Academics from Westminster Business School have teamed up with Alara Wholefoods to develop a way of alerting consumers about the carbon footprint of breakfast cereals sold by Sainsburys.
The School was approached by the company, which manufactures organic, sustainable breakfast cereals sold in the UK and worldwide, to investigate the levels of embedded Carbon Dioxide (CO2e) of a range of ingredients used in their newly launched range of cereals sold by Sainsburys. CO2e is the emissions associated with the manufacture of a product from production to packaging and transport.
This involved extensive secondary research through peer reviewed journals and published databases to calculate the amount of CO2e contained in their products and provide a figure for each individual cereal.
These include the Crispy Fruit Muesli (105g CO2e per 100g), the Original Muesli (79g CO2e per 100g), Fruits and Seeds Muesli (72g CO2e per 100g) and the Apple & Cinnamon Bircher (62g CO2e per 100g).
Advocating transparency when it comes to food production, the company has been keen to promote a 'traffic light' system to alert consumers about the levels of CO2e in the foods that they buy - so that shoppers can make informed decisions about their carbon footprint and food consumption.
As a result of the early research, Alara Wholefoods will be supporting students on the MSc Sustainability Management and Innovation course to investigate the area of CO2e further with the aim to become leaders in this new area of food marketing and labelling.
In 2020, students from the MSc International Business and Management worked with the company to investigate new export opportunities in one of three countries where the company currently had little or no market presence.
Alara Wholefoods is based in Kings Cross London and has been trading since 1976. It is a leader in sustainable and eco-friendly food production and has been described as the most sustainable company in the world, operating a zero waste and carbon neutral policy.
Talking about the research project, Richard West, Senior Lecturer in the School of Management and Marketing, said: “With growing awareness and concerns about climate change and sustainable business practices, this is a pioneering approach to food labelling and an area that is set to become more important in the future, in much the same way that 'traffic light' systems for calories, sugar, salt and fat became the standard after being introduced in 2014.”
Learn more about the International Business and Management MSc course and the Sustainability Management and Innovatio MSc course.
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