EIT Food and Foundation Earth alliance to standardize F&B product labeling

08 Aug 2024 --- EIT Food has announced the formation of the International Alliance for Food Impact Data, an initiative convened by Foundation Earth, aiming to develop and test standards on environmental impact data for food products and their packaging.

The integration of Foundation Earth into EIT Food, the world’s largest food innovation community supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), intends to enhance the environmental credentials of the food sector.

“Environmental data is a key lever of change for food systems transformation. This will form the basis for decision-making across the food and drink industry, policy, future proofing innovation in our sector and enabling us to reduce the environmental impact of the entire food system,” says Richard Zaltzman, chief executive officer of EIT Food.

Demand for transparency
The move comes in response to growing consumer demand for more transparency on the environmental impact of food products. A study by the EIT Food Consumer Observatory from last fall revealed that a majority of Europeans support the introduction of an international eco-label on food products. Consumers indicated a strong desire for such labels to cover aspects like packaging recyclability, animal welfare, and the use of chemicals and fertilizers.

Currently, different methodologies and labels exist globally, each adhering to different standards. 

In this year’s briefing for the EU Green Claims Directive, the Environmental Coalition on Standards suggested the current proposal “fails to impose an EU-wide method to calculate environmental impacts,” indicating a lack of regional coordination.

The newly formed International Alliance for Food Impact Data aims to address the need for standardized and coordinated environmental impact assessments. Initially, the alliance will focus on the EU policy landscape, recognizing that any standards mandated by the EU are likely to be of the “highest level.”

Led by Foundation Earth, a non-profit pushing for independent environmental scoring of F&B products, the alliance hopes to create systems for environmental scoring and labeling that ensure comparability and reliability of environmental data across the industry.

The alliance will seek to work with industry, policymakers and consultancies on the shared mission of transforming the food system.“Our work now provides the building blocks for providing consumers with the information they need to make more environmentally-friendly buying choices and food producers with the credible information they need to innovate in a more sustainable way,” highlights Jago Pearson, out-going chairman of Foundation Earth.

“EIT Food will inherit a sound body of scientific work, a coalition of the leading political, industry and scientific figures in the field and a network of leading technology partners who stand ready to accelerate Foundation Earth’s founding mission.”

Enhancing efficiency
With the environmental impact data, companies and supply chains can apply a single standard for compliance across multiple geographies, simplifying processes and enhancing efficiency, strategically responding to some of the key challenges pointed out by the EU Green Claims Directive.

Environmental impact data enables informed decision-making across the value chain, aids in environmental and sustainability reporting, and supports the development of front of pack labeling for consumers. This approach is expected to serve as a public instrument across Europe and beyond, facilitating the food industry’s journey toward meeting its net-zero commitments.

“Joining forces with EIT Food will foster wider collaboration across all those fragmented initiatives that are individually working on the environmental footprinting of food and drink products, ” says Cliona Howie, Foundation Earth’s chief executive.

Howie believes that limited resources are currently hindering efforts, slowing progress toward a unified system across Europe.

“This new alliance will help put an end to unnecessary competition and enable us to leverage a new platform to convene a real solution with a clear roadmap, in the public service.” 

“Our focus will be on driving large-scale impact that works across the whole food system and transforming the environmental credentials of the continent’s F&B industry,” she concludes.

By Sichong Wang