Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

Great to see some local stats on our food miles...

Web links

* /PDF/ Food Miles in Australia

* 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.