Food and drink products should carry a new label to give consumers more information about their “water footprint” – the hidden amount of water used in the manufacturing process – two health and food lobby groups will recommend this week.
More transparency is needed about the huge volumes of water used to produce food, which most consumers are unaware of, said the joint report by the Food Ethics Council (FEC) and the health and food group Sustain.
It is calling for the proposed new label to reflect good practice, by taking into account the extent to which some companies and manufacturers are already working to use water in ways that are fair and environmentally sustainable.
Water scarcity is now a fast-growing sustainability problem across the world, the report says, with the amount used to produce an item far greater than the water contained within it. For example, one cup of fresh coffee needs 140 litres of water to produce while the production of one kilogram of beef requires 16,000 litres of water. In order to understand how to reduce our use of water, we need to measure this “embedded” or “virtual” water, the report says.
Generally, higher value crops such as sugar and vegetables are more water-intensive than cereals, and meat and dairy is even more water-intensive.
Worldchanging: Bright Green: Food Products Should Carry ‘Water Footprint’ Information, Says Report
