Part of the Food Policy Community Spotlight Series
What it does: Launched in October 2018, FoodPrint.org is a new and innovative website that offers evidence-based information to help consumers make informed and sustainable food purchasing choices when grocery shopping or dining out. A “foodprint” is defined as “the collective impact that the food we eat has on animals, the environment and people” and is the result of all the processes required to get it from farm to plate. Our current food system favors the cheapest production practices while hiding their effect on animals, public health, food workers, farmers, local economies and the environment. The website aims to “pull back the curtain” on industrial food production and bring awareness to the benefits of more sustainable practices, encouraging readers to make changes in their own lives, but also pressing for more systemic change.
How it works: The website provides readers with resources and tips for eating more sustainable animal products, decreasing food waste, increasing food literacy, increasing their local and seasonal food purchasing, and selecting products that support better worker welfare and animal welfare, all in order to lower their individual foodprints. One of the features of the site is a comprehensive Food Label Guide that offers information on how to decipher the myriad labels and advertising claims consumers encounter. It also features a Real Food Encyclopedia with more than 200 entries on fruits, grains, and other food groups to help readers understand the foodprint of each food and learn how sustainable or unsustainable it is, what to look for when shopping for it and how to cook it. In addition, FoodPrint offers detailed reports on the foodprint of beef, chicken, egg and crop production (with more on the way) that describe the current industrial production system and the most pressing issues involved. The reports lay out a roadmap for what a sustainable production system should look like and offer specific recommendations for how consumers can find and advocate for more sustainable products.
So what is your foodprint? Click here to find out.
Mission: to help consumers make food choices that do less harm to the environment, animals and people
Latest project/campaigns: Check out FoodPrint’s blog to stay up to date on the latest food issues ranging from policies to tools for shopping, cooking and eating sustainably.
Interesting fact about how it is working to positively affect the food system: According to FoodPrint’s recent nationwide survey, while household food purchasers want to eat local, sustainable and humanely raised products, a majority don’t know exactly how to find them, confused by common food labeling terms and claims. For example, about 60 percent of people surveyed mistakenly believe that “cage-free” means animals have access to the outdoors at all times. What the term actually means, however, is only that the animals be “out of a cage;” it does not require that they be given any outdoor access. FoodPrint.org is working to clear up the confusion and fill this knowledge gap by providing a one-stop resource for learning how to make more informed choices.
215 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10016
Major Funders: FoodPrint.org was launched by the GRACE Communications Foundation, which develops innovative strategies to increase public awareness of the critical environmental and public health issues created by our current industrial food system, and to advocate for more sustainable alternatives.
Number of staff: 5
Number of volunteers: 0
Areas served: National – Available online
Year Started: 2018
Organization Director, Manager or CEO: Jerusha Klemperer
Contact Information: firstname.lastname@example.org