SIBA campaign given weight by government report

The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has seized on a government report which highlights food transport as one of the fastest growing areas of pollution.

SIBA claims the study, from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), gives new urgency to its campaign for more pubs to be given the opportunity to source beer locally.

DEFRA estimates the social and environmental costs of food transport are now around £9bn every year, due to road congestion, road accidents, climate change and noise and air pollution.

The government is looking to reduce the environmental and social impact of food transport by 20 per cent by 2012.

Nick Stafford, commercial director of SIBA, said: "This report notes that buying local products has the potential to greatly reduce the distance food is transported.

"An increasing concentration of pub ownership and the use of supermarkets' commercial practices as a model by pubcos mean this issue is surely as relevant in the on-trade as it is in the off-trade."

SIBA claimed its members can play a role in offsetting the potentially harmful effects of pubcos' distribution practices.

"We note the report contrasts the social and environmental costs of light goods vehicles as driven by our members with the far higher costs of HGVs," he said.

"Add to that the ridiculous practice of hauling beer all over the country to deliver it to a pub five miles from the originating brewery and it's easy to see how the pub industry can play a responsible part in reducing these costs by allowing pubs to access local beers directly, whether through individual negotiations with local brewers or through our own Direct Delivery Scheme."

Publishing the report, food and farming minister Lord Bach said: "This study shows that the 'food miles' debate is complex and that a range of factors have an effect on the overall impacts of food transport, not purely the distance travelled by individual products.

"I hope it will lead to a healthy debate between consumers, food producers, supermarkets, environmental groups and public authorities."