Two health and food lobby groups in the UK, the Food Ethics Council and Sustain, will this week make a recommendation that food and drink products carry a new label to inform consumers about the amount of water that is used in the manufacturing process, according to the Guardian newspaper.
In their report, the groups state that water scarcity is now a fast-growing sustainability problem across the world and that more transparency is necessary to inform consumers.
Although meat and dairy are singled out for particular attention, vegetables are mentioned as being more water-intensive than cereals.
The report's co-author Tom MacMillan commented: “Public awareness of water scarcity remains low. In the UK, citizens are rarely exposed to the direct effects of severe water shortage and cannot readily see the links between their purchases and water shortage in other countries. Water use is not reflected in the price of the final product.”
Mr MacMillan added that the labels would not involve ‘litres per kg’ stickers, but should acknowledge the practise of good water stewardship to allow consumers to see which companies are working hard to conserve water, use it efficiently and act in an environmentally sustainable manner.
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