Sweden has started a new fad – the low carbon diet (not to be confused with Atkins). Labels in some restaurants and grocery stores in Sweden now bear labels of the foods’ carbon foodprint. The labels came out last summer and show consumers how many kilograms of CO2 are released per kilogram of the product.
Max, a popular Swedish burger chain, reported that when emissions data appeared on their menu, sales of items with less CO2 emissions rose 20 percent.
In the near future, KRAV, the main Swedish organic certification program, is also trying to keep CO2 emissions in check by requiring growers to use low-emissions techniques in order to gain the KRAV certification.
The UK is in the midst of revamping their own food strategy as it relates to greenhouse gas emissions. The government is urging brands to consider measuring the carbon contents of their own products as Tesco, a grocery store chain, and PepsiCo, a popular brand, have already done. The labels measure the amount of carbon produced in the manufacture and transportation of food.
What seems to be problematic is that there is a lot of factors that contribute to the carbon emissions of food. To make the labels reflect reality, they also must consider the fertilizer or pesticides used, the fuel for the harvest machinery, packaging (and what happens to that packaging after), the feed given to the animals, and a number of other factors. This means that beef from one farm may have lower CO2 emissions than beef from another.
If this trend were to cross the Atlantic, it might be difficult to come up with labels for foods that can vary from farm to farm.
On the other hand, it is a good way to keep consumers aware of the impact their diet has on the environment. Although the numbers may vary slightly, it would give consumers a better idea of what foods are good for the planet. And if consumers begin to trend towards purchasing food and products with lower emissions, it can help the nation as a whole dramatically reduce their emissions. In the case of Sweden, experts predicted that if people strictly keep to low carbon diets, the country could reduce their emissions from food production by 20 – 50 percent. Although it’s too soon to tell if the program is having a negative (by reducing) effect on the country’s carbon emissions, it’s clear every choice can make a difference.
The movement is spreading to nations around the world places like France, Switzerland and even as far as Taiwan. Is the US next?
Source: BecauseAction.com
