders. The co-op says the definition allows marketers and retailers to brand products as local that were grown in markets that can be further than 2,000 kilometres away and is a radical departure from the old official definition.
Local farmer Colleen Ross, Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko and Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall all spoke to the crowd.