Report on a Survey of Local Food in Supermarkets in Nottingham

Nottingham Friends of the Earth

June 2002

by Thomas Dawson

1. Background and Introduction

Last year, air transport for food imports was the fastest growing source of CO₂ emissions, the main cause of the dangerous climate change which is now occurring. Furthermore, even British food is taken to central depots in the UK before being trucked out to supermarkets.

Locally produced and sold food reduces these ‘food miles’. In addition it also helps limit damage to the environment by needing less packaging and chemicals to preserve it during transit.

Local distribution systems would reduce congestion on the roads and benefit local economies; they can help to strengthen local communities too. There is also evidence that farmers who sell more directly to the public change their practices by using less pesticides and growing a greater diversity of crops. (There is more background information on this in national FOE publications and on the websites listed in the References.)

Nottingham Friends of the Earth decided make sustainable food and farming one of its campaigns. The bulk of this report describes some recent action taken.

2. Aims of the Project

The aim of this project is to make it easier for people in Nottingham to buy local food. By ‘local’ we mean (a) from Nottinghamshire or, failing this, (b) from the East Midlands. Of course, no one is claiming that Nottingham can supply everything we need. But it should be noted that even when potatoes, for example, are in season in here, it may well be that a supermarket stocks them from overseas.

As most people do the majority of their shopping for groceries in supermarkets we decided to campaign to promote more local food in these outlets.

We first checked with a local body, FIG ([2]), which has a special interest in this area, to find out what had already been done in this direction. As there was surprisingly little, it seemed useful to pursue this campaign.

Other aims were to remind the supermarkets of (or make known to them) the demand for local food, encourage good practice in local sourcing, and to raise the awareness of the issue with local people.

3. The Survey

It was intended to carry out a survey of local food in supermarkets in Nottingham and then publish the results, possibly in a letter to a local newspaper among other places.To this end we sent a questionnaire to 31 supermarkets in Nottingham. (The branches we sent it to are listed in Appendix (b).)

We asked them if they specially sourced certain products locally and how customers could identify local produce. We also asked for the most local source of eleven everyday items including apples, potatoes, bread, milk, eggs, and poultry. (See Appendix (a) for a copy of the questionnaire.)

4. The Results

The results were disappointing, but not unexpected: most supermarkets do not source produce locally except on occasion for certain speciality items such as Melton Mowbray pies. Three of the supermarket chains have not replied to date. Only the CO-OP attempted to provide specific answers to the questionnaire.

It is significant that of the companies which replied, only one of them was able to respond at the level of individual outlets. The CO-OP, Iceland, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all referred the questions to their head offices.

The exception was ASDA. Only two of the four branches in Nottingham did reply. One of these stated that it did not appear to have any locally sourced products at all!

The following table was drawn up for inclusion in the Nottingham Friends of the Earth newsletter to crudely summarise the results.

Best	CO-OP	very high level of awareness of issue some good practice, but sourcing policy lagging well behind this
	Tesco, Iceland	aware of issue very marginal bias given to local produce
	Sainsbury’s, ASDA, and Marks and Spencer	apparently unaware of any demand for local food ‘local’ interpreted as ‘British’
Worst	Kwik-Save, Morrisons	no response

We now examine the replies in more detail.

4.1. Interpretation of ‘Local’ and the Companies’ Policies

Sainsbury’s apparently regard ‘local’ as meaning ‘produced in the UK’. ASDA, The CO-OP, Iceland and Tesco similarly stressed that in principle they support British farmers ‘wherever possible’ [ASDA].

This shows that we are very far from the ideal of local distribution systems. It also diverts attention from the transportation of food: it is still objectionable to move these goods up and down the country according economic criteria which do not take into account the effect on the environment.

Furthermore, in the words of one of the replies from Tesco, the way Tesco implements this policy is to ‘work very hard with British producers and manufacturers, to give them every opportunity to sell to us, in place of foreign competition’. It is certain that this statement, which is hardly reassuring for British producers nor a satisfactory curb on product miles, is not an exaggeration.

Perhaps the most negative attitude was shown by ASDA and Marks and Spencer who disowned responsibility for the journey-lives of its produce by remarking that most of their suppliers are large national companies (or, at least, not local).

Tesco claimed it was ‘important to buy local whenever possible’, but it is clear from the rest of the sentence, partially quoted above, that there is very limited scope to do so and that here ‘local’ seems to mean ‘British’.

The most encouraging and comprehensive reply was from the CO-OP, which expressed a serious commitment to the principle of local food. It says it has developed a number of local and regional sources, in particular bakeries. Most impressive is the announcement that it is about to create a ‘Local Sourcing Development Manager’ who will help put more locally-produced goods on its shelves.

However the letter did not rule out sourcing produce from overseas even when in season in the UK, nor did it mention to what extent food is moved around for processing before arriving in the outlets.

The CO-OP was the only company to supply a list of the most local sources for the products we asked about. It revealed that while bread and some milk, eggs, and potatoes are sometimes sourced in Nottingham, the apples and pears it sells come from at least as far as Kent. Poultry is supplied by ‘various English sources, including Lincolnshire’. The retailer acknowledges that the proportions of local food in the different outlets will vary.

The CO-OP points out that it supports local food by providing facilities for farmers’ markets at the Toton Superstore and providing money for allotment schemes.

Iceland is also ‘mindful’ of local sourcing. It reports that its own research of customers’ demand suggests that local is only of ‘some importance’.

4.2. Identifying Local Food in Supermarkets

As is becoming clear, there are very few reliable lines of local food to be found in supermarkets, and the sources of, for example, pears can vary widely from week to week. In view of this the next best thing is at least to be able to identify the country of origin of produce. There is currently no legal requirement for retailers to display this, but most of the larger supermarkets do give the information. This is encouraging.

As regards finding local food in the CO-OP, the company says it has introduced special roundels giving information on the origin of on certain lines. But, at least at Toton outlet on 26/05/02, the present writer could not find any indicating even the county of the UK. As mentioned above, some others do label certain ‘niche’ products as local. However, we repeat that these products may still have travelled widely in the region (or further) for processing.

Tesco claimed that the cost of such detailed labelling is prohibitive. However in some Scandinavian countries the origin of meat is given to the very farm, and there are free telephones at hand for the customer to check! Now this goes well beyond what is asked for, but illustrates what is possible. Tesco made a net profit of £1,000,000,000 last year and would surely manage to incorporate this information on its labels if it felt there was a demand.

Interestingly, some packs of poultry in branches of Kwik-Save have been seen branded with the ‘NG16’ postcode - a doubtlessly unintentional example of good practice, and not part of a general policy of the chain.

5. Conclusion

The CO-OP is highly aware of the issue and is taking steps in the right direction. There are other isolated examples of good practice. However those wishing to eat local food must seek out suitable small retailers (FIG provides a list of such outlets), make use of farmers’ markets, or grow it themselves.

The large companies do have teams such as the CO-OP’s which is responsible for ‘selecting the most appropriate ranges for our store base and customer profile and incorporating the “locally produced” goods they consider right for that category’. In somewhat plainer words, Iceland stated that it is monitoring the position and ‘will make changes in line with our customers [sic] demands.’ So supermakets would be prepared to investigate alternative ways of supplying the outlets if enough of their customers asked for local food.

Of course, most supermarkets belong to huge, national companies which find it much more convenient to treat food distribution at the national and international level. The individual outlets do not appear to have the precept or freedom to source locally. Unless new legislation is introduced or the tax regime is modified (for example by taxing aviation fuel or reducing tax on local products - effectively a tax on product miles), this is unlikely to change.

6. Follow-Ups

Edited versions of this report were published in the Nottingham Friends of the Earth newsletter (June 2002) and Nottingham Friends of the Earth website ([3]). Results were also sent to the letters page of Ethical Consumer Magazine

Copies of this report have been sent to interested parties including Friends of the Earth (national and East Midlands), FIG, SERA, and Sustain.

7. Appendices

(a) Copy of the Questionnaire

Nottingham
Friends of
the Earth

13/04/02

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing on behalf of Nottingham Friends of the Earth. We are concerned about the issue of ‘food miles’. I would be most grateful if you could answer the following questions so that we can advise our members, and other interested members of the public, where they can buy locally produced food.

1. Are there any products you specially source locally? (By ‘local’ we mean (a) from Nottinghamshire or, secondarily, (b) from the East Midlands.)

2. What is your most local source for each of the following products:

1. apples;
2. pears;
3. carrots;
4. cucumbers;
5. potatoes;
6. bread;
7. cheese;
8. milk;
9. eggs;
10. pork;

11. poultry?