Food Miles buried?

There’s always some distance between the intentions people have regarding their shopping and what actually happens in the store. The visibility now being given a host of issues loosely grouped together under the often-misused “sustainability” heading has led to an increase in the preferences for “doing something about it”.
But with the reality faced by the consumer when they get into the store ensures that intentions translate only in the minority of cases. At the heat of the moment in the store, they deal with a complicated set of influences - what they are willing to spend, what’s on special this week, how much time they have to shop, and what information they have to look for on food labels.

Remember the “food miles” scare? A beat-up by one of London’s big daily newspapers in support of an English dairy brand about the journey New Zealand butter and cheese makes to get into a UK supermarket led to fear of new “ethical” trade barriers being erected for food exports to the developed world. In recent years “food miles” has been one of the concepts by advocates to support food produced as locally as possible, especially fresh produce, as in order to reduce carbon emissions.
The issue stuck around for a while in the UK before it was gradually consumed in the carbon footprint industry, as major retailers started to lead the push to establish some standards of measurement that would allow consistency between claims being made on labels.

A New Zealand university has put some researchers into the field to see where the issue is these days. Two small surveys were done - one on the High Street in the UK and one in a supermarket. The researchers even went to the trouble of asking the questions in a local accent, to reduce suspicions of a link with New Zealand.
The two sets of results weren’t the same – nearly a quarter of the people on the street said they wouldn’t buy New Zealand goods due to food miles. Those in the supermarket however had it well down the list – less than 6% gave “country of origin” as a determinant of what was in the shopping basket. Exporters to the UK also claim they’ve suffered no losses in volumes – in fact business is better than it was before “food miles” became an agenda. The researchers have claimed the food miles scare is over! It may be a tad early to claim a victory on the strength of the opinions of 500 British shoppers in the hardest times.

There’s little doubt that concerns about the planet are on shoppers minds. But given on what else is apparently on top of mind at the time when they get to within two feet from the product shelf, the concern is pushed down the list. Things aren’t great at the moment in the UK so “price” is a dominant issue facing a larger percentage of households compared to a few years ago in more prosperous times when food miles surfaced as an issue.

But carbon measurement and other “sustainability” standards will get better, labels will become more believable and when money is back in pockets, the discerning consumer may change habits. Given the blight expected in European economies however, that may take a while.