Summary
This study develops and applies a novel computational approach to estimate the environmental footprint of individual packaged food products by inferring ingredient composition from ingredient lists and pairing these with environmental databases. Analysis of 57,000 United Kingdom and Ireland products reveals substantial variation in environmental impact within food categories, with meat, fish, and cheese typically showing high impacts whilst sugary beverages, fruits, and breads show low impacts. The work demonstrates that more nutritious products are often more environmentally sustainable, though important exceptions exist, and highlights that foods consumers perceive as substitutable may have markedly different environmental profiles.
UK applicability
The study was conducted on United Kingdom and Ireland products, making findings directly applicable to UK food policy, retail labelling, and consumer guidance. The methodology and findings can inform current and future UK environmental labelling schemes and support retailers and policymakers in communicating product-level environmental impacts to consumers.
Key measures
Greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water stress, eutrophication potential; NutriScore nutritional rating
Outcomes reported
The study quantified environmental impacts across four indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water stress, and eutrophication potential) for 57,000 food products in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It examined correlations between environmental sustainability and nutritional quality using NutriScore.
Topic tags
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