Britain’s largest food retailer, Tesco, says it’s going to start putting carbon footprint labels on food in its stores next month. Although the “carbon labels” will only be on food produced under Tesco’s own brand name, it will be the first time a major food retailer has made such a move. Tesco worked with the Carbon Trust to find a way to calculate foods’ footprints and create the labels. “It has not been simple, but we are there,” said Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy. Leahy said details will be revealed and he hopes Tesco’s labels “will end up being a standard.”
Stateside, the LA Times reports that 400 college eateries serviced by Bon Appetit Management Co. will be able to provide a “low carbon diet” to students. One sign posted at a “low carbon” college cafe had a sign posted saying “Cows or cars? Worldwide, livestock emits 18% of greenhouse gases, more than the transportation sector! Today we’re offering great-tasting vegetarian choices.” Translation: no hamburgers today.
There have been a few disgruntled students, but Bon Appetit aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 25% by serving more vegetarian entrees and less beef, lamb, and cheese. This may sound like a small change, but if Bon Appétit’s parent company also went low-carbon, it would affect 8,000 locations lincluding sports arenas, public schools, and hospitals.