Tag: Food Consumption

Fancy A Takeaway?

Door-to-door ordering services have made grabbing a takeaway unbelievably easy. However, this convenience comes at a cost, not only to our bank acounts due to packaging and delivery costs, but to many others involved (or sometimes not) in the process. This blog discusses the sustainability challenges takeaway culture has created.

Contents: Many fast food chains tend to unethically farm animals to produce high volumes at a low cost. McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut are among those who have been criticised for their lack of animal welfare standards. An example of this includes ‘factory-farmed chickens’, which involves mass farming purely for human consumption. These chickens will never see the outside; are confined to small spaces; forced to have their beaks clipped without anaesthesia, designed to stop them from pecking at each other, which only occurs due to the confined spaces; and forced into genetic manipulation so suppliers can get more for their buck. That’s just chickens, McDonald’s is the world’s largest buyer of beef, and as discussed before, cattle farming is a huge producer of greenhouse gasses. With almost 42,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide, a huge footprint is made.

Cooking: Besides deep fried food being unhealthy due to the oil absorbed in the process, fryers are energy intensive to maintain a high oil temperature. Commercial fryers tend to be larger and in continual use, requiring even more energy.

Packaging: Compared to eating in a restaurant, takeaways produce significantly more packaging and, inevitably, waste. Despite many fast food chains in Europe replacing plastic packaging for paper, this does not solve the issue, as a rise in cardboard results in high volumes of deforestation. Furthermore, cardboard is widely recyclable, but rarely will we recycle such packaging as it requires washing, and that defeats the convenience of it, right? A study in 2021 found that fast food chains are accountable for 88% of litter found on coastlines.

Widely sourced ingredients: Following on from unethical farming, takeaway foods are rarely made up of locally sourced ingredients, meaning they have a heavy carbon footprint, are less likely to be fresh and hold a lower nutritional value.

Food waste: We are often unaware of the portion sizes when ordering online, so it can be tempting to over order, especially when hungry! But this results in food being thrown away. In fact, £1.8 billion worth of takeaway food is wasted annually in the UK, the biggest reason being a personal safety concern of reheating food. Usually, homemade food is safe to reheat; the fact we question takeaway food should be a hint that it is not high quality or fresh.

Delivery: Takeaways got their label from the fact that you went to the restaurant, ordered in-store and then took it home. The rise of delivery services has transformed this into door-to-door delivery, with petrol cars and motorbikes among the most used vehicles. On top of this, routes do not tend to be efficient, but rather favour the order in which meals were cooked. While bikes are a popular choice for city centers, they have a limit as to how far they can go before the food spoils.

Chains: Delivery services often favour chain restaurants and, therefore, make it difficult for independent entrepreneurs to compete. Unfortunately, these smaller services often have locally sourced food with unique ways of preparation, which we become unaware of as they are buried by the masses of fast food on offer.

Instead of takeaways, my friends and I create theme nights (the most recent being Greek with a watch party of Mama Mia). We each bring one or two dishes (sweet or savoury) and create our own banquet! This is a great way to try new foods, test out new recipes and spend time with friends. It may not be as convenient, but that’s ok because that’s not where my value lies. I like to choose the healthy option for our planet and I save a few pennies in the meantime!

18th Feb 2025

Climate Change, Consumerism, Deforestation, Farming, Fast Food, Food Consumption, Greenwashing, Justice, Overconsumption, Single-use Plastic, Vegan, Waste
The Broken UK Food System
The Current UK Food System

Each product in the supermarket will have a story of its own, however, the UK food system can be simply summarised in the following flow chart.

Food systems are considered to be fairly inelastic due to food being a necessity, there will always be demand for food, and whilst there are substitutes for different types of food, food as a whole has no substitutability. There are various drivers which affect different parts of this system, these include:
- Economic: this driver covers topics from the income of individuals and their ability to purchase food to the cost of growing, processing, packaging and distributing such food.
- Social: current trends have a huge impact on food systems as supermarkets are incredibly responsive to consumer demands. For example, the increased interest in plant-based food has caused a surge in the number of plant-based options offered in supermarkets. The example of plant-based foods links heavily to technology.
- Policy: this refers to the government policies in place to provide everyone with access to healthy food. For example, in 2018 a tax on soft drinks with a high sugar content to encourage health consumption by making such drinks less accessible. There are various policies and interventions in place within the UK food system, however, their effectiveness is highly disputed.
- Technology: if we take another look at the plant-based scenario, recent advances in technology have allowed scientists to produce products that mimic conventional proteins, including taste, texture and nutritional value
- Environment: the amount of land available and its fitness for crop growth is a major influencing factor in the UK food system, however, this doesn’t just apply to UK land as we import 40-48% of the food we consume. Therefore the quality of the land in countries such as Germany, France and Ireland is important for our food security.
Health implications of the current UK food system

The health effects of an inadequate food system are primarily experienced by children in the form of dental decay; stumped growth; increased risk of obesity and other chronic illnesses; substance abuse and smoking; and increased likeliness of mental health issues. However, the effects are also often observed in ethnic groups and vulnerable groups. Ethnic minorities are more likely to experience issues surrounding mental health if in a state of food insecurity due to exclusion and racism from seeking aid. Additionally, vulnerable groups, which include young offenders, carers, refugees, and those with mental or physical issues/needs also experience discrimination.

The role of food banks

Food banks offer emergency support to those who cannot afford to purchase food, there are at least 2,871 food banks across the UK. We should not be part of a system that requires food banks, they should not become normalised ways of sourcing essentials. However, like many charities, they aid society where the government has failed them and therefore are an integral part of the current UK food system.

Threats and Opportunities

There are many failings within the UK food system. Brexit has caused barriers to purchasing from many European countries, making food insecurity is bigger risk. Additionally, this reduced access to international food drives the prices of such food up, for example, The London School of Economics have observed a price increase of 10% of imported meat and cheese due to Brexit.

I dread the shop where I need to buy oil as the changes in climate change have made cultivating olive crops challenging, resulting in less oil being produced. The shift in supply increases the price of oil as the equilibrium state between supply and demand changes. These climate shocks cause insecurities in other crops like rice and potatoes.

Third, the food system has become less and less of a priority to policymakers. The economic value-driven ethos adopted by those in policy means that livelihoods are often dismissed as farmers are exploited and forced to produce products which have lower quality for a cheaper price. Furthermore, the cost of maintaining a healthy diet is increasing and benefits do not reflect this increase in price meaning those with a low or no income are forced to consume low nutritional value diets, affecting their health and well-being.

While Brexit has fostered many challenges for the UK, decreasing our reliance on imported food provides the UK with an opportunity to create a completely self-sufficient food system. Yes, this may be ambitious, but working with various stakeholders who represent all forms of life provides an opportunity for transformative change. Additionally, changes in policies to incentivise healthy food consumption through education are also important to reducing health risks in our nation.
8th Nov 2024

Climate Change, Consumerism, Food Consumption, Food Security, Government Policy, Governments, Sustainable Development

Tag: Food Consumption

Fancy A Takeaway?

The Broken UK Food System