Development of Environmental Sustainability Labels for Foods

Introduction: Law 20.606 establishes that foods with a high content of critical nutrients must carry the ”High in” label on the front of the pack- age. This label was developed from the perspective of human nutrition and public health, but it does not address the impact that food production, distribution, and consumption have on the environment. Objective: To create environmental sustainability labels for foods based on a sustain- ability score. Subjects and Methods: A qualitative-quantitative study was conducted. Using focus groups (FGs) with 24 experts, sustainabil- ity dimensions were defined, and a score was estimated using the Robust Compromise (RoCo) Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) statistical method. Based on these scores, foods were classified into environmen- tal sustainability categories, for which visual sustainability labels were designed and tested with older adults. Results: Four environmental sustainability dimensions for foods were identified from the FGs: Nova System, Packaging Material, Water Footprint, and Carbon Footprint. In a database of 1,839 foods classified into 25 categories, the information for the four identified dimensions was recorded for every 100 grams or milliliters of each food. The median sustainability score was 0.521193 (p25=0.397067 to p75=0.615901). 4.3% of the foods presented high en- vironmental sustainability, 82.9% medium sustainability, and 12.8% low sustainability. The foods with the lowest environmental sustainability were: Coffee, Processed Meats and Cold Cuts, Pastry Products, Aged Cheeses, Sugary Products, and Red Meats. The foods with the high- est sustainability were: Fruits, Tea, Vegetables, and Eggs. Three types of labels were defined: High environmentally friendly, Medium environ- mentally friendly, and Low environmentally friendly. Conclusions: This study identifies the environmental sustainability of foods consumed in Chile and provides a first version of environmental sustainability labels.