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Scientists say environmental impact labels can help consumers make decisions

Researchers estimated the environmental impacts of 57,000 commonly purchased food products. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
PNAS June 2022
Researchers estimated the environmental impacts of 57,000 commonly purchased food products. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists from UC Santa Barbara want the food products commonly purchased in grocery stores to have more informative labels with details about nutrition and the environment.

“Our goal was to let consumers be able to look at something they’re buying in a grocery store and know how it would impact the environment and how it would impact their health,” David Tilman said.

Tilman is a professor in UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. He co-authored a study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that estimates the environmental impacts of 57,000 store-bought foods.

The study used an algorithm to rate the products for greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water stress, and related pollution.

“Almost one-third of all of our greenhouse gas emissions actually come from the foods we choose to eat and how those crops are produced and how they’re manufactured,” Tilman said.

Tilman said many studies have been done on food and the environment – what makes this research unique is the level of detail and number of products examined.

Earlier studies, he said, looked at food groups like fruits or vegetables or whole grains rather than food products with multiple ingredients.

“When you buy a product, it has some wheat, some corn, some sugar, some salt and many, many other ingredients in it. It’s very hard to look at that label and make a reasonable guess about which product might actually be better for the environment,” he said.

Sharing this information with consumers is key, and Tilman said one way to do that is by adding an environmental impact rating on food products, so shoppers can make informed decisions – not just about their own health, but the health of the environment, too.

Beth Thornton is a freelance reporter for KCBX, and a contributor to Issues & Ideas. She was a 2021 Data Fellow with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and has contributed to KQED's statewide radio show The California Report.
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