Today food travels thousands of miles from the farm to the consumers. Why is this? Is it a positive or negative trend?

Nowadays, much of the

food

production and processing occurs far away from where consumers live and buy groceries. While most people are accustomed to the variety of imported produce, very few of them are aware of issues

such

as external environmental costs which originate from the amount of fossil fuel used to transport

food

for long-distances There is no doubt that the Internet boom and the trend of globalization have exerted a great influence on the way that

food

choices have been made. The development of online shopping has meant that the Internet has become a worldwide retail market. Exotic

foods

that were once only available to a few people can now be bought by those living in small towns, even at a lower price than local produce. With the increasing exposure to foreign

food

culture, it is evident that ingredients for a meal are no longer confined to vegetables and meat from a local farmer’s market.

However

, the vast distance that

food

travels from plough to plate makes it vulnerable to the environment and unsustainable in the long run. Today, the term ‘

food

miles’ which refers to the distance

food

transports from where it is grown to where it is ultimately purchased or consumed is widely used when testing the environmental impact of

food

consumption,

such

as the carbon footprint of the

food

.

This

is because long-distance transport of

food

by planes, trains, trucks, or ships all consume energy in large quantities and spew pollution that contributes to global warming, and the effects the pollution have on our health are reflected in high rates of asthma and other respiratory symptoms.

Conversely

, local produce is a much healthier and more environmentally sound alternative. Without the need of being packaged, shipped and

then

delivered, local

foods

are able to preserve the nutrients to the greatest extent.

Besides

, purchasing locally grown

foods

maintains local farmland, which in turn increases green and open space and

therefore

promotes a healthy environment in the long term. In conclusion, despite the increasing availability of imported

foods

, I believe local

foods

will still be the mainstream

food

source for a good reason.