Yay or nay: Flown-in food can be greener
'Food Miles' is the latest buzz phrase for many eco-aware shoppers, as labels begin to appear on products indicating the number of miles they've traveled to get to your plate. Tesco and Marks and Spencer are among the supermarkets that have pledged to label food in this way, while critics of Wholefoods Market have attacked the store for flying in many of its products. But this week, it's also emerged that many experts see the preoccupation with food miles as a dangerous distraction from other factors that impact far more heavily on the environment.
The argument is that transporting foods only accounts for 2% of its total environmental impact, while processing, storage, packaging and growing conditions make up most of a given food's carbon 'weight'. Looking at it that way, food miles seem pretty insignificant. Added to this, our reliance on unseasonal foods means that if we do want to eat, say, apples out of season, flying them in from New Zealand has been shown to be more energy efficient than keeping British ones in cold storage after they've been harvested.
An alternative solution, of course, could be sticking to a diet that's based around seasonal goods, which don't require such intensive production and storage methods and don't need to be flown in. But are our rich and varied 21st century diets prepared for this?
I've always been a bit suspicious of the whole food miles thing; it sounded like a nice convenient catch phrase to make people feel better/more guilty and made little sense. We've always imported some of our foods and essential ingredients, and some stuff that I don't think I could do with out (coffee and chocolate) has to come from warmer climates.
sticking to a diet that's based around seasonal goods, which don't require such intensive production and storage methods and don't need to be flown in
Problem with that of course is our population levels need some sort of intensive production; the balance currently is wrong (cf meat production as a classic example) but we need some sort of higher end production; Britain can't support itself food wise, hasn't been able to for a lot longer than current intensive methods became almost compulsory.
Posted by: MatGB | June 6, 2007 1:31 PM