Carbon Footprint-friendly Food

As the impact of carbon emissions has become increasingly top of mind for many consumers, food companies are beginning to incorporate carbon considerations into their products and packaging. Here are a few examples:

1) Carbon impact-labeled milk
Earlier this month, Tesco, the British supermarket chain, began listing the carbon impact of its milk on the side of their cartons. For what it’s worth, the majority of carbon impacts from a pint of milk occurs during the agricultural stage due to cow methane emissions (also known as cow farts).

2) Global warming-friendly ice cream
Unilever, the CPG giant and world’s largest producer of ice cream, is developing an ice cream that can be stored at room temperature. Eliminating the need for refrigerated trucks or cold storage, the global warming-friendly ice cream would reduce Unilever's energy costs and overall greenhouse gas emissions.

3) Carbon-footprinted orange juice
Although it’s been a rough year for Tropicana, the company continues to move aggressively on a number of fronts, including efforts to certify the carbon footprint of its Pure Premium Orange Juice. In doing so, Tropicana became the first consumer brand in North America to get certification from the Carbon Trust, a British government-supported organization.

It’s great to see food companies seeking to address the carbon impacts of the products they sell. Building upon recent efforts by food companies to eliminate trans fats, I expect to see more food product and service innovations that emphasize carbon footprints and food content transparency in 2010.