Green beans

In some small supermarket outlets, there is sometimes little vegetable choice apart from green beans from Kenya. Having swallowed the seasonal and local mantra, such obvious food miles leave a bad taste.

However, in some cases, fair miles rather than food miles are what count.

The charity Farm Africa has helped raise local farmers in Kenya out of poverty through the green-beans-to-Europe farming model.

“There have been reports by Oxfam about the conditions in green bean processing factories in Kenya, but those reports don’t conclude that we shouldn’t have green beans, because of the gross economic good the industry does,” says Gray.

And even on the food miles front, the story isn’t clear-cut.

A government study into food miles found that food transport produces 1.8 per cent of the total reported UK CO2 emissions from all sectors.

The 2007 report found that the total airfreight of African fruit and vegetables is 0.1 per cent of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, whereas foodrelated car travel is 0.38 per cent of UK emissions. The report concluded that one packet of Kenyan green beans on a journey transporting only food is the equivalent to 12 school runs in a car. A return tourist flight from London to Barcelona is 420 packets.

“Looking at the total life cycle of a food item, rather than just the food miles, gives a more accurate indication of carbon footprint,” says Gray. “If you don’t have a beef burger, but drive to the supermarket to buy a plant burger wrapped in plastic, the carbon footprint could end up being higher.”