Shoppers will be able to see the environmental footprint of their food in a pilot scheme in the UK. Reuters
Shoppers will be able to see the environmental footprint of their food in a pilot scheme in the UK. Reuters
Shoppers will be able to see the environmental footprint of their food in a pilot scheme in the UK. Reuters
Shoppers will be able to see the environmental footprint of their food in a pilot scheme in the UK. Reuters

Going green: new traffic light system for UK food labels will measure environmental footprint


Tim Stickings
  • English
  • Arabic

Supermarket groceries will be labelled with their environmental effect in a traffic light system to be piloted at UK supermarkets.

Foods will be measured by four criteria including carbon emissions and their impact on biodiversity.

These will be assessed at every stage of food production from farming and processing through to packaging and transportation.

The resulting “environmental score” will be displayed on packaging, starting at some shops in Britain this year.

UK shops Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Marks & Spencer are among the retailers backing the pilot project.

Foundation Earth, the non-profit organisation running the scheme, hopes to expand it across Britain and Europe from 2022.

The innovation was saluted by the UK government, which is championing climate action in the run-up to November's Cop26 summit in Scotland.

The boom in online shopping during the pandemic has led to concerns that increased emissions from lorries will hinder the fight against climate change.

“Foundation Earth’s ambitions to develop front-of-pack environmental labelling on food has the potential to help address the urgent challenges of sustainability and climate change,” UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said.

Weighted score 

Carbon emissions account for 49 per cent of a product’s weighted environmental score.

Water usage, water pollution and biodiversity are the other three criteria, each making up 17 per cent of the rating.

Concept art published by Foundation Earth showed a range of scores from A-plus down to G, with an accompanying colour scale of green to red.

Two foods which look, taste and cost the same can have “wildly different environmental impacts”, Foundation Earth said.

The organisation said it took four years of research to fine-tune the method.

The pilot launch will allow researchers to test how customers react to the labels.

The scheme was the brainchild of Northern Irish businessman Dennis Lynn, who died in a motorcycling accident in May at the age of 63.

Mr Lynn was the founder of Finnebrogue Artisan, a food producer that supplies UK supermarkets.

Backing the new initiative, his daughters Kerry, Clare, Tara and Ciara issued an appeal to “help us finish the job our dad started”.

“Through our small little actions taken together we can shake up supply chains and drive innovation, for the sake of all our children, grandchildren and our planet,” they said.

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

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The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre

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Price, base: Dh141,740 (three-door) / Dh165,900 (five-door)
Engine: 1.5-litre four-cylinder (Cooper) / 2.0-litre four-cylinder (Cooper S)
Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km

Other must-tries

Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.

How to book

Call DHA on 800342

Once you are registered, you will receive a confirmation text message

Present the SMS and your Emirates ID at the centre
DHA medical personnel will take a nasal swab

Check results within 48 hours on the DHA app under ‘Lab Results’ and then ‘Patient Services’

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Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

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On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

House-hunting

Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove

  1. Edinburgh, Scotland 
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