LACA launches Meal Analyser tool
With COP26 highlighting the need to work towards net zero over the next few decades, LACA believes the government will increase pressure on individuals and organisations to look at ways to achieve this. A net zero strategy will be the core of every tender including those for the school food service.
The meal analyser allows any organisation running a meal service to calculate the annual carbon and economic impacts of that service.
It will show you where your carbon emissions are coming from, and how they compare across different types of food, transport and disposal. This will provide you with a benchmark to let you improve in the future.
The assumptions underlying the calculator are taken from detailed analysis of five school food services across England and Scotland. A report has been published that shows the outcomes of this analysis:
- If the average carbon footprint is taken for a school food service an area roughly the size of Wales would have to be planted with rain forest to offset the carbon impact...every year!
- Ensuring waste food does not go to landfill is vital to managing carbon output
- Red meat from ruminants has the greatest impact on carbon footprint of any single food type
- Increased use of raw fruit and vegetables lowers your carbon footprint
If you are a LACA member you can view the presentation of the report here.
It is vital that as many LACA members use this tool as possible if we are to get a true picture of the impact of the service on the countries carbon output we need LACA members to upload their figures.
The more data LACA have the better the benchmarking will be, but also the better you will be able to measure your services performance against the national average.
The Meal Analyser tool will be discussed in the next LACA webinar, which you can register for here.