INFORMATION BULLETIN
Date: 25 October 2007
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Defra today announced the publication of Food Transport Indicator Statistics
Jeff Rooker, Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming, and Animal said:
“The statistics released today will help to inform our view on the impact of food transportation. However, transportation is just one element in the food production chain. Food miles alone are an incomplete way of judging whether the food we eat is sustainable.
“The impact of the environment is complex and variable depending on a number of factors other than transportation including, production methods, sourcing, degrees of processing and packaging. Therefore, it is important to consider the relationship between the distance travelled by food and the overall impact on the environment of how food is produced.
“In addition these statistics will help to monitor the impact of the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (FISS), published in April 2006, which aims to improve the food industry’s environmental, social and economic performance by encouraging the widespread adoption of best practice by the industry. For food transportation the FISS challenges the industry to reduce the social and environmental costs of domestic food transport by the industry itself by 20% by 2012.”
Further Information
Copies of the statistics and the methodology can be found at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/index/list.asp?i_id=180
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Page published: 25 October 2007 12:10