November 16, 2006

UK food companies blasted for sending seafood round-the-world

UK food firms have been blasted by environmental campaigners for shipping langoustines to Thailand for processing.

Campaigners said plans by Young's Seafood to ship hundreds of tonnes of langoustines caught in UK 6000 miles away to Thailand for processing and then back to the UK would be adding to the carbon dioxide levels.

It is estimated that shipping the scampi on a return journey to Thailand could add up to as much as 50,000 tonnes a year more carbon dioxide emissions.

Martyn Evans, director of the Scottish Consumer Council, said consumers would find shipping Scottish seafood halfway around the world for processing distasteful.

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the goods they buy and companies need to take that into account, Evans said.

Although shelling langoustine has been mechanised since the 1980s, scampi is now peeled by hand at Young's sister company Findus in Thailand.

The decision meant putting 120 UK jobs in danger to put the seafood on a 12,000 mile journey that would put it back where it started from.

The development follows an announcement by Dawnfresh, another seafood company, that it would be sending its scampi to a processing plant in China.