Immigrants can show us the way toward healthier eating.

Here we are in the middle of the eating season, a time to be mindful of our food consumption.

Most immigrants to the United States have come to our country from agriculture-rich regions, where fresh food is the norm and local markets are essential. Their cultures traditionally rely on organic production of food. We should emulate their practices.

For instance, methods of slaughtering animals in American meat plants often contaminate the meat in the process. By contrast, methods utilized on African and Latin American ranches are often cleaner and pose less of a risk to human health. Many of the immigrants who end up working in slaughterhouses have experience on ranches in their home countries. Yet they are forced to practice the very methods that endanger our health.

The American public has become increasingly concerned about the safety of the food available in supermarkets. More consumers are concerned about where food comes from, what it is exposed to and the length of time it takes to get from a grower’s fields to dinner tables. We need the know-how to produce our own food, and immigrants can provide that.

But to produce our own food we need a strong and dedicated workforce. Many immigrants are willing and able to fill the jobs necessary to build a sustainable system that focuses more on local and seasonal foods.

Transporting food over long distances requires the use of chemicals for preservation. These chemicals have been proven to be harmful to human health and the environment. And the fuel used to transport food damages the environment.

Not only is growing food locally healthier, but it’s also easier on our environment.

A majority of immigrants in the U.S. are already working in food systems, whether in meat plants, on dairy farms, in produce fields, or in restaurants. Their influence on how food is manufactured, packaged, distributed and cooked is enormous.

Unfortunately, employers often undervalue immigrants, viewing them as mere tools on factory lines while their skills in food preparation go underutilized.

Our strong immigrant workforce has the potential to develop a system in the United States that lessens our reliance on foreign imports, cuts down on the transportation of food and improves manufacturing methods.

We should celebrate the immigrant influence on our food supply. It’s good for us.

Jill V. Garvey is the editor of the community blog Imagine 2050 and the director of operations and communications at the Center for New Community. She can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.