SA exporters keep close watch on carbon emissions lobby

WHILE A UK-based environmental grouping has laid down what purport to be “rulings” restricting the airfreight movement of perishable products, neither these, nor any of the other proposed regulations, are having any significant effect on SA perishable exports at the moment, according to Mike Froy, MD of Grindrod PCA. The latest swipe at airfreighting perishables – often an utter necessity in getting ripe products onto supermarket shelves before they exceed their sell-by date – is by the Soil Association. This, according to UK press reports, is a “tiny, unrepresentative organisation” promoting organic food in the UK. But its antipathy towards airfreighted perishable products is loudly presented. In order to discourage the airfreight transportation of organic farm produce from the Third World into the UK, the association is planning to impose its own, even stricter ethical standards on foreign organic foodstuffs. Standards which, if adopted by food retailers, would make the life of African farmers just that bit harder. The association’s “Organic Standard” label means that farmers in developing countries would have to show that their foodstuffs were grown organically and without the use of pesticides. The produce must also meet various other “high environmental standards”, according to the association. It did admit to the BBC that it expected some of the foreign producers would find it “impossible to meet the standards” – but that this would “eliminate the casual use of air freight”. What does this mean for SA perishable exporters? Not too much at this moment, Froy told FTW, although what the future holds is still uncertain. He has found that some food supermarkets are insisting that the display punnets/boxes of fruit and veggies imported by air depict a picture of a black plane with the words “air freighted” underneath. However, there were no restrictions imposed yet, only these few demands for “environmental warnings” on food packaging. “But it is much the same as having a health warning on a packet of cigarettes,” Froy said. “Does this stop a smoker?” He also suggested that the environmental groups agitating against the use of airfreight have set themselves an impossible target. “Most perishable cargo goes on passenger planes,” Froy said, “so the 'tree huggers' will have to stop the aviation industry in its entirety. Hardly likely!”