Food Miles Calculator

Welcome to the new International food miles calculator. We have recently improved the calculator so that its not only uk based. Now you can track it from any capital city in the world!

What are Food Miles?

Food miles are a way of attempting to measure how far food has travelled before it reaches the consumer. It is a good way of looking at the environmental impact of foods and their ingredients. It includes getting foods to you, but also getting waste foods away from you, and to the landfill!

What Does That Mean?

It means that it is time to think about where your food has come from and what environmental effects this has had.

The tool

Where are you?

Where has your food come from...?

Have a look on the packaging to see where abouts the product has come from and then simply select it from the list below.

What are you tracking...?

What food or item are you tracking? Entering this will help us to compile a list of common items being transported.

Your Details

If you want to let us know what you think add your comments here!

Name:

Comments?

What Are The Effects?

The effects of food miles can be measured in the pollution that is caused. Think about the distance travelled, then think about how that distance was covered. Was it by Plane? Boat? Road?

What Can I Do?

Buy Local! That's the key. This means supporting local growers. Its much better for the environment growing and buying organic, but what if that organic product has come from, say Chile? That's a long haul journey for your apples to go! Its better to go down the road (on a bicycle) and buy from your local farmer, or grower.

Beware though, even some foods that may appear to be from local suppliers, if bought is supermarkets, have probably toured the country between depots before arriving back in the shop.

Why not walk to the local shop or get the bus? This all helps to reduce the "food mileage" effect. Composting packaging, where possible, is another way of reducing the environmental effects of our food. This reduces the amount of waste that needs to be taken to the landfill sites and again helps to cut pollution.

Where can I find out more?

Find out more about Food Miles and some fun statistics from our calculator -> More about food miles

Please help us to improve this by giving feedback on our forums. You dont need to register to post comments

Books about Foodmiles

[1]All data in this table is based upon official UK data from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, revised March 2001. Emissions for other fuels can be found on DEFRA's Environmental Reporting page.

The Car mileage figure is based upon an average UK family car achieving 29mpg.

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