New Study Serves Up Climate Change Warnings On Menus

Eric Scheiner | January 11, 2023
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A recently released study on the impact of climate change labels on menus, suggests that fast-food menus that feature “climate impact” labels on meat items will convince diners to choose “more sustainable choices.”

According to the study’s “conclusions and relevance” section:

This randomized clinical trial's findings suggest that climate impact menu labels, especially negatively framed labels highlighting high-climate impact items (ie, red meat), were an effective strategy to reduce red meat selections and encourage more sustainable choices.

The recently released study led by researchers from Johns Hopkins University reportedly included over 5 thousand participants.

Participants were shown a fast food menu and prompted to select 1 item they would like to order for dinner. Participants were randomized to view menus with 1 of 3 label conditions: a quick response code label on all items (control group); green low-climate impact label on chicken, fish, or vegetarian items (positive framing); or red high-climate impact label on red meat items (negative framing).

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Julia Wolfson, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, is already floating the idea of government involvement.

CNN reports:

For now, climate labeling on food products remains relatively rare, and those companies that do add them tend to use positive labels that highlight low climate impacts. For warning-style labels to be adopted on a large scale, Wolfson said, “legislation or regulation may be necessary.”

Increased government regulation involving climate change always seems to be on the menu, doesn’t it?

H/T Reason

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