How well travelled
is your food?

More About Food miles

Some Fun facts about our Food Miles Calculator*

In total the tool has been used 5,913,979 times!*

Total distance calculated by the tool*: 22,345,778,357 miles.

That is approximately:
898,142 times around the earth!
29,066 times to the moon and back!
100% of the way to the sun(done).
100% of the way to Jupiter! (done).
100% of the way to Saturn! (done).
100% of the way to Uranus! (done).
100% of the way to Neptune! (done).
100% of the way to Pluto! (done).
0.093107409820833% of the way to Alpha Centauri!

The average distance calculated is: 4,072 miles


Food Miles Calculator Tag Cloud

This shows the most "tracked" items using the food miles calculator!

Almonds Apple Apples Apricot Apricots Asparagus Avacado Avocado Avocados Baby Corn Bacon Baked Beans Banana Bananas BANANNA Banna Bannana Bannanas Bannas Basil Basmati Rice Beans Beef Beef Mince Beer Beetroot Biscuits Black Pepper Blackberries Blue Berries Blueberries Blueberry Brazil Nuts Bread Broccoli Brocoli Brown Sugar Burger Butter Butternut Squash Cabbage Cake Carrot Carrots Cashew Nuts Caster Sugar Cauliflower Celery Cereal Cheese Cherries Cherry Cherry Tomatoes Chicken Chickpeas Chilli Chillies Chips Choclate Chocolate Chopped Tomatoes Chorizo Cinnamon Clementines Coco Coco Beans Cocoa Cocoa Beans Coconut Coconut Milk Coconuts Cod Coffe Coffee Coffee Beans Cookies Coriander Corn Cornflakes Courgette Crackers Crisps Croissant Cucumber Cucumbers Curry Curry Powder Dates Deez Nuts Dragon Fruit Easy Peeler Oranges Egg Eggs Feta Cheese Figs Fish Flour Food Fruit Garlic Ginger Golden Delicious Apples Grape Grapefruit Grapes Green Beans Ham Hamburger Honey Ice Cream Jam Ketchup Kiwi Kiwi Fruit Kiwis Lamb Leek Leeks Lemon Lemons Lentils Lettuce Lime Limes Long Grain Rice Lychee Mange Tout Mangetout Mango Mangoes Mangos Maple Syrup Mayonnaise Meat Melon Milk Mince Mozzarella Mozzarella Cheese Mushroom Mushrooms Mustard Nescafe Gold Blend Coffee Noodles Nutella Nuts Oats Oil Olive Olive Oil Olives Onion Onions Orange Orange Juice Oranges Oreo Palm Oil Papaya Paprika Parmesan Cheese Parsley Passion Fruit Pasta Peach Peaches Peanut Butter Peanuts Pear Pears Peas Pepper Pepperoni Peppers Pesto Pinapple Pineapple Pineapples Pink Lady Apples Pizza Plantain Plum Plums Pomegranate Popcorn Pork Potato Potatoe Potatoes Potatos Prawns Pringles Quinoa Raisins Rasberries Raspberries Raspberry Red Chilli Red Grapes Red Pepper Red Peppers Rice Runner Beans Salad Salami Salmon Salt Sausage Sausages Seaweed Shrimp Soy Sauce Spaghetti Spices Spinach Spring Onion Spring Onions Steak Strawberries Strawberry Strawberrys Sugar Sugar Snap Peas Sunflower Oil Sushi Sweet Corn Sweet Potato Sweet Potatoes Sweetcorn Tea Tinned Tomatoes Tomato Tomato Puree Tomato Sauce Tomatoe Tomatoes Tomatos Tuna Turkey Vanilla Water Water Melon Watermelon Wheat Wholewheat Fusilli Pasta Wine Yeast Yoghurt Yogurt

Food Mile Considerations

Now that you have used our Food Miles Calculator you have a rough idea of how far the food has come to get to you.

This isn't however the whole story, there are many other factors to consider when you work out the environmental impact of your food.

Internal Travel

Remember, because our tool can only track items from capital to capital it doesn't give the whole story.

Country Of Origin

In the country of origin there a lot of things to consider, things like:

  • What products or treatments have been used to treat or grow the item? This would include any feeds etc for livestock and fertilisers for fruits and vegetables
  • Has the item been picked and shipped around prior to leaving the country?
  • How has the item been packaged and packed?

This has been highlighted in a fairly recent study by the Lincoln University in New Zealand where they proved that the overall environmental impact of NZ lamb was less than that of Welsh - including importing it to the UK. Report (PDF)

Destination Country

Food miles can be added to a product when it is in the final destination country. These include any internal movement of stock between distribution centres and supermarkets, travel to and from the point of purchase and even disposal of waste from the product!

Grow Your Own

An obvious answer to the food miles debate is of course to grow your own and keep the food mileage down to about 50ft! This isn't obviously the answer for all things as we don't all have a few acres spare to graze sheep etc.

Growing your own does have the added advantage of allowing you to track exactly what chemicals if any are used. Good for the planet and good for you.

Finally

The point here is that food miles are a very complicated thing, so the tool we have put together for you is only one part of the story. It can give a good indication of the miles your food has travelled to reach you and the carbon produced as a result.

In general, local food - that is locally produced and sold - is best, so buying this would normally be the safer option!

* since 17/03/09

Food miles calculator