Five Ways to Tell if Your Food Is Sustainable

The food on your plate adds up to one of your biggest sources of personal carbon emissions. But there are some easy ways to incorporate more sustainable foods into your diet.

There’s more to pursuing sustainability than ditching plastic and taking the bus. Many of our culinary choices, from how far our food travels to the specific ingredients on our plates, can have a direct impact on the planet, for better or for worse. Even something as simple as actually eating what you buy—rather than forgetting about it and throwing it in the bin days later—could help to cut out up to as much as eight percent of global carbon emissions.

“What we choose to eat is one of the most powerful ways in which as individuals we can action climate change,” explains Jessica Sansom, former sustainability director at Huel. “Our food system is responsible for more than a quarter of all global greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock accounting for the majority of emissions. To meet the emission reductions needed, we all need to make changes to our diet.”

To do so, you don’t need to plant your own pumpkin patch or even attempt vertical farming at home. Instead, you can learn what to look out for when you’re picking up your groceries and begin with incremental changes that have a bigger impact than you think.

Get Techy

The internet isn’t just for doomscrolling. No, honestly. By using free apps such as Nosh, NoWaste, and Kitche, you can begin your sustainability journey by eliminating food waste from your kitchen. Nosh, for example, was made by scientists at the University of Essex and helps the user track expiration dates of food labels and make recipe suggestions to help cut food waste. It’s estimated that between 30 and 40 percent of food in the US is wasted, so why not trash the habit instead?  

Do Your Research

Just like the apps eliminating food waste, there are plenty of digital platforms that can help make sustainable eating far easier, no matter your dietary preferences. Pescatarians should check out Seafood Watch, which offers a rating system for seafood choices. Everyone can take advantage of The Good Shopping Guide, which uses an “ethical rating table” to help signpost whether a specific brand is ethical and/or sustainable. 

Know What to Look For

You can’t track everything you eat back to the field, but some useful signposts will help you pick the most sustainable products on the shelf. “When buying fresh produce, look for food that’s in season and that carries a certification such as Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade,” says Sansom. You should also look for local (or, at least, local-ish) produce where possible; flying avocados around the world means more carbon in the atmosphere. Meat-eaters should “look for products that come from regenerative farms, MSC-certified fisheries, and producers with higher animal welfare standards,” she advises.

Make Small, Consistent Changes 

Cutting out animal products doesn’t have to mean adopting an entirely vegan diet. Even small changes can have a big impact over time, and sometimes it’s better to make an easy change you can stick to, rather than try to reinvent your diet only to relapse the first time you pass McDonald’s.

Swapping one meal a day to plant-based can cut your carbon emissions by up to 33 percent while dropping animal products at breakfast and lunch cuts them by up to half. Huel makes that switch easy because all our products are 100 percent plant-based, which makes for a low-carbon food with a payload of nutritional value. “A 400kcal serving of Huel has half the carbon footprint of the average packaged sandwich, and a third of the carbon footprint of a cheeseburger,” says Sansom. “We also make sure that we only work with suppliers that share our values and use packaging that provides the best possible protection.”

Recognize the Red Flags

Knowing what not to look out for is just as important. You’ve probably noticed there’s been a surge of retailers and producers cashing in on green-minded consumers in the last few years. Sansom explains: “Look for independent sustainability certifications that you recognize and check any claims that are made on the pack to see what action the company is really taking. Even if you only do it for brands that you regularly buy, a minute or two on the internet will provide some answers.”

Words by Ed Cooper