Something has changed at a workplace cafeteria in Birmingham. Next to the sandwiches and hot and cold dishes is a small globe symbol, coloured green, orange or red with a letter in the centre from A to E. “Meet our new eco-labels” a sign reads.
Researchers at Oxford University have analysed the ingredients in every food item on the menu and given the dishes an environmental impact score, vegetable soup (an A) to the lemon, spring onion, cheese and tuna bagel(an E). They team up with the food services business Compass Group for a trial at more than a dozen of its cafeterias across the UK to see if a label can change the way people eat.
The challenge for the scientists designing the trial is the image the diners see on the signs. How much information do you include in a label? How do you strike a balance between effective and practical?
During the pandemic, researchers ran studies on an online supermarket where people were given fake money to complete their fake shopping list. The trial gave a sense of what labels were more likely to sway people to buy eco-friendly. They round the most effective way to get people not to buy an item was to use a dark red globe symbol with the word "worse" printed on it. But while effective, it had real world limitations. "You're not going to be able to get anyone to use that unless you threaten them with legislation, because they don't want to say 'don't buy this',"said Brian Cook, the leader of the research.
The next challenge is the scale, especially in supermarkets. Going through tens of thousands of products and countless ingredients, determining the environmental impact in a supermarket would be a Herculean(艰巨的) task. To make it easier, the research team finally decided on four indicators for the trial's formula: greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and water use. They weighted each indicator equally in their equation for overall impact.
In most cases, the researchers say the biggest environmental impact will be to get people off meat. "Given that the goal is to get people to shift behaviour the most correct and scientifically reliable approach may actually not be the best approach." Clark said. He has considered that a national rollout of labels might need to be based on indicators already prioritised by businesses and mandated (强制执) by governments, to make the move as easy as possible.
【小题1】What has changed at a workplace cafeteria i Burmingham?| A．Food is marked from A to E according to its nutrition. |
| B．Dishes are displayed with an environmental impact score. |
| C．The ingredients in every food item are regularly analysed. |
| D．The restaurant reopened with a sign "Meet our new eco-labels". |
| A．The image does not affect consumers’ opinion |
| B．The dark red globe symbol is a threat to the law. |
| C．An effective image might not be a practical one. |
| D．The image must carry as much information as possible |
| A．damage the interest of the business in food industry |
| B．put more weight on the indicator of greenhouse gas emissions |
| C．combine the benefit for business and the order of the government |
| D．consider whether the approach is supported by scientific evidences |
| A．Eco-friendly, Start from Food |
| B．Off Meat, We Will Be Healthy |
| C．Eco-labels, A New Way We Eat |
| D．Globe Symbol, A New Trend for Business |
