What are they? And why are they bringing about the end of the world?

Published in BBC Olive Magazine Aug 04

Oh no. Not another loyalty scheme?
Nope. It’s the distance your food travels from farm-to-fork. To ensure we have the same selection of groceries glistening on our supermarket shelves all year round means one thing: freighting fruit and veg in daily by plane.

Only the best for us.
Yep. 70% of our organic vegetables, for instance, now come from overseas. Today, food travels 50% further than it did two decades ago, clocking up thousands of ‘food miles’ as it jets in from exotic climes with perpetual sunshine.

Oh yeah, like where?
Well, we get our tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, Chantrelle mushrooms from Zambia, pears from Argentina, grapes from Chile, chicken from Thailand, asparagus from Peru - even our Brussels sprouts come 10,562 miles all the way from Australia. Then there’s new potatoes from Israel, baby sweet corn from-

Ok, ok - I get it
It’s pretty impressive operation though. At midday, after studying till receipts, a supermarket in the UK can email an order to a supplier in say, Kenya. The produce is then loaded on the midnight plane and is in the shops by morning.

Wow! So what’s all the fuss?
There’s nothing wrong with the system on paper. Developing countries get to market their produce world-wide. We get juicy pineapples all year round. The supermarkets coin it. Everyone’s happy except.

Here it comes.
Air-freighting of groceries creates real problems for the environment.

Always there’s a downside.
“Air transport is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Lauren Steadman, co-editor of Ethical Consumer Magazine. “The transport involved in importing organic products consumes more energy than is saved through growing organically.”

How much energy exactly?
According to farming and food pressure group Sustain, to fly in one calorie of lettuce from Los Angeles uses 127 calories in aviation fuel.

Can feeling guilty use up calories?
You want guilt? How about this: the Soil Association tracked 26 ingredients in one basket of organic groceries and found that together they had travelled a distance of 241,000 miles. That’s six times around the Equator. Or a single trip to the Moon. “That’s as much co2 into the atmosphere as a four-bedroomed house creates through cooking meals for eight months,” says Steadman.

I bet. Any good news?
Not really. Air-freighting has become endemic - even gratuitous. In one incredible case, reported in The Guardian, chives were shipped to Nairobi to be decoratively wrapped around a selection of vegetables, packaged by cheap labour, and then shipped back for UK shoppers. A round trip of 8500 miles! And that’s not all.

There’s more?
Yep. Big suppliers like Kenya, for example, used to be agriculturally self-sufficient countries. Now it dedicates the bulk of its land to export crops like French beans, carrots, baby sweet corn, leeks, asparagus, and those tempting bags of chopped stir fry ingredients. Much of the food for its own population must now be imported.

Surely not all supermarket groceries come from overseas?
The bulk do, yes, although it varies from retailer to retailers. Tesco imports 80% of its organic produce from overseas, for instance, while Waitrose gets 85% from the UK, including all its carrots, potatoes, chicken, beef and pork. Sainbury’s is hoping for 60% by the end of the year, but the bulk of its meat is UK-sourced.

Why? Why? Why?
UK’s organic farmers, unlike their non-organic rivals, can’t supply large volumes of produce all year round. Air transport, fuel, and foreign labour is cheap, cheap, cheap. So supermarkets shop overseas.

What about when they’re in season here?
For every 1000 fruit products bought in the UK, only 6 will be grown here - even when they’re in season. At the height of their season, for example, only half the apples on sale will be from the UK. “It is unacceptable for staple foods like cauliflowers and carrots to be imported when they are in season in the UK, and in plentiful supply,” says Peter Melchett, the Soil Association’s Policy Director .

Gad. None of this sounds healthy
You’re right. Despite advanced preservation and packaging technology, the further food travels, the less fresh, the less healthy it becomes. Nutrients and minerals deteriorate rapidly. Spinach, for example, looses 90% of its Vitamin C within 24 hours of harvest. Not that air-freighted food is bad, but local or even frozen food is always going to be better.

Frozen? Per-lease.
Well, you could get an organic box instead. For between £8 and £20 a week, a cardboard box will be delivered to your door stuffed with delicious seasonal and refreshingly dirty organic fruit & veg. Most services also supply meat, wine, dairy, herbs, sauces, and even organic beer and wine. And they recycle their boxes. It’s about as opposite to air-freighting as you can get.

They don’t red-eye their food in?
Not a grape. “We don’t air-freight on principle,” says Keith Abel of leading organic food delivery firm, abel&cole. “Whenever possible we source all our food at fair prices from local producers. It’s fresh, seasonal and organic - and very tasty.”

Any other guilt-relieving shopping techniques?
Opt for Fairtrade produce such as bananas, coffee and chocolate whenever you can. Fairtrade means the farmers abroad are guaranteed a fair price for their crops and prevent supermarkets from ripping them off. As always, if in doubt, read the label.

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Originally published in BBC Olive Magazine, Aug 2004