Three-quarters of the organic food flown in to Britain from overseas could be stripped of its valued status, as part of a plan to cut carbon emissions by eliminating air-freighted food from supermarket shelves.
Only those farmers or processors which can prove they meet stringent ethical standards would be allowed to keep their organic status, the Soil Association announced on October 25.
The environmental group's policy director Lord Melchett estimated that currently only about a quarter of all exporters of organic food met high enough ethical standards to keep their all-important organic label. Farmers must start investing in local communities, allow their workers to form unions and fund education schemes by 2009 if they want to keep their status. "Some will find it impossible I suspect," he said.
Sweet potatoes and salad flown in from America would the most likely foods to be stripped of their organic status.
The measures follow a public consultation in which scores of respondents called for food transported by air to be banned from carrying the organic logo. More than half of those who responded said they wanted to see an outright ban in a bid to stop one of the main causes of carbon emissions. Air freight generates 177 times more greenhouse gases than shipping, according to the Soil Association.
But the organisation, which certifies about 70 per cent of Britain's £1.9 billion organic food sector, said an outright ban would hit producers in developing countries who relied on organic exports for a decent profit. It also said that organic farming was often a force for good in Africa, helping to cut down on pesticide poisoning, which hits 60 million people a year.
One Ghanaian pineapple company, Blue Skies, said that it would be impossible to continue supplying Waitrose and Sainsbury's if it could no longer air freight. "To cut a pineapple or mango, take it down to the port and expect consumers to eat it five weeks later is impossible," said its director Anthony Pile. His company complies with the Soil Association's ethical standards so would keep its status under the proposals.
However, Lord Melchett insisted the elimination of air freight was inevitable over time. "Air freight will become a thing of the past. It has to," he said. He attacked international development minister, Gareth Thomas, who earlier this week called on the Association to "leave things as they are".
Mr Melchett said: "In a world threatened by climate change that seems to me an irresponsible and unthinking attitude."
Just 1 per cent of all organic food - in weight terms - is flown into the UK, mostly pre-cut fruit and vegetables popular in the lunchtime snack section of supermarket aisles. These imports equate to £42 million, but the Soil Association warns that air freight is growing rapidly and could "obliterate" all the cuts made within the UK by households cutting down on carbon emissions.
The Telegraph
