Feature Story:

WHAT EVER YOU WANT – WHEN EVER YOU WANT IT

VAST QUANTITIES OF FOOD ARE TRANSPORTED AROUND THE WORLD, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE MORE CHOICE FOR THOSE CONSUMERS WHO CAN AFFORD IT.
BUT HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? AND IS THE GLOBAL FOOD DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY SUSTAINABLE OVER THE LONG TERM? SIMON CREASEY INVESTIGATES...

Twenty years ago the idea of sitting down to a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream on Christmas Day would have been scoffed at. However, over the past decade seasonal foods, such as strawberries – which are traditionally at their peak between April and July – have undergone a radical makeover thanks to the globalization of the food industry.

Historically, fresh foods were consumed close to where they were grown because they perished quickly and preservation was either too difficult to achieve or the cost was prohibitive. In addition, the transport infrastructure was insufficiently developed to move the foodstuff from the field to the store before it deteriorated.

But today, thanks to highly efficient transport links that have opened up the globe and major advances in food science technology, volumes of food imports into industrialized nations are increasing. As a consequence consumers can get their hands on almost any food at any time of the year.

While this scenario appeals to some, question marks have been raised about whether or not
this practice is sustainable, particularly in the light of the recent push towards local sourcing
by some of the world’s largest retailers, the backlash against genetically modified crops and
cloned livestock, and the increasing importance to consumers of issues such as carbon neutrality.

As the debate about consumer demands versus consumer concerns comes to a head, there has never been a better time to examine how the future will shape up for global food distribution.

A quick trip to a European supermarket underlines the current state of affairs. A typical shopping basket might contain New Zealand lamb, herbs from Israel, clementines from Morocco, strawberries from America and avocados from Chile. Indeed, in the UK, the average supermarket vegetable is estimated to have traveled about 600 miles. So commonplace has this phenomenon become that the phrase “food miles” was specially created to describe it (see food miles box). But it’s not just aviation miles that a product accumulates on its trip from a foreign field to the dinner plate – it’s also clocked up significant mileage at the start and end of its journey ... Download the Magazine (below) to read the complete article

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