The Hidden Oil In Your Food

Quick, where have you used oil today?  Did you think of your car? Maybe you use oil to heat your residence, or as a lubricant for a machine you own? There is another use of oil that is rarely discussed, food production.

Food production in the United States uses oil for growing, processing, storage and preparation during transportation and at home, packaging, and food retailing and catering. The Earth Policy Institute has researched the relative amounts of oil each food production activity consumes. One of the striking results from the research is that the United States consumes as much energy on food production in one year as France. 

One of the largest uses of oil in food production is transportation and storage during transportation. It is now possible to enter any well stocked supermarket and be relatively sure of having fresh fruits and vegetables from thousands of miles away available for purchase. Most likely that produce was transported to the market using oil. Perishable items such as fruits and vegetables require energy intensive methods of storage, typically by air and truck. Buying local is one way to minimize the oil footprint of the fruit and vegetables you consume.

Another hidden use of oil in the food network is the use of inorganic fertilizer and pesticides verses organic based farming methods. There is a marked increase in the amount of oil used to mine the chemicals necessary for inorganic fertilizer versus organic methods such as using manure or a crop rotation method. Buying organic food at the store is another way to reduce your oil footprint.