Combined carbon and nutrition labelling in spotlight
Food labelling highlighting the nutritional and environmental impact of food could be developed for food manufacturers thanks to the latest in a series of research studies, according to Sheffield Hallam University.
The Carbon Trust and British Standard Institute’s are currently developing frameworks for environmental impact labelling for products with regard to carbon dioxide emissions. “But there may be an opportunity to co-develop these schemes with nutritional labelling schemes,” research fellow Dr Wayne Martindale said.
The research ‘Aspects of Applied Biology’, which is currently in press, found a strong link between global warming potentials (GWPs) and calorific content in three types of food groups.
Type 1 products - which include horticultural produce (produced in heated glasshouses), pork, hot beverages - have relatively low calorie content and high GWP values. Type 2 products, including fresh and unprocessed products, have relatively low calorie content and potentially high GWP. And Type 3 products, processed and manufactured products, have relatively high calorie content and low GWP.
“Such correlations could be vitally important in the development of public health communications and policies,” Martindale said. “However, incorporating such an analysis into a balanced nutritional and environmental policy is a challenge for further research.”
He found that consumers understood nutritive contents of foods - what is healthy and what is not. They were unsure about the environmental impact or food miles involved in production processes but seemed capable of understanding such information presented on a label.
Forty-five people were recruited from the Sheffield and Sunderland areas. The participants ranged from 21 to 60 years of age (mean average 28.2 years). A combination of focus group, interview and questionnaire techniques were employed to determine the opinions of the sample.
