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2 From farm to fork: fresh food in the UK and Portugal Professor Peter Jackson Department of Geography, University of Sheffield 20 June 2017

3 SheFF Interdisciplinary research group committed to integrated agri-food system research Vision set out in recent paper in Food Security (Horton et al., 2017) Exploring connections between food production, processing, retailing, consumption, health and sustainability.

4 Freshness project Funded by ESRC, the freshness project focuses on the UK and Portugal and on three commodity sectors (poultry, fish, and fruit and vegetables) Working with producers and consumers, including major retailers in both countries Archival research, interviews, ethnographic observation and tasting events.

5 Eurobarometer (2010): Food-related risks

6 Freshness Long-standing anxieties about the freshness of food : increasing distance between (rural) food producers and (urban) consumers; technologies of preservation, canning, cold chain etc. Paradox that consumers equate fresh with pure and natural while most fresh foods involve refrigeration, transportation, packaging and other socio-technical innovations (Susanne Freidberg s industrial freshness ).

7 Regulating freshness 26. The description fresh can be helpful to consumers where it differentiates produce that is sold within a short time after production or harvesting. However, modern distribution and storage methods can significantly increase the time period before there is loss of quality for a product, and it has become increasingly difficult to decide when the term fresh is being used legitimately. 27. The term fresh can also be helpful when used to identify products that have not been processed. 29. Fresh is often used in a number of phrases that may have an emotive appeal but no real meaning (e.g. oven fresh, garden fresh, ocean fresh, kitchen fresh, etc). These should be avoided (FSA 2008).

8 Marketing freshness M&S (1995): join us on a voyage of discovery to exotic places such as Zimbabwe and Thailand Fresh vegetables from faraway places are no longer a luxury. Fresh, healthy and convenient, the best selection in produce and prepared recipe dishes is now available all year round at Marks and Spencer. With our suppliers we travel the world to bring you the very best. St Michael produce is full of goodness and flavour, and comes ready to use with minimum fuss and waste... Marks & Spencer is revolutionizing production and harvesting techniques to offer vegetables that are consistent in size, texture and flavour To guarantee supplies of consistently fresh, quality produce Marks and Spencer experts work closely with a worldwide network of approved growers and suppliers (M&S company archive).

9 Producing freshness Producers see freshness as a quality of food that can be measured using specific technologies (Brix refractometers to measure sugar content of grapes; penetrometers to measure firmness; thermal imaging cameras; standard size and aesthetic properties ) Freshness as a technical accomplishment: logistic team at Sonae (Continente) sitting in front of a bank of screens, using algorithms to improve logistics and increase freshness; a fight against time ; a battle to increase shelflife Commercial Director at Pingo Doce - aim to have no variation in quality (uniform freshness), going beyond the limits of nature: By nature, we re demanding even of nature (e.g. use of ethylene to speed or retard the ripening of fruit).

10 Consuming freshness You should eat fresh food as close as possible to where it s grown, for freshness So generally, I like to eat food that s grown up the road I wouldn t eat tomatoes in the winter at all I wouldn t bother It s air miles just a waste of resources and the food, it never tastes good... I like mangoes that come from India, I mean you can t get mangoes locally [in the UK] and they seem to travel well... Fresh tomatoes are wonderful but not the ones you get from Tesco in February so what s the point, you know It s about taste, it s about freshness and taste really and then it s a lot cheaper as well of course freshness is almost the same thing as taste but it s, I like looking at things which are fresh and smell nice which, before you cook them have a nice smell (Ted Anderson, retired academic, Sheffield, aged 65).

11 Conclusion Not just different perspectives on the same thing (freshness) Multiple ontologies of freshness (to use Annemarie Mol s terminology) How they combine/conflict in different circumstances Policy relevance e.g. how food gets configured as waste (effects of date labelling, packaging and other interventions) Same argument applies to other qualities of food (provenance, taste, authenticity etc.) see Food Words (Jackson et al. 2013).

12 Thank you Professor Peter Jackson Department of Geography University of Sheffield Sheffield S10 2TN, UK