Holiday special
The cranberries Britons eat with their Christmas dinners were probably flown to the UK from Los Angeles, clocking up 9000 kilometres and spewing out carbon dioxide all the way. The carrots could come from South Africa and the potatoes from Italy, all of them contributing to the planet’s burden of greenhouse gases.
But the consequences of long-haul food are felt all year, as the habit of eating foreign foods is on the rise, according to a report released in December. It comes from the UK public interest group Sustain and the Elm Farm Research Centre in Berkshire and details the hidden costs behind producing, packaging and shipping our food.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, those processes rack up about eight tonnes of CO2 a year for an average family of four in the UK – almost twice the level of emissions produced by the same family’s car use, or by the household’s heating and cooking.
Flying lettuce
Importing food also increases the likelihood of an environmental accident, like an oil spill, and the chance of importing disease. It also decreases the amount of vitamins left in food by the time it reaches the table, and involves a huge waste of energy. In one extreme example, the report says it takes 127 times more energy to fly an iceberg lettuce to Britain from Los Angeles than someone will receive by eating it.
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Organic food takes less energy to grow, mostly because of low fertiliser and pesticide use, but it is also more likely to be imported from far away.
A British National Farmer’s Union survey in 1999 did find that 74 per cent of Britons would like to buy fresh, local produce when it is in season. But the same survey also revealed that most people did not know what food was local or when it was picked. Only 18 per cent of respondents in another survey said they actually read the label to see which country their food came from.
“The UK has got a particular problem with this,” says Vicki Hird from Sustain. “Television personalities like Delia Smith have everyone buying cranberries. They know what’s in season, but they also push exotic ingredients.”
Another problem is the amount of food swapped back and forth between countries. In 1997, the UK imported 126 million litres of milk, but also exported 270 million litres. Each year it also swaps more than 33,000 tonnes of poultry with the Netherlands and over 200,000 tonnes of pork and lamb with the rest of the world.
“Crazy situation”
This is down to a complicated system involving trading agreements, says Hird. “It’s a crazy situation. It might make sense in marketing terms but it’s not sustainable,” she says.
The report recommends new labels that indicate where a food product comes from, how far it was transported and by what method. The UK government is currently pushing the European Union to enforce mandatory labelling of country of origin.
The report also says that airfreight should be taxed highly based on its environmental impact. Planes release 50 times more CO2 per kilometre than ships, but airlines currently do not pay tax on fuel.
