Meal kits reportedly have a much lower overall carbon footprint than the same meals purchased at a grocery store, despite having more packaging, according to a study from the University of Michigan. The researchers argued that meal kits remain understudied despite the fact that annual U.S. meal kit sales reached about $3.1 billion in 2018, with a growth rate of nearly 22 percent, according to Packaged Facts.
Average greenhouse gas emissions were one-third lower for meal kit dinners than the store-bought meals when every step in the process was considered, which the researchers attributed to pre-portioned ingredients and a streamlined supply chain lowering the overall food loss and waste. Median grocery meal emissions exceeded the median meal kit emissions for four of the five meal types: salmon, chicken, pasta, and salad. "Even though it may seem like that pile of cardboard generated from a Blue Apron or Hello Fresh subscription is incredibly bad for the environment, that extra chicken breast bought from the grocery store that gets freezer-burned and finally gets thrown out is much worse, because of all the energy and materials that had to go into producing that chicken breast in the first place," says Shelie Miller of the U-M Center for Sustainable Systems in the School for Environment and Sustainability. Full Story
Related: Blue Apron Launches Customizable Meal Kit Line; Chef'd Meal Kit Brand Reemerges.
from Foodservice http://bit.ly/2USYVzx
No comments: