THE ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF TOMATOES IN YOUR FOOD

The Environmental Cost of the Tomato


It takes less energy to import tomatoes from Spain than to grow them in Britain, says a report which claims that "food miles" are not always a bad thing. Food has been traveling longer distances between the farmer and the consumer for the past 50 years, according to the independent report commissioned by the Government.

The increase is a result of the globalization of the food industry, the trend towards bigger farms at home, the centralization of supermarkets' distribution networks and out-of-town shopping by car.

The study on food miles carried out for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by AEA Technology says food transport is a significant and growing source of road accident, noise and pollution . According to the report the environmental and social costs of food transport are £9 billion a year. More than half of this (£5 billion) is due to road congestion and £2 billion is due to accidents - more than 300 people are killed transporting food every year.

Yet food miles are not always a valid test of environmental friendliness, says the report. They are "too simple a concept" to capture the impact of its transportation. For example, the report says, it takes less energy to import tomatoes from Spain, where the climate is warmer and no heating is used, than to grow them out of season in gas-heated greenhouses in Britain.

Gas heated greenhouse

The environmental cost of importing organic wheat is lower than producing wheat by conventional methods at home - provided that not too much fuel is used moving it around when it gets here.

The report shows that the mode of transport makes a great difference. Large tonnages of food can be imported from far away by sea at low environmental cost. Air transport, however, produces high amounts of pollution for the low tonnages of goods it brings. Food air transport has more than doubled since 1992, and represents 11 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

Transporting tomatoes

 Yet the highest mileage traveled by food is in the car. Consumers now drive an average of nearly 900 miles a year to shop for food.

The bulk of all emissions comes from heavy goods vehicles. Carbon dioxide emissions from food transport increased by 12 per cent from 1992 to 2002. By contrast, local air pollution from nitrogen oxides and particulates declined over this period.

Lord Bach, the food and farming minister, said: "It is clear that organic and seasonally-available food can reduce environmental impacts but that these can be offset by the way they are transported to the consumers." He added: "We don't want to act as a nanny state, but every citizen does have to know the impact of what they are doing."



Vicky Hird, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Asking the food companies to make lorries a bit more efficient is irrelevant when those lorries are making unnecessary journeys.

"To suggest that locally-sourced food may generate more food miles is ludicrous. Locally produced food is far better for food miles, but it must be planned and supported by local and national government to find the most efficient methods."