If you are thinking of ways on how to reduce food carbon footprint, avoiding meat is the first thing that needs to be done as per most research studies. Food carbon footprint or foodprint requires immediate attention as growing, rearing, processing and transporting and disposing of food leaves behind food carbon footprint which is harmful.All food carbon emissions are reported to include major greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

Greenhouse gas emissions result from the production and transportation of food. Growing of food requires fertilizers which are mostly chemical based and transportation of food requires use petroleum-based fuel. Given below are some helpful tips on how to reduce food carbon footprint to save the Earth.

TIPS ON HOW TO REDUCE FOOD CARBON FOOTPRINT

When it comes to ways on how to reduce food carbon footprint choosing a vegan diet over meat and eggs is one of he best ways of doing.

• Consume whole grains, beans, pulses, fruits and vegetables, and avoid excess consumption of eggs, dairy and meat products.
• Choose the stove top (cooking gas) over other electric cooking appliances for cooking, such as induction and electric oven.
• Choose the microwave oven over other electric appliances as it uses 50 per cent less energy.
• Consume organic products. Organic farming methods are much more environment-friendly than other conventional farming methods.
• Avoid stocking a lot of food products. It is always recommended to discard the food product if it has surpassed its expiry date. Mostly, some of the stocked food items expire before usage and are discarded. Overstocking will reduce food wastage.
• Avoid consumption of tertiary processed foods (even vegetarian food items). For this you can check the food label – a longer list of ingredients generally suggests that the food item is heavily processed and it may therefore have a high carbon footprint.
• Avoid consumption of frozen foods. Frozen food has the highest carbon footprint, followed by canned, plastic, glass and then cardboard.
• Avoid products that use a lot of packaging.
• Limit the consumption of bottled water. This will limit the usage of plastic and will ultimately help in slowing down global warming.
• In any case, reduce your personal water consumption by practising water conservation in your daily life.
• Wherever possible, shop local. Know where your food comes from – if it is from the other side of the world, it will have a high transportation footprint. Also, as the distance the food travels decreases, so does the need for processing and refrigeration to reduce spoilage.

Changing the foods that we eat can have a big impact on the carbon footprint. It can reduce pollution, preserve the environment and slow global warming. Many of these changes will also save money, improve health and even keep us fit besides ofcourse reducing food carbon footprint!

In 2007, Food Standard Agency of UK developed a method of labeling food with a traffic light showing how much fat, sugar and salt are in that food. High Content (unhealthy) is shown by red, Medium (moderate) by amber and Low (healthy) by Green colors. Food with Green color is preferred over the ones with red color.  This is called as Traffic Light Labeling System. The main objective of Traffic Light Labeling guidelines is to

• Allow consumers to correctly identify healthier food products
• Assist consumers to make comparison between products easily
• allow consumers to make these comparisons at a glance.

The label is supposed to be in front of the package and easier to spot.

HOW DOES THE FOOD LABELING SYSTEM WORK

The traffic light labeling system uses three colors:

RED
It indicates that the food is high in fat, sugar or salt. It is best to avoid these kinds of food and can be eaten only rarely.Unhealthy

AMBER
This indicates that content of fat, sugar or salt is medium in these foods and can be eaten occasionally though not on a regular basis.Moderate

GREEN
This colour indicates it is low in fat, sugar or salt and can be eaten or consumed regularly. It is the healthiest of choices.Healthy

For every product the amounts of key nutrients (fat, saturated fats, sugars and salt) are given in grams per 100 grams or 100 millilitres, as a uniform reference value. Consumers interpret this information, with the common traffic light colours of red, amber or green, depending on whether the product contains high, medium or low levels of the respective nutrient.

IS TRAFFIC LIGHT LABELING SYSTEM FOLLOWED IN INDIA?

Traffic Light labeling is not followed in India yet. However, Consumer VOICE is using traffic light rating to help consumers make an informed choice. It is important to let consumers know about the amount of fat and sugar that they are consuming since such foods are linked with obesity and non-communicable diseases like hypertension, and high blood pressure. As part of a pilot project, Consumer VOICE did a study in schools, covering about 10 schools, and Consumer VOICE took the samples of the canteen food and drinks and then it was analyzed for fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt, and converted the results in terms of the traffic lights.