Hungry miles: how far has your food flown
In January last year, British supermarket giant began placing little red stickers depicting an aircraft on certain goods. According to Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy, customers had told him they were worried about their carbon footprint and climate change. Leahy reacted by labelling products to show shoppers they had been airfreighted. He also pledged to work towards using air transport for only one per cent of Tesco’s products. It all sounded about as batty as Heather Mills telling people the planet was in environmental danger and we should all stop eating meat because cows fart. But within months, the Tesco branding had caught on. Suddenly, almost every retailer in Britain, from giant chains to corner shops, were at pains to flag their green credentials. Food Miles had taken off—and the only country not taken for a ride was Australia. That has since changed. As mad as it sounds, Food Miles—coined in the 1990s by a food-policy professor at London’s City University to measure the distance food travels from field to plate, and the ensuing environmental impact—is changing the face of global business. The concept is woolly at best, fundamentally flawed at worst. Sunday Telegraph, April 27.
