Friends of the Earth Birmingham Action Briefing Oct-Nov 97

Food Miles

Have you ever considered how far your food has travelled before it reaches your table? Food such as Spanish onions, 773 miles, South African apples, 6,011 miles, or New Zealand lamb, 11,404 miles. A varied supply of food can be produced in Great Britain and yet we import food from all around the World. The transport, by air or road, of food all over the World produces millions of tonnes of pollution which can trigger asthma, has been linked to lung and heart disease and contains chemicals which can cause cancer.

Food that is transported hundreds of miles obviously takes longer to reach your table and the implications of this are that the food may be lower in nutrients than locally grown food, threatens small farms and rural jobs in the UK, may be fumigated with ozone depleting chemicals and results in excessive use of pesticides which can contribute to air pollution.

This all sounds pretty nasty so what can we small mortals do about it? Surprisingly enough this is the easy bit, cut the distance your food has travelled.

The benefits of locally gown food include less air pollution, improved health as a result of reduced air pollution, fewer polluting chemicals sprayed on food and increased access to fresh locally grown food.

So you've got reduced traffic emissions, fresher and healthier food, isn't that exactly what you want?

Buy local if you can and if you can't then demand local sourcing of local produce in your supermarket, buy local organic produce whenever possible, ask the council to support local farmers markets and the obvious one is to walk, cycle or use public transport to travel to the shops.

Enclosed in this newsletter is a card that you can send/give to your local supermarket requesting them to introduce local sourcing of food. You are the consumer, use your power...............

Beverly