The agri-food system is responsible for approximately one-quarter of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
In an effort to increase environmental transparency and mitigate carbon emissions, a small number of food and drink brands are incorporating carbon footprint labelling on-pack.
In 2019, oat drink producer Oatly introduced carbon footprint data via a partnership with Carbon Cloud. In early 2020, meat alternative brand Quorn started introducing carbon footprint data, certified by the Carbon Trust, for some its products.
A few months later, in August 2020, Upfield – in partnership with Quantis – announced plans to introduce on-pack carbon labelling to 100 million packs of margarine and spreads by the end of 2021.
End the cage age: Unilever and Nestlé petition to phase out caged hens in Europe Nestlé, Unilever and Mondelēz International are among the food majors calling for an EU-wide ‘phase out’ of caged hens in farming.
An estimated 413 million laying hens are raised across the bloc, producing 6.9m tonnes of eggs or egg product per year. Average egg consumption is calculated at 12kg per capita per year.
While progress has been made to improve welfare standards for laying hens in recent years, notably via the European Commission’s banning of battery-caged eggs under Directive 1999/74/EC in 2012, many in the food sector believe more can be done.
Fonterra’s dairy ingredient business, NZMP, is launching a new carbonzero certified organic butter. Hans Huistra, Fonterra president of Europe and Africa, speaks to FoodNavigator about the launch and the drive to low-carbon dairy.
Fonterra rolled out its NZMP Organic Butter in North America this month, with further expansion into Europe planned for April. The ingredient has been certified carbon neutral by third party certification programme Toitū Envirocare.
NZMP Organic Butter is Fonterra s first certified carbon neutral product, meaning its carbon footprint has been measured and reduced, with carbon offsets used to move it to net zero.
“To gain carbonzero certification, and make this butter carbon neutral, we first measured the carbon footprint of our organic butter, and then made a plan to reduce the emissions even further from the production of our organic butter. Toitū Envirocare then verified that we had measured our footprint correctly and
FoodNavigator hears from agri-food players – sitting at both extremes of farm-to-fork – and an MEP, who make the case for enforcing indication laws across the bloc.
Danone jettisons Faber as Chairman and CEO: Will his legacy of sustainable business survive? Danone’s board of directors bowed to pressure from activist investors and announced that Emmanuel Faber – Chairman and former CEO – will leave the company with immediate effect.
“The Board has decided that Emmanuel Faber will step down as Chairman and CEO,” the company said in a statement following a board meeting yesterday.
International CEO Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta and Shane Grant, currently Chief Executive Officer North America, will jointly lead the business while the search for a new CEO is underway. Gilles Schnepp, who joined the Danone board in December, has been appointed Chairman.