Sustainability
Carbon footprint in F&B
In the context of CO2e emissions, NutriHotel has included three new variables related to decarbonisation to transmit (optionally) to the customer or facilitate internal calculations (e.g. for sustainability certifications): CO2e labels per plate , the environmental traffic light and the new nutritional value “proteins, of which of animal origin”.
Carbon labels (kg Co2e)
Nutrihotel has incorporated in the recipes the possibility of adding the estimated emissions per ingredient, which are subsequently transformed according to the weight of each ingredient in the recipe, in kg CO2e per dish (see example image of Just Salad). This data can be transmitted to the client through different digital devices and/or be used for internal calculations of emissions.
Nutritional and environmental traffic lights
NutriHotel includes the possibility of classifying the dishes by the traffic light system of the two-factor indicator “Health Nutritional Index” developed by the University of Michigan (2021) and that considers health and sustainability criteria (in terms of CO2e emissions) at the same time:
Green: Dishes that are beneficial to health and have a low environmental impact.
Yellow: Dishes with medium nutritional and environmental impact.
Red: Foods with a high negative environmental or nutritional impact.
Identification of dishes with local ingredients
Social sustainability: NutriHotel highlights the identification of local products and can even identify the percentage of “zero kilometer ingredients” contained in each dish and thus transmit it to the customer.
New value: "proteins, of which of animal origin"
It is foreseeable that the flexitarian trend will increase in the coming years, that is, consumers prefer dishes with a lower proportion of meat (or, in general, animal protein) but without giving it up entirely. This will be reflected in the creation of new dishes more in line with the proportions to the “Harvard healthy eating plate” or in redefinitions of classic dishes, but lowering the amount of animal protein. This reduction in animal protein will be partially replaced by vegetable protein and, therefore, information of interest to the consumer of a “mixed protein plate” will be how much protein is from a vegetable source and how much animal. For this question, NutriHotel has included the variable “of which of animal origin”, that isolates proteins of animal sources (just as fats have “of which saturated” and carbohydrates have “of which sugars”).