# Foodmiles.com > Free food miles calculator Foodmiles.com is a free online tool for estimating how far a food item has travelled from its country of origin, and the associated carbon impact of that journey. It has been running since 2009, and its calculations are drawn from real user submissions rather than a fixed dataset - the site also publishes that usage data openly (most-tracked foods, most common journeys, per-food and per-country stats) and two evidence-based articles examining what published research actually says about the significance of food miles. --- ## What it does **Food miles calculator** Pick a food item, where you're located, and where the food came from - the calculator estimates the distance travelled (capital city to capital city, as the crow flies) and the CO2 produced getting it there by plane, car, or train, using UK government emissions figures. → https://foodmiles.com **Usage data, published openly** Every calculation is logged, and the aggregated results are public: the most-tracked foods and journeys ([Leaderboard](https://foodmiles.com/leaderboard.php)), and a browsable directory of every food and country tracked, each with its own stats page (average distance, top sources, related items). → https://foodmiles.com/browse-foods.php · https://foodmiles.com/browse-countries.php **Evidence-based context** Two articles look at the actual research on food miles: what a 2022 Nature Food study and the widely-cited Our World in Data/Poore & Nemecek analysis each found, where they agree and disagree, and what that means in practice for someone deciding what to buy. → https://foodmiles.com/research.php · https://foodmiles.com/still-relevant.php --- ## Who this is for - Anyone who wants a quick estimate of how far a specific food has travelled and its rough carbon footprint. - Teachers and students using the calculator as a classroom activity for geography, science/sustainability, maths, or citizenship topics - see [For Teachers](https://foodmiles.com/for-teachers.php) for ready-made activity ideas. - Anyone researching food miles as a topic who wants a plain-English summary of the current published research, with sources, rather than just the calculator itself. --- ## Important limitations (stated directly on the site) - The calculator tracks capital-city-to-capital-city distance, not the precise farm-to-store route, so results are an estimate, not a precise measurement. - Distance is only one part of a food's environmental footprint - published research (see the Research page) generally finds that *what* you eat (e.g. meat and dairy vs. plant-based) affects footprint more than *how far* it travelled, for most foods. Food miles matter more for some categories (fresh, perishable, air-freighted produce) than others. - Usage statistics (most-tracked foods, totals) come from real public submissions rather than an official trade dataset, so they're best treated as illustrative rather than a precise industry statistic. --- ## Frequently asked questions **What does Foodmiles.com do?** It's a free calculator that estimates how far a food item has travelled to reach you, and the CO2 produced by that journey via plane, car, or train. It also publishes real usage statistics and two articles on what published research says about how much food miles actually matter compared to other factors like diet. **Is food-miles distance actually the most important factor in a food's carbon footprint?** Not usually. Published research (see [What Does The Research Actually Say?](https://foodmiles.com/research.php)) generally finds that for most individual foods, production method matters far more than transport distance - for beef, transport is roughly 0.5% of its footprint. Distance matters more in aggregate for wealthy, high-import countries, and more for specific categories like air-freighted fresh produce. **Does the site cost anything to use?** No - the calculator, the research pages, the leaderboard, and the browse pages are all free with no sign-up required. **Where does the data come from?** Every distance and CO2 figure is calculated live from the country of origin and destination entered. The leaderboard and browse pages aggregate real submissions from public use of the calculator since 2009. --- ## Pages https://foodmiles.com — The food miles calculator. https://foodmiles.com/research.php — What published research says about food miles, with sources. https://foodmiles.com/still-relevant.php — Whether food miles still matter as a concept in 2026. https://foodmiles.com/leaderboard.php — Most-tracked foods and journeys from real usage. https://foodmiles.com/browse-foods.php — Directory of every food tracked, each with its own stats page. https://foodmiles.com/browse-countries.php — Directory of every country tracked, each with its own stats page. https://foodmiles.com/for-teachers.php — Classroom activities built around the calculator.