Just how much crude oil is in that ketchup???
Aug. 11th, 2007 by AlAs oil prices skyrocket and the impact of green house emissions continues to exacerbate damage to the planet, the debate invariably turns to energy conservation, and how nations and their citizens can reduce their overall oil needs. For the most part these debates center around transportation, and the usage of alternative technologies in motoring and home heating or cooling are often discussed; but what rarely receives the attention it merits is the global commercial system of food production, and the massive amounts of oil that are needed to stock our pantries with the products we consume without a second thought.
A case in point is ketchup. A recent Swedish study on domestically produced tomato ketchup identified 52 separate stages in the process and shipping of the product, and all of these stages were dependent on oil. The tomatoes were grown in Italy and shipped to a separate facility for processing into tomato paste, packed and shipped into bags that were themselves shipped from out of the country, and then shipped from the Italian factory to a factory in Sweden. By the time the tomato ketchup had reached the supermarket, different products needed for the production and packaging of the ketchup and been trucked from around Europe 52 times.
Ketchup is only a single example of how dependent our food processing and distribution networks are on cheap and available oil, and just how much oil is being burned in the production of any one of the thousands and thousands of products that line our supermarket shelves.
We are reliant on, and have become accustomed to the finest of the world’s produce, available throughout the year without a thought of seasonality or the origination of production. In many parts of the world, it may not be natural to be enjoying asparagus in January, but we count ourselves lucky that it is available when we want it. We rarely consider that the asparagus that was obviously not harvested from under the snow drifts outside, was likely trucked and then flown to our doorsteps, and as a result has caused the consumption of a significant quantity of oil in the process.
As oil prices continue to rise, it will be interesting to see how high food production costs must go before consumers balk at the implied oil costs in imported foods, and when a head of iceberg lettuce in February may be an extravagance.
I still remember my mother talking about growing up in the 1930’s, in the heartland of America, when all they had to eat all winter in terms of fresh vegetables were onions and potatoes, and home-canned fruits and vegetables that had been put up during the summer at home. The one orange or tangerine in their Christmas stocking was really a treat back then, as it was the one piece they got all winter. And no, they were not poor, they were some of the most well-off people in the small town where she lived. Her father was a lawyer, and mother a housewife, and they lived in a big house. I remember in the 1970’s being the first time we saw fresh seafood in the mid-western states. Previously, you could get fish that had been frozen and thawed. But in the 1970’s they started flying it into the interior of America FRESH from California and Louisiana. Amazing what we can get today all over the world.
When I first came to my Middle Eastern country, everything was only available seasonally. Artichokes only in winter, broccoli not at all, no lettuce or any green vegetables in summer, certain fruits only for a few weeks. I felt that was a real hardship. But now that REAL supermarkets have opened in my country the past six years, more is becoming available, and at more times of year. Of course, it’s all being shipped in from other places, much more than before. Even the local farmers’ market has been relocated outside of town, so that means people can only get there by driving in their cars.
Recently we have had some power cuts. One was for more than 24 hours in temperatures of 44°C. Our home freezer was melting. The next time I went to the supermarket, I wondered about if THEY had lost power, and if so, if we were buying the food, or how much money the market would lose from everything going bad.
Eileen
Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas
elementaryteacher.wordpress.com