[Pil-pc-oceania] Food Miles - article in The Age

[Kerry Dawborn]

Hi All,

Thought you might find this article on food miles from Melbourne's The 
Age newspaper, interesting/useful. There is a link below too, to the 
study the article refers to.

cheers!

Kerry



  Study shows environmental cost of imported food

    *


August 1, 2007


        Web links

    * /PDF/ Food Miles in Australia
      <http://www.theage.com.au/ed_docs/food_miles.pdf>
    * http://www.theage.com.au/ed_docs/food_miles.pdf


HAS that bunch of bananas on the kitchen bench travelled further than 
you have?

According to a study being launched today, the food in a typical 
Australian's shopping basket has travelled a staggering 70,803 
kilometres to reach Melbourne --- equivalent to almost two trips around 
the world.

And those "food miles" take a toll on the environment, through 
greenhouse gas emissions from road, air and sea freight.

The study is one of the first of its kind to have been done in 
Australia. It was compiled by researchers from CERES Community 
Environment Park, Brunswick, which based its findings on data from big 
food producers.

Co-author Sophie Gaballa said there were a few surprises, including the 
long journey needed to get a popular brand of sausages onto Melbourne 
plates.

"We generally looked at the most commonly bought brands," she said.

"And when we looked at Hans sausages we found that a lot of their pork 
is shipped from Denmark, so on average, the sausages had to come about 
25,000 kilometres to Melbourne." The sausages were among four imported 
items out of the 29 covered in the study. Those imported goods 
contributed more than two-thirds of shopping basket's total food miles.

Lipton tea leaves grown in several countries but packaged in India and 
Indonesia had typically done about 8259 kilometres, while Heinz tinned 
baked beans were shipped from New Zealand (3131 kilometres).

Chocolate from Cadbury's Tasmanian factory combines cocoa beans from 
Indonesia via Singapore, sugar from Queensland and Tasmanian milk, 
adding up to 14,479 kilometres. Even locally grown produce can cover 
huge distances. In winter, tomatoes bought in Melbourne come from as far 
away as Queensland and Western Australia, while in summer they only have 
a short trip south from Shepparton and Bendigo.

But Ms Gaballa stressed that the study was not about trying to make 
people feel guilty. Instead, she said its main aim was to encourage 
people to think more about the environmental impacts of their consumption.

"Looking at food miles is just one way to measure the sustainability of 
what we eat, but what we really need are full life-cycle assessments, 
taking into account other things, like the embodied energy and water 
involved with producing our food," Ms Gaballa said. "In some cases it 
may actually be more efficient to buy food produced in another country.

"For instance, one recent study found that producing meat and some crops 
in New Zealand and sending it to the UK may be more energy efficient and 
generate fewer greenhouse emissions than producing that food locally in 
the UK because of factors like soil quality."

There have been similar studies overseas, particularly in the UK. 
Earlier this year, the British Government and the UK's biggest retailer, 
Tesco committed to look at "carbon labels", similar to calorie counts 
included on packaging, showing greenhouse emissions involved in 
producing, transporting and disposing of a wide range of goods.

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