‘Supermarkets use carbon miles to suit their own ends’

Carbon footprint is becoming increasingly relevant in the perishable industry as environmental awareness gains ground. But some commentators believe supermarkets are not even-handed and are using it to suit their own ends. “A local company had for many years supplied baby pineapples into Germany. “The German supermarket terminated the contract with the importer using carbon miles as the excuse,” an industry source told FTW. “The same argument was used for litchis sourced by air from South Africa. But for airfreight green beans out of Kenya, carbon miles were not an issue. “We believe they use it as a stick when it suits them financially.” And then there’s the argument about belly load cargo. “If 90% of your cargo moves in the belly of scheduled passenger aircraft, how much more fuel is the airline burning to carry those loads?”