Food’s 250-mile Journey from Next Door

Credit: Flickr / Essjay NZ

This spring lamb doesn’t want to travel

Governmental and big business regulations means that food has to travel further to get to your plate

This article in the Daily Mail caught my eye, as do most articles about food. Essentially, thanks to centralization and unlogical logistics, Cornish pasties are being sent to a distribution plant 130 miles away before some of them are sent back to shops in the same town as the factory.

It reminded me of a conversation I had last year with chef Bruce Wood from Bruce’s Kitchen on Salt Spring Island. Bruce’s problem was due to government regulations rather than big business logistics. Because of government monitoring and certification of abattoirs, all the live stock (we were talking about lamb) grown on Salt Spring Island has to be shipped to the mainland to be slaughtered before it can be sent back to the restaurants on Salt Spring Island.

What government regulation hopes to achieve

   ➢ A product that is free of health risks

What government regulation actually achieves

   ➢ A product the is several days less fresh when it arrives on your plate

   ➢ Thousands of pounds of CO2 emissions

   ➢ Greater distress to the animals as they’re shipped greater distances

   ➢ Higher prices due to shipping costs

Legally you can’t even kill your own chicken in your backyard.