The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently petitioned USDA to prohibit meat producers from claiming their beef is “low carbon” and to require independent verification of other climate claims on beef.
The petition also asks USDA to require food companies to disclose their carbon emissions on product labels.
“There is no such thing as low-carbon beef,” Scott Faber, EWG senior vice president for government affairs, claimed in a statement. “No food choice results in more greenhouse gas emissions than beef.”
The group said the claims are based on offsets that are hard to measure and not independently verified. EWG also submitted comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides update, a guide that aims to prevent companies from making misleading environmental claims.
“Consumers are willing to pay for foods that reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Faber said. “But many of the climate claims made on food are either misleading or false.”
