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FOOD MILES - “French” Beans |
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Rose Prince (Saturday Telegraph, 21 January 2006) explores beans that are clocking up the air miles It's the greatest vegetable misnomer since Brussels sprouts. 'French beans' come from all over the world They are the scourge of environmentalists, but are they really the villains of the supermarket shelves? What is a French bean? The nomenclature is vague, but the Oxford Dictionary of Plants identifies the French bean as both a green bean to eat fresh and whole, and also, confusingly, as a 'kidney' bean to be podded, dried and cooked. In fact, the French bean is a subspecies of the original 'French bean'. It is often called a 'dwarf,' 'snap' or 'string' bean (even though modern hybrids no longer have the string that had to be pulled off the pod before cooking). Where are French beans grown? The season in northern Europe runs from June to October, and super-markets source more locally in summer. But regular supplies of the same bean are harvested throughout our winter in Africa, mainly Kenya and Gambia. Runner and yard beans are grown in South Africa, Thailand and Brazil. How do fresh, non-european beans reach us? Via air freight. Flamingo, a major company supplying beans, other vegetables and flowers from Africa and elsewhere to several British supermarkets, says that it delivers 20 planeloads of its produce to the UK every week. The vegetables are blast-chilled immediately after picking and processing (shelling, top-and-tailing) and the company says produce can get from field to plate in 48 hours. Are fresh beans food-mile friendly? No. Beans fly more than 3,600 miles to the UK from Kenya, at a massive cost in terms of fossil fuel. Sea freight is the most environmentally friendly way to send food overseas, air freight the least. Any environmental issues? Environmentalists say growers deplete the water supply, damage large areas of historic natural landscape and bring in a large immigrant workforce. These factors, they say, push indigenous people off the land, eating into food and fuel resources. The bean 'giants' dispute this, claiming care is taken to clean and keep the water supply high, using water stored in reservoirs instead of taking it from running streams. UK supermarket supplier Flamingo says that, in Kenya, it belongs to a scheme that pipes water direct to 'subsistence' farmers who grow food only for themselves. Are there pesticide residues? Yes, but there is good news: many of the big companies (including Flamingo) increasingly adopt bio-controls (live predatory insects) against pests. However, last year the Pesticides Residue Committee reported residues exceeding the maximum allowed residue levels (MRL) on samples of beans from Safeway-Morrisons (Egypt) and Asda (Egypt). There were also disputed residues on Marks & Spencer beans. No residues were found on beans from Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. Keep in mind that farmworkers and the eco-system of the exporting countries can also suffer from the effects of using agricultural chemicals. Who farms and picks beans? In Africa (which supplies most beans to the supermarkets), there are both large farms with thousands of employees and small former subsistence farmers, who work to the large exporters' (and British supermarkets') specifications. Social welfare standards vary, but according to recent reports some of the larger exporters are providing schooling for local children as well as for the children of their employees. They also provide medical care, including education in HIV/Aids awareness, family planning and hygiene. Fairtrade-accredited beans do not yet exist, however. Nor do we know how much pressure supermarket chains put upon the exporting companies, and those that supply them, to keep prices as low as possible. Do beans need all that packaging? No. Air freighted produce would be more eco-friendly if put in plastic bags, not wrapped on hard plastic trays. Few local authorities will accept these for recycling, and they are bulky for landfill. Should I buy Kenyan or not? This is a personal choice.
My advice is to treat air freighted vegetables like cod: have a little, and not too often. What the supermarkets say Sainsbury's buys beans from Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and non-government farms in Zimbabwe). Beans from the first two countries are sea- or road-freighted; beans from the other nations travel by air. Sainsbury's suppliers have a good record for very low use of pesticides. Waitrose sources its beans from ecological farms with good social welfare schemes and non-chemical, biological-pest control. Tesco sources beans from Kenya and Egypt and says it is investigating a fair-traded variety. Where to buy french beans in their european season Try farmers' markets and farm shops.
The following include locally grown beans in their veg-box schemes:
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