Interest in the concept of true cost accountancy as it applies to food is enjoying something of a revival of late – at least among our continental European cousins. Dutch retailer Albert Heijn has been exploring shoppers’ willingness to pay the ‘true price’ of a cup of coffee when the various social and environmental costs are included, and now German discount grocery chain Penny has raised the prices of a selection of its products to reflect their real cost on people’s health and the environment.
The Guardian reported that in a week-long experiment in all 2,150 branches of the grocery chain, a range of nine products, mainly consisting of dairy and meat products, will be priced at what experts from two universities have deemed to be their true cost, in relation to their effect on soil, climate, water use and health. The aim, according to the retailer’s chief operating officer Stefan Görges, is to “create an awareness around the hidden environmental costs of groceries” and “to put out the uncomfortable message that the prices of our foodstuffs which are accrued along the supply chain in no way reflect the environmental on-costs”.
Footprint has been detailing these environmental costs over many years, yet hospitality is a notoriously fragmented sector and there is evidence that environmental messages are still not achieving cut-through with the thousands of small businesses that form an important part of the foodservice ecosystem. A new study from Sheffield Business School at Sheffield Hallam University found that small businesses are often unaware of their negative environmental impact, noting that while individually their impact is negligible, collectively it is significant. The research was based on interviews with 38 small foodservice businesses located in Sheffield. It found that the businesses were more likely to prioritise their employees over other elements of social responsibility, such as environmental concerns, since employees are considered a crucial part of the service experience.
In Westminster, meanwhile, MPs may have decamped to their holiday homes for the summer but that hasn’t stopped Defra secretary of state Thérèse Coffey dishing out a dose of retribution to Greenpeace after activists scaled the roof of Rishi Sunak’s home in his North Yorkshire constituency to protest at his backing for expansion of North Sea oil and gas drilling. The Telegraph reported that Coffey has told officials to cancel any planned meetings with the charity and cease future engagement.
Farming minister Mark Spencer was in altogether more buoyant mood as he announced the launch of a new competition which promises a share of £14m of funding for innovations that boost sustainability and drive progress towards net-zero in agriculture and horticulture. The latest funding forms part of the government’s ‘Farming innovation programme’ and is open to farmers, growers, foresters, research organisations and businesses involved in agriculture. Previous rounds have led to investment in automations to improve soft fruit yield; a ‘herd’ of lightweight, battery-operated, asparagus-harvesting robots; and the use of ultraviolet as a disinfectant in the dairy and poultry sectors. “These competitions are all about encouraging collaborations between farmers and growers on the one hand, and research organisations and industry on the other, to help bring ideas from the planning stage into practice,” said Spencer.
The artificial sweetener aspartame has itself been the focus of decades of research into its impact on human health. The World Health Organisation recently added aspartame to its list of possible carcinogens, although it still deemed aspartame to be safe for consumption at current permitted use levels. The Grocer has now found that almost half of all carbonated drinks on UK supermarket shelves contain the controversial sweetener, according to its own analysis of Assosia data. By comparison, sugar was used in around a third of all fizzy drinks (32%). The percentage of fizzy drinks containing aspartame has increased from 45% this time last year, according to The Grocer, due mainly to more sugar-free drinks hitting shelves rather than product reformulations.
Also covered in Footprint News this week is research showing that consumers associate the level of food processing with its (un)healthiness; claims from NGOs that the UK government is breaking its international commitments by failing to allow proper scrutiny over the environmental impact of UK trade deals; and details on the launch of a new assessment for carbon credit claims.
