February 11, 2009
Ireland's beef sector to face carbon challenge
Irish beef will face a carbon footprint challenge, which would renew the battle against Brazilian beef, a leading bio energy expert warned.
New buying policies in Britain could lead to supermarkets demanding farm produce such as beef and milk be labelled with their carbon footprint.
At least one major British supermarket chain has demanded to see a carbon footprint for Irish red meat within six months, said the expert John Gilliland.
A supermarket's senior purchaser said it had done its own calculations on Northern Irish beef, which was found to be worse than Brazilian beef.
Major retailers such as Cadbury, Co-op, Sainsbury, Tesco, Innocent, Muller and Pepsico, have all given support to the new British standard for carbon accounting in the food chain – PAS 2050 Standard.
Gilliland warned that with 60 percent of all Irish food exports destined for Britain, retailers would be insisting on the new standard for Irish food.
A recent Tesco survey of 5,000 consumers found that 97 percent would actively seek low-carbon products if they were available at the same cost as current items. About 35 percent respondents would seek low-carbon products, even if they were more expensive.
