Food Processing - October 2007 - (Page 9)

E D I T O R ’ S P L AT E OCTOBER 2007 • Volume 68, No. 10 www.foodprocessing.com 555 W. Pierce Road, Ste. 301, Itasca, IL 60143 Phone: (630) 467-1300 • Fax: (630) 467-1179 Choosing food based on a greenhouse gas score is a bad idea. EDITORIAL EDITOR IN ChIEF MANAgINg EDITOR NEWS & TRENDS MANAgINg EDITOR-DIgITAL DAVE FuSARO dfusaro@putman.net DAVID FEDER, R.D. dfeder@putman.net DIANE TOOPS dtoops@putman.net JILL RuSSELL jrussell@putman.net Too green for my taste TEChNICAL EDITOR MARk ANThONy, Ph.D. PLANT OPERATIONS EDITOR MIkE PEhANICh PACkAgINg EDITOR kATE BERTRAND CONNOLLy DAVID JOy hOLLIS AShMAN, JACquELINE BECkLEy REPRINTS MARkETINg CLAuDIA STAChOWIAk MANAgER FOSTER REPRINTS 4295 Ohio Street, Michigan City, IN 46360 866-879-9144, Fax: 219-561-2019 claudia@fostereprints.com REguLAR CONTRIBuTORS REguLATORy CONSuMER uNDERSTANDINg S ure, I want to be as green as possible, as green as the next guy. But there’s a movement under way in Europe – which I used to think was the source of many great new food ideas – that I hope never makes its way to this side of the Atlantic. It could literally be the death of us. The past month saw the most media coverage yet on the subject of food products touting their greenhouse gas scores, although that subject has been just below the radar for most of this year. The good environmental intentions are clearly outweighed by the dangers of obesity resulting from misdirected food choices. It seems food labels are popping up in England with information on how the overall product contributes to global warming. In a report I saw on ABC news, one bag of Walkers Crisps – that’s their way of saying potato chips – created 75g of carbon emissions. That supposedly takes everything imaginable into account, from the growing of the potatoes through the cooking process, the transportation and all the way through to the disposal of the packaging. First, I gotta question the science and mathematics behind these calculations. It’s not the work of Walkers, one of Britain’s leading snack brands, although the report pointed out Walkers was the first food processor to use the approved labeling. The figures are those of the government-funded Carbon Trust. How they can accurately figure this cradle-to-grave contribution to global warming is beyond me. The intent is pure enough. As Walkers’ CEO said in the news report, it’s useful information – let people decide what weight to assign it and how to react. But when 75g of carbon emissions weighs more heavily in buying decisions than 150 calories per serving or 9g of total fat, then a lot of people are going to weigh more heavily. Innocent Drinks (great name for what’s coming) is another British firm that’s taking part in the labeling program. The company’s mango-passion fruit smoothie, which has less fat and fewer calories than the chips and many healthy ingredients, nevertheless contributes four times the carbon. The main reason is the mangoes have to be shipped from India and other locales thousands of miles away, and packaging contributes to the bad score as well. The ABC report said: “In Britain, food production and consumption add onethird of a ton of carbon to the atmosphere per household per year. Recreation, such as driving to a soccer game, contributes a ton. Home heating and electricity add another two tons. If that sounds like a lot, the average American household contributes twice as much carbon per year.” So food is a tiny drop in the greenhouse gas bucket. You Brits could stop driving to the soccer games and walk instead. Or lower the thermostat. No, better to choose food based on its carbon footprint, rather than its healthfulness, that way you can doubly contribute to a healthier Earth. Not only will consumers be choosing food that minimally clears the air, but there will be fewer people to pollute the planet, thanks to obesity-related mortality. DESIGN & PRODUCTION gROuP ART DIRECTOR ART DIRECTOR ART DIRECTOR PRODuCTION MANAgER STEPhEN C. hERNER sherner@putman.net STEVE VANDEN hEuVEL svandenheuvel@putman.net JENNIFER DAkAS jdakas@putman.net ChRISTINA kAyALIk ckayalik@putman.net PUBLISHING PuBLIShER kAy ROSS-BAkER kross-baker@putman.net ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF PRESIDENT AND CEO JOhN CAPPELLETTI VICE PRESIDENT JuLIE CAPPELLETTI-LANgE VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT kEITh LARSON VICE PRESIDENT CIRCuLATION JERRy CLARk CIRCuLATION MANAgER PATRICIA DONATIu EDITORIAL ADVISORy BOARD ChERyL J. BALDWIN, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, kraft Foods gERRy gOMOLkA Vice President-Process Engineering The Stellar group Analyst, Ag Edwards & Sons Inc. Vice President-Engineering Sara Lee Foods National Food & Beverage Industry Leader, grant Thornton LLP ChRISTOPhER gROWE DAVE kRAMER DEXTER MANNINg WILLIAM MCCABE Vice President-Ice Cream, Smith Dairy DON NugENT JAMES RICE DARyL ThOMAS ELAINE WEDRAL, Ph.D. President/CEO, graceland Fruit Inc. VP & general Mgr.-China Operations, Tyson Foods Inc. Vice President-Marketing, herr Foods Inc. President (retired), Nestle R&D Center Dave Fusaro, Editor in Chief E-mail: dfusaro@putman.net OctOBEr 2007 FOOd PrOcESSIng • http://www.foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - October 2007

Food Processing - October 2007 Contents Editor’s Plate Power Lunch NewsBites Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Annual R&D Survey Product Development Plant Operations Packaging New Product Profiles Toops Scoops

Food Processing - October 2007

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