“Food Mileage” Thinking about food and the environment April 7, 13:13

This time it's about the relationship between food and the environment.

Challenge the problem!

Problem


One way to realize a sustainable society is to shorten the distance between food production areas and consumption areas (food mileage) as much as possible.

Why is this thought to lead to the realization of a sustainable society?

Explain.


(Ichikawa Junior High School 2018 renamed)

Food mileage, words that you are not familiar with have come out.


We asked experts about the meaning of this word and how to think about food and the environment from this keyword.

What is food mileage?

This is Tetsuya Nakata, who has been studying food mileage for over 20 years.


What does food mileage mean?

Mr. Nakata


"Food mileage is the number obtained by multiplying the amount of food transported by the transportation distance. For example, if you carry 20 tons of food for 50 kilometers, it is 20 x 50 and 1000 tons / kilometers. It will be calculated. "

How much food did you carry and how far did you carry it?


Knowing this number will help predict the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during shipping.

Mr. Nakata


"What kind of food we choose is actually related to global environmental issues. By comparing only the size of food mileage, we can understand to some extent."

What happens when you actually calculate food mileage?


Mr. Nakata investigated the imported food.

It is a graph comparing Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States for a total of 6 countries.


You can see that the value of food mileage in Japan is significantly higher.


There are two main reasons.

Mr. Nakata


"Although the amount is the same, the transportation distance is very long. Since Europe is basically land-based, there are many imports from countries near such land-based countries, and the United States is actually Mexico or Canada. It means that there are many imports from neighboring countries that are connected to the land. "

Another reason is the large import of raw materials for grains and cooking oil.

Mr. Nakata:


"It's more livestock food than wheat that people eat. American corn and soybeans and rapeseed are also imported in large quantities, but this also does not mean that soybeans and rapeseed are eaten as they are. Most of them are used as raw materials for cooking oil. Over the latter half of the war, the Japanese diet has reduced the consumption of rice by half. Instead, it is a livestock product or the consumption of cooking oil. It's increased many times, though it means that the eating habits have become westernized. "

Not only the geographical conditions, but also the change in eating habits is a big background.

Effect of local production for local consumption

So how can you reduce the value of food mileage?


One of the methods is local production for local consumption.

This is a "local production for local consumption lunch" made by sticking to ingredients from Kumamoto such as rice, vegetables and fish.

The food mileage for local production for local consumption was 12 kilograms.


On the other hand, if it is made from domestic ingredients, not limited to Kumamoto, it will be 87 kilograms / kilometer.


It exceeded 320 kilograms and kilometers when made from ingredients available on the market, including imported products.

Mr. Nakata


"If you calculate, it will be reduced to about 30 times, conversely, in the case of local production for local consumption, it will be reduced to 1/30."

How should we, the general consumer, perceive this difference of 30 times?

Mr. Nakata


"Even if the menu is the same or the food is the same, it may look the same and the nutrients and taste may not change so much if you choose the one that is particular about domestic production for local consumption. However, the fact is that it makes a huge difference in terms of its relationship with the environment. "

Global environment and food

Reducing food imports not only reduces carbon dioxide emissions during transportation, but also protects the environment of the production areas.

Mr. Nakata


"It is said that there is a shortage of water in the whole world, for example. Or, due to global warming and climate change, there are various problems in production conditions even in production areas. Under such circumstances, we depend on overseas for a large amount of food. On the contrary, it means that we are importing more and more water produced using scarce water resources and farmland, which is not enough overseas. Water is relatively imported to Japan. Since it is abundant, I think it would be desirable from a global environmental perspective to increase domestic production by using more domestic resources, that is, to raise the self-sufficiency rate. "

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan's food self-sufficiency rate in the second year of Reiwa was 37% on a calorie basis.


Mr. Nakata believes that awareness of food mileage will lead to an improvement in the food self-sufficiency rate and will also be an opportunity to review eating habits.

Mr. Nakata


"I think it is important to keep livestock products and oil a little more modest and to eat a lot of rice and vegetables. It is also for your own health and at the same time it will lead to an improvement in the self-sufficiency rate. Furthermore, I think it is a problem that is directly related to the health of the global environment through the reduction of food mileage. "

So, the answer is that by shortening food mileage, you can "save fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions for transportation."



Carbon dioxide emissions during transportation are also a problem, but carbon dioxide is also emitted in making chemical fertilizers, processing them into food, and disposing of leftover food.


Mr. Nakata said that he wants people to be aware that food in general has a connection with the environment, triggered by food mileage.

In "Migake, Curiosity!" Of "Weekly Maru-Knowledge News" (broadcast at 8:25 am on Sunday), we will delve into the news every week on the subject of current affairs given in the entrance examination.


Let's think of "why?", "In the first place" that you really want to know, as a Kamakura caster!



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Please take a look from the link below!

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/special/maruwaka-migake/