Thursday, December 12, 2013

I, Nutella

Via Radley Balko, these pieces never get old:
Some 250,000 tons of Nutella are now sold across 75 countries around the world every year, according to the OECD. But that’s not what’s amazing about it. Nutella, it turns out, is a perfect example of what globalization has meant for popular foodstuffs: Not only is it sold everywhere, but its ingredients are sourced from all over the place too.

Even though Ferrero International, which makes the stuff, is headquartered in Italy, it has factories in Europe, Russia, North America and South America. And while certain inputs are supplied locally—like, say, the plastic for the bottles or milk—many others are shipped from all over the world. The hazelnuts are from Turkey; the palm oil is from Malaysia; the cocoa is from Nigeria; the sugar is from either Brazil or Europe; and the vanilla flavoring is from France.

The OECD mapped it all out. Have a look:

The whole OECD study is available here.

1 comment:

heather said...

This could easily be used in an introductory course to trade and the benefits of open borders. Perhaps it's not in line with public school thinking, but I will definitely teach it in my homeschool setting. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.