UK consumers are not motivated to buy produce because it is local, and do not care where it comes from, a new survey has suggested.

The report by the British Market Research Bureau found that shoppers did not consider food miles in their purchases, with 61 per cent stating they were not concerned which country their produce came from.

Only nine per cent said they were ‘very concerned’ with produce origin and 30 per cent said they were ‘fairly concerned’.

And only 36 per cent of those surveyed knew what exactly what food miles were.

Fifty-two per cent of all surveyed said they thought the UK should import less food to limit the environmental impact, despite the fact that costs could go up and the range of products on offer would be less. But 23 per cent thought the amount of imports should be maintained or increased.

The research, conducted with nearly one thousand people, showed a distinct difference in attitudes between younger and older shoppers. Over half of all over 50s surveyed said they regularly bought UK-grown produce, compared to 32 per cent of 25-34s.

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