Party food
Food miles cost Britain £9 billion every year Transporting food is costing Britain an estimated £9 billion every year according to a report looking at the economic and environmental costs of food miles. The report, published by Defra, goes on to say that importing food and moving it from the countries farms, factories and ports to our tables is producing 19 million tonnes of CO2 annually. Over half of these emissions are in the UK and account for almost two per cent of the nation's total. More than half of the cost stemmed from road congestion, with shopping by car accounting for an incredible 40% of the total cost and lorries making up a further a 25% of the total. Road accidents and the fast-increasing pollution from air freight were also key areas of concern. Sustainable Food and Farming Minister Lord Bach said: "This study is an interesting contribution to the 'food miles' debate. "It shows that the issue is complex and that a range of factors have an effect on the overall impacts of food transport, not purely the distance travelled by individual products. "We will update and publish these trends each year and I hope it will lead to a healthy debate between consumers, food producers, supermarkets, environmental groups and public authorities. "It provides some pointers for consumers. For example internet buying and home delivery can cut vehicle kilometres and reduce road congestion. "It shows that buying local products has the potential to greatly reduce the distance food is transported but that the benefits can be offset by increased road congestion if they are supplied in a less transport efficient way. "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 consumer's home. "It is also clear that transport and trade of food has the potential to lead to economic and social benefits, for example, through economic gains for both
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Keywords: bon, cheese, conference, eat, food, hungry, mange, miles, nibbles, party, peas, rae, snack, snap, stick, sugar, sugarsnap, tastes, tout, touts, wine
