Greenhouse gases and the supply chain

In recent years there has been a growing awareness amongst consumers of the issue of food miles - in other words how far food travels from its origin to the point of final consumption - and what the impact of this might be on carbon emissions. The item highlighted below is indicative of this growing concern. 

A seafood firm was accused of environmental madness yesterday for choosing to send langoustines on a 12,000-mile round trip to Thailand to have their shells removed. 

After the shellfish are caught in Scottish waters they will be frozen and shipped to the Far East where they will be peeled by hand and sent back to be sold as scampi. The move by Young s Seafood is costing 120 jobs at a plant in Annan, south-west Scotland, where the langoustines have been peeled mechanically. 

The firm claims that removing the shells by hand enhances the taste, but UK wage costs - at 6 an hour, compared with about 25p an hour in Thailand - are prohibitive. 

Friends of the Earth Scotland said the move was madness and would add to global warming . 

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