Britain’s gone quackers for chicken
According to the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN), we’re eating twice as much chicken in the UK as we did twenty-five years ago.
This reflects how our food tastes have changed over the years. Meat is no longer a Sunday treat, we eat strawberries in January and fly in green beans from Kenya. Surely this can’t be good for the environment?
We’re a nation of meat lovers
Meat is now a regular feature in many people’s diets.In Britain our total meat consumption has risen from 69.8kg per person, per year, in 1961, to 79.6kg in 2002, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
What’s the problem?
It’s not so much our growing appetites, it’s that meat production is now more intensive.
Every stage of the production cycle of livestock can have an environmental impact – whether it’s deforestation of the rainforest to make way for cattle, or feeding and transporting the animals.
And then there’s ‘enteric fermentation’. This is the process that takes place in the digestive systems of cud-chewing animals and produces methane as a by-product.
Intensive farming isn’t just driven by the demand from meat eaters
Millions of us rely on animals to keep our fridges full of milk, yoghurts and cheese too.
Altogether, the FCRN says that our combined intake of meat and dairy accounts for about 8.5% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Do you eat blueberries or asparagus out of season?
Many of us now expect seasonal and exotic fruit and vegetables to be available all year round.
To meet demand, seasonal produce has to be grown in heated greenhouses or imported from countries like Spain and Italy.
Is buying local food better for the environment?
Unfortunately, tracking the carbon footprint of food is tricky. If it is transported in a low-carbon way (by land not air), some food grown abroad can actually have a lower carbon impact than local food grown out of season using heated greenhouses.
According to a recent Oxfam International report, British-grown strawberries and tomatoes were found to have a bigger environmental impact than those imported from Spain because of the energy used to heat the greenhouses.
What’s the solution?
One simple step is to eat locally and seasonally as often as possible: that way you can reduce the impact on the environment caused by transporting food.
Key facts
- Every day UK shoppers spend over £1 million on fresh fruit and vegetables from sub-Saharan Africa
- Food transported by road produced 10 million tonnes of the UK’s CO2 emissions (that’s roughly 2% of total emissions)
- The Livestock sector is responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions
Quick links
Eat Seasonably www.eatseasonably.co.uk
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