Dirty Food Chain: Why You Should Know Where Your Food Comes From | ENDEVR Explains

Summary

The video delves into the complexities of food miles and carbon footprints, challenging the simplified notion that local food is always more environmentally friendly. It explains the concept of food miles and the more comprehensive life cycle assessment method for determining a product's environmental impact. Through examples like UK lamb and German apples, the video shows that the origin of food doesn't always dictate its carbon footprint. It encourages viewers to be mindful of food transportation methods, seasonality, and personal consumption choices to reduce their carbon footprint, urging them to research and make informed decisions for a sustainable lifestyle.

Highlights

• The U.S has seen a massive increase in food imports, tripling since 1999. 🙀📈
• Food miles alone don't tell the whole story about a product's carbon footprint. 📏❌
• Life cycle assessment considers production, transportation, and disposal factors. ♻️🔍
• A surprising finding: UK lamb can be more carbon-intensive than New Zealand lamb. 🐑🔥
• Storage techniques like controlled atmosphere can affect apples' carbon footprint. 🍏✨
• Air transportation of food results in significant CO2 emissions. 🚀⬆️
• Choosing seasonal and locally grown produce helps minimize carbon footprint. 🌿🔄
• Packaging and personal consumption habits also impact food's carbon footprint. 🚮🚫

Key Takeaways

• Food miles are not the sole indicator of a product's environmental impact. 🚛🌍
• Life cycle assessment provides a more comprehensive view of a food product's carbon footprint. 🔄🔬
• Transportation methods matter—sea and land are preferable to air. ✈️🚫
• In-season, local produce tends to have a lower carbon footprint. 🥦🍎
• Reducing meat consumption, particularly beef, can significantly lower your diet's carbon footprint. 🥩⬇️
• Being aware and informed about your food's journey can make a big difference. 📚🔍

Overview

Ever looked at a food label and wondered just how far that banana traveled to get to you? In this video, ENDEVR breaks down the concept of food miles and the more complex life cycle assessment to show that the journey your food takes is more intricate than you might think. The video clears up the myth that local is always better and introduces the key factors that really make a difference in the carbon footprint of your food.

The video dives into fascinating case studies like the UK vs. New Zealand lamb debate, highlighting that distance alone isn't the villain. It's about the entire production, storage, and transportation process. By examining technologies like controlled atmosphere storage for apples, ENDEVR showcases that sometimes local can be better, but it's all about the context!

Finally, ENDEVR provides practical tips for making informed decisions at the supermarket. From opting for foods transported by sea instead of air to reducing meat consumption, the video empowers you to take steps towards a more sustainable diet. The key? Knowing what you eat and where it comes from is crucial to aligning your diet with your environmental values.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Food Origins The chapter explores the concept of food origins, highlighting how many food products found in supermarkets come from distant locations such as Central America, South America, China, and New Zealand. It raises the question of the environmental impact of consuming foods from far away and whether eating local is the better option. However, the chapter suggests that the issue is complex and warrants further examination.
• 00:30 - 01:00: US Food Importation Trends The chapter discusses the increasing trend of food importation in the United States over the years. Between 1999 and 2017, the value of imported food rose dramatically from $43 billion to $137 billion. The importation of fruits and vegetables each more than tripled in volume during this period. The main countries from which the U.S. imports food are Mexico, followed by Canada, France, Italy, and China. This extensive global food trade prompts questions about its overall sensibility.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Concept of Food Miles The concept of 'food miles' is explored as a theory developed in response to the environmental concerns about transporting food over long distances, especially amidst global warming and climate change. The term 'food miles' was coined in the 1990s by Tim Lane, a professor at City University of London. It represents the distance food travels from production to consumer and can measure the product's carbon footprint. The central argument is questioning the necessity of consuming food, like meat, that has been raised on the opposite side of the world. The implication is that longer food miles contribute significantly to carbon emissions.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Limitations of Food Miles The chapter, titled 'Limitations of Food Miles,' discusses the complexities behind the concept of food miles, which refers to the distance food travels from production to consumer. Although the idea has led to movements promoting local consumption, such as 'buy local, eat local,' the chapter explains that food miles alone do not fully represent the environmental impact. The discussion highlights that although reducing the travel distance of products can be beneficial, it is not the sole factor determining a product's carbon footprint.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Understanding Life Cycle Assessment The chapter titled 'Understanding Life Cycle Assessment' focuses on the comprehensive approach of assessing the environmental impact of a product. It argues that relying solely on food miles can create a misleading perception of environmental responsibility. Instead, the chapter advocates for the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a method that evaluates various factors beyond transportation distance. These include the production process, storage methods, international distribution, processing, packaging, local distribution, supermarket storage, and consumer handling. By considering these elements, LCA presents a more accurate picture of a product's overall environmental impact, as food miles are only a small portion of the entire picture.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Challenges in Calculating Carbon Footprint The chapter titled 'Challenges in Calculating Carbon Footprint' discusses the complexities involved in determining the environmental impact of a product using life cycle assessment methods. This approach takes into consideration various factors such as the types of fertilizers used, packaging, disposal, and recycling options. However, it notes that while this method is more thorough than simply assessing food miles, it is still imperfect as it might overlook essential facets like the social impact. The chapter concludes that accurately calculating the carbon footprint of our food presents significant challenges.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Comparing Transportation Methods This chapter discusses the challenges faced by companies in calculating and labeling the carbon footprint of their products. It highlights a case study of Tesco, a British supermarket chain, which in 2007 announced plans to label the carbon footprint of its 70,000 products. However, five years later, the plan was abandoned due to the immense amount of work required, the difficulties involved in the process, and the lack of similar efforts by other supermarket chains. The example illustrates the complexity and challenges inherent in determining carbon footprints.
• 04:00 - 05:30: Case Study: Lamb Meat and Apples The chapter 'Case Study: Lamb Meat and Apples' delves into the intricacies of food miles and the impact of transportation methods on carbon emissions. Different modes of transport emit varying levels of CO2, with cargo ships being the most efficient (0.14 kg of CO2 per ton kilometer), followed by trains, trucks, and airplanes (6.8 kg of CO2 per ton kilometer). Interestingly, only a small fraction (0.16%) of food is transported by plane despite its high CO2 emissions.
• 05:30 - 08:00: Seasonal and Local Consumption Benefits Researchers from Lincoln University analyzed the carbon footprint of lamb meat produced in the UK compared to that produced in New Zealand and shipped to the UK. They considered factors such as water usage, harvesting techniques, fertilizer use, renewable energy applications, transportation methods, types of fuel, carbon dioxide absorption during photosynthesis, and packaging disposal. The findings revealed that lamb meat from the UK can have a higher carbon footprint, highlighting the potential benefits of seasonal and local consumption for reducing environmental impact.
• 08:00 - 10:00: Impact of Consumer Choices The chapter titled 'Impact of Consumer Choices' discusses the environmental impact associated with the production and transportation of consumer goods, specifically lamb. By comparing the carbon dioxide emissions of lamb raised in New Zealand versus Britain, the chapter highlights the often counterintuitive nature of local vs imported products. It is revealed that lamb imported from New Zealand to Britain actually results in fewer carbon emissions per ton compared to lamb produced locally in Britain. This challenges the common perception that buying local is always better for the environment.
• 10:00 - 11:00: Conclusion The chapter discusses the controlled atmosphere technology used in apple production, enabling countries like Germany to supply fresh apples year-round without the need for imports. These apples are harvested in autumn and stored under controlled conditions to maintain their freshness.

Dirty Food Chain: Why You Should Know Where Your Food Comes From | ENDEVR Explains Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 you probably already noticed that every time you go to the supermarket and check your foods labels they don't usually come from somewhere nearby in fact sometimes they come from very far away bananas from central america berries from south america fish from china even meat from very distant new zealand but how bad is it for the environment should we just eat local hold on things are not that simple let's look into it [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 the united states has never imported so much food the numbers are staggering from 1999 to 2017 the total passed from 43 billion dollars to 137 billion the amount of imported fruits in the markets has increased more than three times in the same period and the number of vegetables also saw growth of more than threefold the u.s imported most of the food from mexico followed by canada france italy and china all of this food traveling around the world poses some questions does it make sense
• 01:00 - 01:30 to buy food that came from so far away in an era of global warming and climate change why do we need to eat a piece of meat from an animal raised on the other side of the world these concerns became a theory in the term food miles was coined in the 1990s by tim lane a city university of london professor the term is used to present the distance that the food is transported from the place it's produced until it reaches the consumer and can also be used to measure the carbon footprint of a product basically speaking the longer the
• 01:30 - 02:00 product travels more energy is needed and therefore the worse it is for the environment a big movement of buy local eat local was created in response to this environment activists started to believe that food from distant countries was probably worth avoiding and the locally produced fruits meat and vegetables from the nearby farmers market was probably a better choice but things are not as simple as they seem food miles alone does not show exactly how bad a carbon footprint of a product is it is certainly one of the indicators
• 02:00 - 02:30 but taking it alone can lead to a false sense of green responsibility a better way of calculating the environmental impact of a product is called life cycle assessment and takes into consideration more than just how far away it was transported it considers the production process the way it is stored the international distribution the way it is processed packaged how it is locally distributed how it's kept in the supermarket and how it is dealt with by the consumer as we can see here in this graph food miles are just a fraction of the actual
• 02:30 - 03:00 impact of the product on the environment the life cycle assessment method takes into account details like the kind of fertilizers it is used for production what kind of packaging and the way the product is disposed of and recycling possibilities but although more complex than just looking into food miles the method is also not perfect and might still leave out some important aspects of food production of the calculation like the social impact in summary it's very complicated to precisely say what the carbon footprint of our food is
• 03:00 - 03:30 so much so that even companies that tried to calculate and label all products and had a hard time doing so a famous case is from british supermarket chain tesco one of the biggest in the world in 2007 they announced the plan of labeling the carbon footprint of all the 70 000 products they had in stores five years later they called off the plan blaming the amount of work in the process the difficulties involved and other supermarket chains that were not doing the same figuring out carbon footprint is hard
• 03:30 - 04:00 because we must look into the details if we look at food miles for example there are many nuances the way the food is transported is very important cargo ships are the most efficient followed by trains then trucks and lastly planes a container transported on a ship emits 0.14 kilograms of co2 per ton kilometer while this number is 6.8 by plane but if we look at how food is transported around the world nowadays only 0.16 are transported by planes and
• 04:00 - 04:30 58.97 are transported by ships scientists of lincoln university discovered that a piece of lamb meat produced and sold in the uk can have a higher carbon footprint than if produced in new zealand and transported to the uk by ship they analyzed in both countries the water use harvesting techniques fertilizer outlays renewable energy applications means of transportation and the kind of fuel used the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis disposal of packaging
• 04:30 - 05:00 storage procedures and dozens of other cultivation inputs through their calculations a land raised on new zealand clover choked pasture and shipped 11 000 miles by ship to britain produced 1520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton at the same time if this same lamb was produced in britain using the feed it would produce 6280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton in summary buying british lamb from the local market would be more damaging to the environment than buying from new
• 05:00 - 05:30 zealand however there are also examples of studies that point in the other direction that's the case with german apples in general countries that produce apples can sell fresh ones year round without importing this is thanks to a technology called controlled atmosphere the apples are usually harvested in the autumn with the second semester in the northern hemisphere and are stored in rooms with controlled temperature oxygen carbon dioxide and humidity levels this way the stored apples do not fully
• 05:30 - 06:00 develop but let's say they go to sleep this allows apples to stay fresh for longer after harvest than if they were simply refrigerated that's how you can buy local apples the whole year but does this increase the apple's carbon footprint is it still better to buy local two german scientists tried to answer this question they compared german stored apples energy used to fresh apples imported from new zealand different from the lamb meat from the uk the german apples had a better result taking into consideration all the emissions from cultivation to consumer
• 06:00 - 06:30 shopping the local apple stored in a controlled atmosphere required 5.89 megajoules per kilo while the imported apples from new zealand required 7 499 megajoules per kilo but again it's not that simple the two scientists calculated the impact of keeping the apples for five months in the apple industry it's not rare for the fruit to stay in these stored rooms for more than that if it stays nine months for example importing from new zealand might be a better solution and it also depends on
• 06:30 - 07:00 what kind of energy is used in the process in summary food miles can be indicators of an environmental impact but alone are not usually enough to point out the actual damage the best way is to look at the whole food supply chain but there are ways of making informed decisions when it comes to what food and from where you should buy let's look into some important actions you can start taking to minimize the carbon footprint of your food if you are going to worry about food miles make sure that you avoid what is
• 07:00 - 07:30 transported by air this includes perishable products such as asparagus green beans strawberries and other berries just as an example let's take a look at the difference in co2 emissions between green beans that are found in dutch supermarkets the ones coming from kenya by plane emit much more co2 than the ones grown locally or from morocco which arrived in the country by sea so regardless of what you buy just make sure it arrived at your city by land or sea never by air
• 07:30 - 08:00 the best way to avoid berries traveling around the world by plane is not eating them all year round purchasing in season produce can help you reduce the carbon footprint of your food this way it's very much likely that you are not only going to avoid the products coming from far away but you will also avoid the local ones that are cultivated in heated greenhouses or stored in cold storage the amount of energy used in in-season products is usually lower and can result in products with a lower carbon footprint
• 08:00 - 08:30 don't forget the way you consume also impacts the carbon footprint of your food if you are buying a couple of oranges and placing them in a plastic bag the carbon footprint is already much higher than if you took them home in your tote bag make sure you avoid packaging when not necessary and remember any petrochemical derived packaging along the way just increases the carbon footprint of your food it is always important to check where your food comes from as we saw in this
• 08:30 - 09:00 video distance alone is not the only information that matters when it comes to carbon footprint but it can be very important and if the package does not have the information about how the product got to you knowing where it comes from can help you understand the journey that the food took to get to your table there is plenty of information available online and it is usually possible to find out how the journey might have impacted the environment do your research you don't need to be a radical vegan to
• 09:00 - 09:30 make a difference but reducing the consumption of foods with a high carbon footprint can already be helpful the total emissions from global livestock are 7.1 gigatons of co2 per year this is 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions by human activities cattle are the animal species responsible for about 65 of the livestock sector's emissions reducing the amount of beef consumption would already be a step in the right direction if your idea is to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet
• 09:30 - 10:00 in the end knowing what you eat and where it comes from can make a huge difference be aware pay attention research and make sure that what you eat is in line with the world you want to live in so that's it for this video how important are food miles we hope you like to know more about the food journey from production to your plate since you made it to the end click around and keep watching and don't forget to like our video and subscribe to our channel