Academic warns of consumption crisis

The amount of food we eat and the energy it takes to produce, process and transport is unsustainable.

That was the stark message presented to delegates at M&C Report's Restaurant 2010 conference by Dr David Barling, one of the leading academic experts on the issue of food sustainability at the Centre for Food Policy at City University in London.

Put simply, if the world continues to eat and consume in the same vein then we will run out of food. However, its not just food levels that under threat.

The amount of green house gases (GHG) emitted in the process of food growing, rearing and producing is staggering and presents the UK with an equally as dangerous issue, said Baring.

Barling outlined that food consumption accounts for 31% of all of the EU's consumption-related GHG emissions. In 2001, agriculture was responsible for 14% of all global GHG emissions and according to research in the UK in 2008, agriculture and food is responsible for around 18% of those same GHGs.

What is more, 25% of all freight miles in the UK are transporting food and according to the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) half of these journeys are undertaken by empty HGVs (returning home).

Barling also said that 5.2 million tonnes of food-related packaging and a further 6.7 million tonnes of food waste were generated by UK homes every year.

He said that these stark figures were attracting the growing interest of policy makers and legislators, as the Government works up strategies to lower the amount of carbon produced by the economy.