The most sustainable products are also the best nutritionally.

Vegetables, excellent foods for health and essential to the diet, are also among the most sustainable for the environment.

AFP - SOPHIE LAUTIER

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Eating fruits and vegetables is good for your health, but it's also good for the planet.

Researchers from the scientific journal

have just published a study carried out in the United Kingdom and Ireland in which they analyzed the environmental impact of 57,000 products sold in supermarkets.

Advertising

Read more

By combining environmental impact and nutritional interest, the researchers want to help consumers make more sustainable purchases in supermarkets.

To assess the environmental impact, the authors of the study used four criteria: greenhouse gas emissions, the amount of water and land used, and also water pollution.

The novelty of the study is to analyze products made up of several ingredients, such as sauces or prepared meals. 

A complicated exercise because the scientists came up against the trade secret.

Only nearly 3% of the 57,000 products analyzed displayed a complete composition.

They had to develop an algorithm allowing them to assess the proportion of missing ingredients. 

It shows that certain prepared meals, but also cakes and biscuits have a relatively low environmental impact, just like that of syrups and sodas, because they are mainly made up of water, but beware their nutritional quality is poor.

Another example, beef lasagna has a strong environmental impact, so the authors of the study suggest replacing it with chicken or pork lasagna or even better, vegetarian lasagna. 

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• Environment

• Feed