The Future of Food Eco-Labeling: A Comparative Analysis
| Author | Jason J. Czarnezki |
| Pages | 301-323 |
Page 301
Chapter 17
The Future of Food Eco-Labeling:
A Comparative Analysis
Jason J. Cz arn ezki
The environmental costs of modern industrial and large-scale food production and consumption have
begun to enter public consciousness. e true costs of the modern food system are not adequately
reected by the low prices most consumers pay. Food choices shape our waistlines, the natural land-
scape, and ecological health. Society ha s become increasingly aware that choices about food contribute to
the climate crisis, cause species loss, impair water and air quality, and accelerate land use degradation. e
causes of t hese environmental costs are many—the livestock industry, diet, agricultural practices like the
use of pesticides and fertilization, and large-scale food transportation, processing, packaging, and distribu-
tion systems.
Recent legal scholarship suggests both that environmental policy will focus more on changing indi-
vidual behavior,1 and that consumer informational labeling can be an eective regulatory tool in encourag-
ing eco-friendly choices. Individuals in t he United States contribute 30-35% of greenhouse gas emissions
nationwide, which accounts for 8% of the world’s total.2 A European Union study showed that products
from only three areas —food and drink, private tra nsportation, and housing—are responsible for 70-80%
of the environmental impacts of personal consumption.3
Can better information and dissemination lead to c onsumer-driven environmental improvement lead-
ing to fewer toxins in the environment, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and more sustainable use of
natural resources? What labeling schemes and legal policies best support environmentally friendly food
consumption? Previous scholarship argued for t he creation of more ambitious informational labeling
regimes such as “eco-labeling,” product labels evaluating the ecological and ca rbon footprint of products
including foods, and for promoting a more local and organic food system.4 is chapter builds on this work
and considers the role and implementation of eco-labeling in promoting a sustainable food system. While
the entire A merican food system needs to be reevaluated, the farm bill requires modication,5 and local,
organic, nonindustria lly processed food systems should be promoted, the incremental step of better food
labeling is nece ssary, given the dominant industrial food sy stem and emerging industrial organic ma rket.
e objective of an eco-label would be to provide consumers with information about the environmental
costs of food choices, resulting in cha nges in consumer preferences and buying practices.
l
1. See, e.g., Hope M. Babcock, Assuming Personal Responsibility for Improving the Environment: Moving Toward a New Environmental Norm, 33
H. E. L. R. 117 (2009); J J. C, E E: L, N, I B (2011);
Michael P. Vandenbergh, e Individual as Polluter, 35 ELR 10723 (Nov. 2005); Michael P. Vandenbergh, Order Without Social Norms: How
Personal Norm Activation Can Protect the Environment, 99 N. U. L. R. 1101 (2005).
2. Anne E. Carlson et al., e Forum: Creating the Carbon-Neutral Citizen, 24 E. F. 46, 46 (2007); Michael P. Vandenbergh & Anne Steinemann,
e Carbon-Neutral Individual, 82 N.Y.U. L. R. 1673 (2007). In dening individual behavior, MIchael Vandenbergh and Anne Steinemann
include emissions from personal motor vehicle use, personal air travel, mass transport, and emissions attributable to household electricity use.
3. Bo P. W ., E I P M D P 5, 17 (Peter Eder & Luis Delgado eds.,
2008).
4. C, supra note 1, at Introduction and Chapter Four (Food).
5. See, e.g., William S. Eubanks II, Paying the Farm Bill: How One Statute Has Radically Degraded the Natural Environment and How a Newfound
Emphasis on Sustainability Is the Key to Reviving the Ecosystem, 27 E. F. 56 (2010).
is chapter is, with permission, a signicantly revised, updated, and adapted version of an article previously published as Jason J. Czarnezki, e
Future of Food Eco-Labeling: Organic, Carbon Footprint, and Environmental Life-Cycle Analysis, 30 S. E. L.J. 3 (2011). All mistakes and
errors, of course, are the author’s.
Page 302 Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Law
Labeling a lready exists for some purposes. For exa mple, organic labeling is primarily concerned with
prohibiting the use of synthetic chemicals, which may result in less risk to consumers from chemicals in
their food and may have some environmental benets such as less risk to wildlife a nd soil from pesticides.
But such labeling does not explicitly say anything about other environmental concerns such as water usage
and green house gas emissions. Likewise, carbon footprint labeling does not address ecological concerns
beyond greenhouse gas emissions.
e objective of any new food eco-label program should be to achieve a broader objective based on a
denition of “sustainable food” that combines many objectives—lowering the carbon footprint of food
at all stages (agriculture, distribution, a nd packaging), reducing consumption, supplying healthier food,
promoting sustainable a griculture (less resource-intensive and less polluting), and encouraging water and
land use eciency. Food would have to be environmentally evaluated at a ll stages of its production and
processing. “Evaluated” here could mean quantitative environmental life-c ycle analysis or qualitative best-
practices standards.
Organic labeling programs exist, carbon labeling programs and environmental best practices for food
production and processing are under development, and environmental life-cycle assessments for food s are
under consideration. Both the United States and Europea n Union have developed organic food certic a-
tion and labeling programs. e U.S. Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) establishes a national organic
certication program in which agricultu ral products may be labeled as orga nic if produced and handled
without the use of synthetic substances. European Union regulations on organic production and labeling,
at least on paper, exhibit a broader and more ambitious model than their U.S. counterpart. e Europea n
Union organic model attempts to oer a holistic paradigm reecting a nimal welfare, environmental pol-
lution, and biological diversity, in addition to chemical and synthetic inputs. Carbon footprint labeling is
now occurring in the United Kingdom through the Carbon Trust, and many private companies a round
the world are engaging in environmental labeling. Food might also be labeled based on qua litative best
practices standards or quantitative life-cycle ana lyses that would include consideration of natural resource
and chemical inputs starting at the production process or raw extraction stage, and emissions and pollution
outputs during the production, distribution and use, and disposal stages.
is chapter discusses public and private eorts to inform consumers about environmentally preferable
food choices, comparing such eorts in the United States and Europe. e chapter rst briey describes the
environmental consequences of the modern food system. It then describes existing public and private eco-
labeling regimes, including organic labeling, carbon footprint labeling, and country of origin labeling. e
chapter then describes the “Swedish experiment,” in which that countr y, a leader in reducing green house
gases, has embarked upon an ambitious carbon labeling and dietar y information program. e Swed-
ish National Food Administration developed new dietar y guidelines, formally proposed to t he European
Commission, which give equal weight to climate and health, t hough unfortunately these guidelines were
not adopted by Sweden. Additionally, Sweden’s largest organic certication orga nizations have embarked
upon a program called “Climate Labelling for Food” that requires food to be both produced organically
and to emit low levels of greenhouse gases to meet certication requirements. e Swedish eorts oer a
potential model for more ambitious eco-labeling in the United States.
Against the backdrop of those Europea n labeling eort s, the chapter then considers the future of food
eco-labeling in the United States and abroad, addressing the merits of creating a U.S. national eco-labeling
program similar to t he Swedish program or other European Union programs, replacing current federal
organic food legislation. A key issue is the extent to which an American state could engage in environmen-
tal federalism a nd develop a stringent eco-labeling program t hat does not run afoul of the existing federal
regulations about organic labeling under the OFPA. at section draws an analogy between member states
in the EU and A merican states in our federal system in evaluating the ability to have stricter eco-labeling
for food than sug gested by American and European Community law. e chapter then considers the dif-
culties in developing an eco-label that considers a wider range of environmental assessments than existing
organic and climate labeling programs, focusing in part icular on the goals of the European Food Sust ain-
able Consumption and Production Round Table, as well as discussing the merits of a best practices versus
life-cycle approach. e chapter closes by addressing the chal lenges to creating eective food eco-labeling.
To continue reading
Request your trial