Apples- imports and supermarkets

The cost of putting food on our plates

An article published by the Independent

'Gobbling up the planet: Your guide to food miles

APPLES (FUJI)

Seventy-six per cent of apples consumed in the UK come from overseas. Washington, home of the Red Delicious and grower of half of America's apples, produces 135,000 tons of Fuji apples a year. They also come from China and Japan, and have a long shelf-life. With refrigeration, Fuji apples can last five or six months.

Typical exporter: US

Food miles to UK: 3,700

C02 (kg per pack of four): by sea 0.06; by air 1.68

Price: £1.99/500g, £2.98/kg'

Further areas for investigation: 

Food miles

How far do apples travel and what is the environmental cost?

Move back to cooking using seasonal ingredients rather than expecting produce all year around.

Morrisons Supermarket approach

Sainsbury's pledge to buy British

'In many cases we buy a particularly large share of the entire British crop, for instance we sell more British pears than any other retailer and sell one quarter of all British apples.'

Case study

Concept Orchards

We developed our Concept Orchards in response to the decline of the traditional British apple and pear orchard. We are using them to test the impact of new growing systems on different varieties, and to increase yields through new growing practices.

Apples

• We sell one in four apples in the UK, equating to over 210 million during the British apple season
• Our Concept Apple Orchards have helped us to increase yields from 20 tonnes per hectare to 60 tonnes per hectare
• Sainsbury's is the only retailer to sell Bramley apples that are direct descendants of the original Bramley apple tree

Pears

• Sainsbury's is the largest retailer of British pears in the UK: a third of all British pears bought in the UK are sold through our stores
• We sell over 45 million British pears during the season
• We offer at least five varieties of British pears and are proud to be the market leader of British conference pears
• Our Concept Pear Orchard at the East Malling Institute of Horticulture Research aims to secure the future of British pear growers by ensuring continued innovation

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