An Overview of Pollution and Food

Now that we have introduced ourselves, let’s take a dive into the relationship between the food industry and the environment. We have selected 3 main stages of the food industry to analyse its impacts on the environment, ecosystem services and human health.

Production of Food

In this first stage, food production often occurs on animal farms and agricultural lands. While these sites act as the beginning of the journey taken by food, they also serve as a source of pollution, both to local and global ecosystems.

In agriculture, over-application chemicals like pesticides and fertilisers used to increase the yield of crops greatly result in water and soil pollution which are the most important factors impacting food safety in China (Lu et al., 2015). When these pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies, contamination occurs and results in the decline of ecosystem services and human health. Moreover, waste products of farm animals, like cows, have resulted in an increase in greenhouse gases emissions, including methane (Schwartz, 2017). The air pollution has also impacted the climate and posed health problems for local communities. 

Transportation of Food

Given that countries like Singapore do not have much agricultural land and farms, we are heavily reliant on importing our food from overseas sources. But have we ever given the thought about the processes on how the food gets from farms elsewhere to our plates?

Once passed the food production stage, they are packed, usually with plastic and styrofoam packaging, and shipped or trucked from source to suppliers and then on to retailers. At times, we also see the ‘air-flown’ label on meat marketed for its freshness. Little did you know that meat would have generated 50 times more carbon emissions than its shipped counterpart (MacGregor & Vorley, 2006). The plastic packagings of these products are also not properly disposed of, especially in less developed countries, resulting in land pollution as well as polluting our waters (Ritchie & Roser, 2018). 

Consumption

As consumers, our ecological footprint also depends on our food choice and amount of food waste generated. Our food choices, such as Jade’s favourite sushi and Ridzuan’s favourite beef steak, are also contributors to the pollutive food industry. However, it is not to say that we cannot enjoy our favourite meals, but we should be more aware of the origins and environmental implications.

Moreover, we should also be mindful of our eating habits: Do we leave a lot of food waste? Do we throw away a lot of expired food? Food waste is a serious problem with around 744 million kg of food waste, or equivalent to 2 bowls of rice per person per day, generated in 2019 just in Singapore alone (Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, 2020). This number is expected to increase with a rising population and affluence level, further straining our ecosystem and resources.

Therefore, join the journey of this blog as we uncover the footprints of food to answer these questions: Where does our food come from? What environmental impact does it have? How did Covid-19 affect our ecological footprint? What can we do to prevent it?

Trailing off,
Jade and Ridzuan

 

References

Lu, Y., Song, S., Wang, R., Liu, Z., Meng, J., Sweetman, A., Jenkins, A., Ferrier, R., Li, H., Luo, W. and Wang, T. (2015). Impacts of soil and water pollution on food safety and health risks in China. Environment International, 77, pp.5-15.

MacGregor, J. and Vorley, B. (2006). Fair Miles? The concept of ‘food miles’ through a sustainable development lens. International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED): London

Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. (2020). Food Waste, https://www.towardszerowaste.gov.sg/foodwaste/ (Accessed on 24.8.2020)

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2018). Plastic Pollution, https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution (Accessed on 24.8.2020)

Schwartz, S. (2017). 5 Facts About Animal Agriculture and Air Pollution That You Just Can’t Argue With, https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/facts-about-animal-agriculture-and-air-pollution/ (Accessed on 24.8.2020)