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EnglandFood Preparation & NutritionSyllabus dot point

How does the food we eat affect the environment?

The environmental impact of food production and consumption, including food miles, carbon footprint, packaging, seasonality, locally produced food and the effects of food transport and intensive farming.

A focused answer to AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition on the environmental impact of food, including food miles, carbon footprint, packaging, seasonality, locally produced food and the effects of food transport.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.88 min answer

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

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  1. What this dot point is asking
  2. Food miles and carbon footprint
  3. Transport, packaging and farming
  4. Seasonality and local food
  5. The impact of meat and packaging
  6. Reducing the impact
  7. Try this

What this dot point is asking

AQA wants you to explain how producing, transporting, packaging and eating food affects the environment, and how choices such as buying local and seasonal can reduce that impact. You should use the terms food miles and carbon footprint.

Food miles and carbon footprint

Transport, packaging and farming

  • Transport - importing food from far away, particularly by air, has high food miles and a large carbon footprint.
  • Packaging - uses raw materials and energy to make and creates waste; excess and non-recyclable packaging is environmentally harmful.
  • Intensive farming - heavy use of fertilisers and pesticides can pollute water and soil and reduce wildlife habitats; greenhouse heating and refrigeration use energy.

Seasonality and local food

The impact of meat and packaging

Meat, especially beef and lamb, has a particularly high environmental cost. Ruminant animals produce methane (a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide) during digestion, and large areas of land and volumes of water are needed to grow feed and graze animals, sometimes driving deforestation. This is why eating less meat, or swapping some meat for plant proteins, is one of the most effective ways for an individual to cut their dietary carbon footprint.

Packaging has a double impact: making it uses raw materials (plastic from oil, energy to produce glass and metal), and disposing of it creates waste, with non-recyclable plastic persisting in landfill or polluting oceans. Choosing minimal, recyclable or reusable packaging, and using refill schemes, reduces this. However, some packaging protects food and extends shelf life, so removing it entirely can increase food waste, a genuine trade-off worth noting in an evaluation.

Reducing the impact

People can lower the environmental impact of their diet by buying local and seasonal produce, choosing food with less and recyclable packaging, eating less meat and more plant protein, reducing food waste, and choosing food produced to higher environmental standards (such as sustainably caught fish). No single action is a complete solution, so the strongest answers weigh several together.

Try this

Q1. Define the term food miles. [1 mark]

  • Cue. The distance food travels from where it is produced to where it is eaten.

Q2. Explain why eating seasonal food can be better for the environment. [2 marks]

  • Cue. It is grown naturally at that time, so it avoids energy-hungry heated greenhouses or being flown in from abroad.

Exam-style practice questions

Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.

AQA 20196 marksExplain how choosing locally produced, seasonal food can reduce the environmental impact of a person's diet. (Paper 1, Section B)
Show worked answer →

Locally produced food travels a short distance, so it has fewer food miles and a smaller carbon footprint from transport, and it supports local farmers and the local economy.

Seasonal food is grown naturally at that time of year, so it does not need heated greenhouses or to be flown in from abroad, both of which use a lot of energy and create greenhouse gases. Seasonal local food is often fresher, cheaper and uses less packaging.

Top-band answers (5 to 6 marks) link local and seasonal choices to fewer food miles, a smaller carbon footprint and less energy from greenhouses or air freight, with clear cause and effect.

AQA 20224 marksExplain why eating less meat can reduce the environmental impact of a diet. (Paper 1, Section A)
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For 4 marks, give reasons with mechanisms.

Rearing livestock has a high carbon footprint: cattle and sheep produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, through digestion. Large amounts of land, water and feed (often crops that could feed people) are needed per kilogram of meat, and clearing land for grazing or feed can cause deforestation and habitat loss.

Eating less meat, or swapping some meat for plant proteins such as beans and lentils, lowers these emissions and resource use. Markers reward at least two distinct reasons (methane, land or water use, deforestation) linked to reduced impact.

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