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Global issues, local actionPart 4

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Learning objectives

Where does your food come from?

Teacher’s notes included in the Notes PageFlash activity. These activities are not editable.

Web addressesExtension activities

Icons key: For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation

Sound Printable activity

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To prepare them for sale, foods must be processed, packaged and then transported to the shops. However, all of these processes have negative impacts on sustainable development. For example:

Where’s your food from?

Preservatives used in food processing can have adverse health effects on some consumers. Excess food packaging creates unnecessary waste, which impacts on the environment.Food transported over long distances from other countries, often by air, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

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Case study: naked cucumbers

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Food miles

To meet the demand for fresh produce all year round, many retailers source foods from all over the world. The distance this produce has travelled is measured in food miles:

Chicken from Thailand: 5,930 miles

Apples fromChile: 7,239 miles

Jelly sweets from Germany: 476 miles

Tomatoes from Saudi Arabia: 3,079 miles

Carrots from South Africa: 5,987 miles

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The amazing travelling sandwich (1)

How far might the contents of your sandwich have travelled?

Take a typical cheese and ham sandwich…

Lettuce from Spain: 285 miles

Ham from Denmark: 596 miles

Cheese from Switzerland: 477 miles

1,358 miles

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The amazing travelling sandwich (2)

Or a prawn salad sandwich…

Lettuce from Spain: 285 miles

Prawns from Indonesia: 7,279 miles

Tomatoes from Saudi Arabia: 3,079 miles

Peppers from Holland: 223 miles

10,866 miles

What is being done to try and reduce the distance our food has travelled?

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Activity

Produce one of the following to try to encourage the purchase of locally sourced goods:

an article for the local newsa blog / article for a local websitea poster for your school.

Think carefully about your target audience for this marketing campaign, and give reasons why you have chosen to target them. Find out what factors would be most likely to persuade them to buy local food products and incorporate these into your campaign.