Transport

Transport is an important element of the food and drink manufacturing process because it is how we move food and drink around what we call the 'supply chain'. Transport is necessary to take the raw ingredients grown by farmers to factories to be turned into the great-tasting products we eat every day. Transport is also how these products get from factories to the warehouses owned by supermarket chains and other retailers, from where they are taken to the stores where we do our shopping.

Most of our food and drink is transported by road in lorries, which run on diesel. Concern is growing about the impact of emissions from these vehicles on our environment. However, although research published by Defra shows that congestion, damage to infrastructure and accidents account for most of the £9bn external costs of domestic food transport per annum, nearly half of this total comes from consumers' own use of cars.

To help mitigate the impacts of food transport FDF members have committed to a UK food chain target to reduce the environmental and social impact of its domestic food transportation by 20% by 2012, compared with 2002.

Only a minority of food and drink manufacturers have their own fleets of lorries to transport their products around the supply chain. The rest hire specialist transport providers to do this work for them. So to achieve this target, FDF members will work both with transport providers and internally to develop a fewer and friendlier food transport miles manifesto based on a 10 point checklist of best practice considerations. FDF members will also work with others in the food chain to see where collaborative projects might reduce the number of trips made by lorries.