FtC
magazine
FOOD LESS TRAVELLED By Lisa Guy, Naturopath
Nowadays, we enjoy a wide variety of produce from all over the world without being limited by seasonal availability. Actual seasonality in food production is sadly becoming a thing of the past as consumers expect all types of produce and exotic ingredients to be available all year round. This consumer demand has caused significant changes to the ways in which we store and transport our food. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost to the environment, quality, taste, and nutritional value of our fruits and vegetables. To meet this demand, our food is now transported further than ever before, by air, ship and road, and this sector of transportation is now a major contributor to increased greenhouse emissions, depletion
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of natural resources, and global warming. Transporting food by air creates carbon emissions ten times that of road transportation, and fifty percent more than transportation by sea (1). Airfreight is specifically and most commonly used to transport high-value and perishable foods like out-of-season berries. It’s estimated that in the U.S., fresh produce typically travels over 1,500 miles from the farm to your plate (2). So, unless you buy produce from local
farms or farmers’ markets, you have no way of knowing when your food was harvested and how far it has travelled.
