U.S. Senator Ed Markey underscored the need for the federal government to support sustainable and local food options last Friday, visiting the Dorchester Food Co-op on Bowdoin Street. The market, which opened last year in a new building at 195 Bowdoin Street, uses a membership and worker model and offers locally grown produce.

“We need the support of the Department of Agriculture in this effort to produce food in the community,” said Markey, who called the cooperative an “oasis of healthy food,” adding, “We need to make sure it grows and grows and grows so that it becomes a way of thinking about how the community thinks about food. Food is medicine and the healthier food is, the healthier the children in the community will be, especially.”

Store manager John Santos said the co-op faced some “challenges” in the beginning and its staff has now been reduced from about 33 employees to 19. “The business model takes time to gain traction in the community,” he told Markey. “We’re growing. It’s slow and that’s been challenging, but we hope the community will support us now.”

State Rep. Chris Worrell accompanied Markey on a tour of the co-op. The two also spent time in his Fifth Suffolk district last week, visiting a solar-powered affordable housing development in Uphams Corner.