In This Chapter
Food’s high carbon footprint
Reducing energy use and emissions through food service
Healthier meal options to customers
Increasing profits through savings and premium offerings
One of the dire projections of global warming is that poverty and diminishing natural resources will lead to increased starvation around the world, which in turn will fuel increased poverty, crime, and the black market. Already the shift of using corn for fuel instead of as food for masses of impoverished countries has led to unprecedented hunger worldwide. The World Bank reports the price of corn has gone up by 83 percent in three years. The high cost of food may force as many as 100 million more people into poverty in the near future. Food purveyors can actively change these dire projections into a more positive future by purchasing locally grown, organic foods.
Restaurant owners and food purveyors can make a significant impact on the planet by greening up their shopping habits, cooking techniques, and kitchen maintenance plans.
Organic foods may seem prohibitively expensive, but if we were to calculate in the cost of synthetic chemicals and their negative effects on our health and the environment where they’re grown, organic foods would seem much more reasonable. And as consumers demand more organic produce, prices will drop, which makes this choice even more acceptable against conventional produce.
Note
Organic foods are foods which are grown or produced without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetic modification.
Organic foods are quickly becoming mainstream as consumers recognize the health benefits of avoiding food that’s been grown with potentially dangerous synthetic chemicals. In its report “Natural and Organic Food and Beverage Trends in the U.S.,” the market research firm Packaged Facts estimates that 2008 sales of natural and organic food and beverages will reach $32.9 billion, reflecting a double-digit growth—as much as 67.6 percent over the three-year period of 2005 to 2008. Consumers want organic, natural, non-genetically modified foods, and restaurants and food suppliers who provide them are in demand.
Why are consumers so interested in choosing organic foods over conventional foods? Conventional agriculture has been dosing fruits and vegetables with known poisons in the form of pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides since the mid-twentieth century. Livestock and fowl are injected with hormones to accelerate growth and milk production. All these practices have been found to have potentially hazardous health consequences for those who consume the synthetic petrochemicals used in conventional food production.
In a landmark long-term study of children of farmers in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico, Dr. Elizabeth Guillette, an anthropologist at the University of Florida, determined that children exposed to commonly used agrichemicals showed physical and mental developmental delays that could result in a range of difficulties, including poor health, reduced birth rate, an inability to properly nurse and feed infants, and a reduced intelligence quotient.
In an interview for E/The Environmental Magazine, Dr. Guillette told me, “It’s been projected that if IQ decreases just five points across a community, you lose roughly two-thirds of your geniuses and increase the number of children who are mentally retarded by two-thirds. This has huge consequences in terms of education, care, and medical needs. Also it’s the children of today who are going to be responsible for our communities, nation, and world tomorrow. If we lose them, what are we going to do?”
In addition, organic foods have some proven benefits. Swedish scientists have determined that organic strawberries possess greater breast and colon cancer–fighting qualities than their conventional counterparts. Organic foods also have richer nutrient values—including copper, magnesium, iron, and calcium—thanks to the lack of nitrates and food additives and to soils rich in natural compost and nutrients. Organic tomato crops have been found to be 80 percent higher in flavonoids, beneficial to the heart and in the prevention of cancer and dementia.
The British Journal of Nutrition published a study indicating that mothers on organic diets provide healthier breast milk with more conjugated linoleic and trans-vaccenic acid, fatty acids thought to protect against several diseases, including diabetes and colon cancer.
Another point worth noting is the fact that genetically modified foods are not organic. Many consumers are uncomfortable eating genetically modified foods, so choosing organic foods assures them they’re not consuming so-called “franken foods.”
As a restaurant owner, you can reap the benefit of offering organic food. Highlight your switch in a marketing campaign and let customers know that you are working to improve their health by offering organic options. If you are concerned about raising food costs, start by offering a few organic options to test your market. Once people start biting, offer more and more organic options on your menu. Also purchasing locally grown foods whenever possible can lead to reduced food costs and reduced transportation costs.
The organic farming industry—the pioneers at the Rodale Institute—contend that we can make a significant dent in greenhouse gases and thus in the damages of global warming by adopting organic farming techniques. Recent studies from the University of Michigan, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture have also shown that organic farming leads to increased yields and improved soil.
The Rodale Institute reports that organic farming even helps reduce greenhouse gases and is a good hedge against global warming. In 2008, the Institute released a report stating that converting conventional fields to organic farming could reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by as much as 10 percent.
Did you know that raising livestock creates more greenhouse gases than our transportation industry? Mass production of meat uses tons of energy and resources and produces huge amounts of pollution. Bringing cattle, pork, and fowl to the table requires massive amounts of grain, even though it’s not the natural feed source nor the healthiest for the animals. Grain makes the animals fatter, so consumers pay more per pound. In addition, livestock farming requires a great deal of energy, and livestock waste is a huge polluter, emitting methane and CO2 into our atmosphere and polluting wide swaths of land and water with problematic nitrogen and petrochemicals.
Animal rights activists have also released investigative reports of horribly inhumane conditions in meat production facilities detailing torturing and beating of animals bound for the table. Animal activists maintain that by buying meat from production facilities, consumers are condoning maltreatment of animals. A tenet of the new green industry is to create a world that respects life, seeks harmony and sustainability, and does not include cruelty in any form. Restaurants that develop more vegetable-based fare can take the lead in the green food industry and reduce costs by purchasing more vegetables instead of expensive meats.
Even if you’re not ready to switch to a vegan, animal-free, or vegetarian lifestyle or restaurant, cutting back on your meat consumption seems wise. Creating meals that celebrate organic vegetables without meat can be good for business and good for your customers, as well as the planet.
Organic farming and landscaping protect our food, the water supply, and even the air we breathe by keeping synthetic petrochemicals out of the mix.
A landmark study by the Environmental Working Group found that on average, we have up to 200 synthetic chemicals in our bodies. Some are known carcinogens and endocrine disrupters, but most are simply of unknown toxicity.
Tens of thousands of the chemicals approved for use in the United States have not been tested to determine their safety or effects on humans. However, there is evidence that some are dangerous and may cause cancer or hormone disturbances, neurological damage, and lung irritation. Have you heard about the hermaphroditic alligators in lakes and rivers or the male frogs with feminine characteristics? These animals have been traced to areas with high levels of DDT and other agricultural chemical use, which are known endocrine disrupters and have been associated with decreased sperm counts in humans.
However, hope is on the horizon. Studies indicate that when the water is cleaned up, these amphibians begin to reproduce normal offspring again. In another study at the University of Washington, children who had eaten conventional diets and whose blood and urine showed traces of pesticides and other synthetic chemicals showed remarkable reduction of these contaminants after just a few weeks on an organic diet. Many chemicals wash through our bodies rapidly, leaving little damage, but others can cause developmental and even genetic damage that persists for generations.
Although we’re exposed to many synthetic chemicals through our food and water, some chemicals also come from the containers food is packaged in. Bisphenol A (BPA), used in the linings of cans and hard plastic containers, has recently been detected in the urine of 93 percent of Americans. An overwhelming majority of these studies show that the chemical is harmful—causing breast cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity, obesity, low sperm counts, miscarriage, and a host of other reproductive failures in laboratory animals.
Canada and Wal-Mart have both taken steps to restrict BPA in products even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t yet ruled against it.
Phthalates, endocrine disrupters that can cause immune system and hormonal problems, are found in some plastic containers such as water bottles and baby bottles and can leach into the liquids and foods they contain. Wal-Mart and other retailers have agreed to stop selling baby bottles made with plastic containing phthalates.
Hazard
When purchasing food, beware of the following: meat and dairy items that are not hormone/antibiotic-free, milk produced from cows treated with bovine growth hormone, nonorganic fruits and vegetables, and foods marketed as “natural.”
In response to customer demand, Wal-Mart is also serving up hormone-free milk, even though the FDA has said milk from cows treated with bovine growth hormone poses no risk to human health. Restaurants that follow suit by providing hormone-free dairy products can market that health benefit to customers.
To reduce exposure to synthetic chemicals in any way is a good thing, and restaurant customers understand that as well. Going organic is a great first step.
An important consideration in the cost of goods is always the transportation expense and emission output related to getting product to your doorstep. In today’s free-trade world, we’ve become accustomed to enjoying produce, spices, and exotic culinary treasures from around the world all year long. However, this can be a dangerous, as well as an expensive, practice. In recent news, we have heard of many instances of contaminated food and other products entering the country from China, Mexico, and other countries where regulations may not be as strict nor practices as stringent and careful as in the United States. This concern helps reinforce the importance of reducing transportation costs and emissions by sourcing for local supplies.
In addition to producing less pollution in transit, locally grown foods support local farmers. And because local foods get to you much more quickly than those shipped across the country or around the world, they can be organic and preservative-free, an important bonus for buyer and consumer.
Contact your local government agricultural division to locate local organic farms within your area and consider developing working relationships with these farms to utilize their produce and meat and dairy products in your restaurant. Be sure to notify customers that you’re working with local farmers, which means you’re utilizing fresh resources and supporting the local economy.
The agricultural food industry has become a corporate enterprise. Factory farms have become food production industries that only resemble a distant relative of traditional farming. Synthetic petrochemicals take the place of natural nutrients, sometimes almost entirely replacing the natural foods that plants and animals need to grow normally. Crops are raised in water or stone beds without soil, fed only by injection of chemical nutrients. Added medications compensate for the lack of natural immunity and protection afforded by a rich soil. Scientists have genetically developed modifications that add pesticides to plants or synthetic resistance to natural predators. Some consumers are uncomfortable with this nascent science because we don’t fully understand what their effects will be.
Companies developing these genetically modified plants have patented the seeds and affected legislation prohibiting farmers from re-supplying themselves with seeds from their crops. Therefore, farmers unable to reseed their own crops are forced to buy new supplies of seed for each subsequent crop. Some farmers, facing financial difficulty and unable to purchase new seed, have used their own crops to reseed their fields and have been subjected to lawsuits from the seed companies. The validity of being able to control ownership of seeds and the subsequent food supply has come under intense fire from environmentalists and others who believe in the fundamental right of farmers and individuals to perpetuate plants and provide food supply for those dependent on it.
When you buy locally grown, organic foods for your restaurant or food business, you’re helping to strengthen the market for healthier products and supporting the local farming industry at the same time. You’ll also reduce some expenses related to commercial foods, and you’ll add to your reputation and mission as a sustainable business.
Started in 1990, the nonprofit Green Restaurant Association (GRA; www.dinegreen.com/solutions.asp) was formed to provide food purveyors with knowledge and connections to reduce costs and environmental impact while becoming more sustainable. The GRA claims the world’s largest database of environmental solutions and products that meet certification standards for the restaurant industry. The GRA provides assistance and certification to restaurant owners who want to go green, offers educational outreach to consumers, and produces a Certified Green Restaurant Guide to help environmentally conscious consumers find restaurants that meet their standards of responsibility and service. The website lists 177 members as of January 2009.
To learn how to get started greening up your restaurant and food business practices, the GRA provides a set of simple guidelines that give you the points you’ll want to consider:
Energy efficiency and conservation
Water efficiency and conservation
Recycling and compost
Sustainable food
Pollution prevention
Recycled, tree-free, biodegradable, and organic products
Chlorine-free paper products
Nontoxic cleaning and chemical products
Green power
Green building and construction
Education
Going Green
Restaurant owners curious about their own sustainability and their impact on the environment might begin a self-study by using a simple quiz on the GRA site that reviews energy use, water use, waste practices, and toxicity awareness: www.dinegreen.com/quiz.asp.
The GRA website states that restaurants use more electricity than any other business, so making improvements in this area can greatly impact the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the industry. The GRA encourages its members and other food providers to reduce electricity use by installing energy-efficient equipment, replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs or LED bulbs, using monitors and other routines that limit the use of electricity to an as-needed basis only, and seeking out renewable sources of energy. Some of these changes may seem costly at the outset, but money saved in reduced energy use will be substantial and should make these expenses cost-effective within a few years.
The GRA says restaurants use up to 300,000 gallons of water annually. It asks members to reduce water consumption by installing low-flow faucets, spray valves, and toilets and by providing water to customers on request instead of automatically. In the United States, this reduction could save millions of gallons of fresh water each day, and the improvements could save as much as $5,000 in a year. Another way to conserve is to reuse water from sinks, showers, and laundry machines for irrigation of outdoor landscaping and/or for flushing toilets. Check with your code enforcement office before having a plumber redirect your flow pipes.
Restaurant members of the GRA say they can reduce their waste output by as much as 95 percent by finding ways to recycle paper, plastic, metals, and food waste at waste management companies or on-site facilities and by donating leftover food to homeless shelters and charities.
Here are a few more tips from the GRA:
Instead of packaging take-out meals in Styrofoam or plastic, use cardboard or compostable containers.
Use compostable flatware instead of disposable plastic.
Serve condiments such as ketchup, sugar, and salt in bulk containers instead of individual packets.
Purchase food from local farmers and at local farmers’ markets to reduce chemical content and transportation costs and emissions.
If possible, reuse your fryer oil as biodiesel fuel for equipment and delivery vehicles.
A new Boston-based company, Converted Organics, has started a business that collects food waste from restaurants, groceries, and other businesses; composts the waste; and converts it into a liquid fertilizer, which it then sells to farmers and growers seeking a cost-effective organic nutrient for crops. The company reports that 85 percent of its buyers are conventional farmers tired of paying increasingly high prices for conventional petrochemical-based fertilizers. This keeps food from the landfill (the company says that 25 million tons of food waste typically end up in landfills each year) and produces an economically attractive and sustainable solution for the organic food chain.
Pizza Fusion, a Fort Lauderdale–based franchise that has expanded rapidly across the country, channels heat from ovens to heat dining rooms; uses 75 percent organic ingredients for its pizzas, sandwiches, salads, and desserts; and offers organic drinks, including beer and wine. Restaurant founders Michael Gordon and Vaughan Lazar haven’t joined the GRA but are members of Green America (a group of certified green businesses), and the business is certified organic by the USDA. The company uses hybrid vehicles and encourages franchisees to develop facilities that meet U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED certification.
Education is an important element to success with a sustainable business plan. Engaging staff in the process by empowering them with an understanding of why your business is making these changes helps them carry out new plans. Informing customers of your efforts will increase your business among socially and environmentally responsible consumers and is likely to increase your sales and profits. Post signs wherever you’ve made a sustainable change to let staff and visitors know what you’re doing and how they’re helping save water and energy, reduce emissions, and protect the environment. They’ll feel good to be part of the solution for the planet, and they might even choose to come back to your place a little more often.
Going Green
Although people may think that going green is more costly than towing the traditional line, the GRA says that some members save thousands of dollars by adopting their green restaurant guidelines. For more info on cost savings, see www.dinegreen.com/sixreasons.asp.
As you can see, the food service industry greatly impacts the environment. By establishing more sustainable business practices in the handling and processing of food and in food retail and restaurant operations, food providers can significantly contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and reduce environmental contamination of soil, water, and air. In the process, increasing sustainability in food service businesses can reduce energy, water use, and waste; save money; and increase profits. Employees, customers, and the planet will benefit from healthier, more nutritious, and less potentially dangerous dining choices.
The food industry has a great impact on the environment.
Reducing energy costs and selecting healthier food choices are key to creating a sustainable restaurant or food business.
Conscious consumers are drawn to healthier food options.
Sustainable food practices can greatly improve emissions and expenses.