CO2e-Footprint

Different foods have different CO₂e footprints. According to our calculations*, plant-based ingredients generate significantly lower CO₂e emissions than animal-based ingredients. This is nothing new and is already common knowledge – and our calculations confirm this too. According to our calculations*, the vegan products in our range are often among those with the lowest CO2e emissions. So don’t be surprised, for example, that our vegetable side dish, which contains butter, has higher emissions than a vegetable stir-fry with oil listed in the ingredients.

* The Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) is calculated in accordance with the requirements and calculation principles of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) (https://ghgprotocol.org/).

Most CO₂e emissions are generated during the cultivation of the ingredients, as well as during storage and preparation of the product at home. However, the method of cultivation also plays a major role in the CO₂e footprint. We’d like to explain this in a bit more detail using herbs as an example. I’m sure you’re all familiar with those large pots of herbs from the supermarket?

According to our calculations*, growing fresh herbs in fossil-fuel-heated greenhouses generates up to 10 times more emissions than growing our frozen herbs outdoors.
That is why it is not possible to make a blanket statement that cooking with fresh ingredients is always more climate-friendly. If, for example, you use vegetables such as tomatoes or peppers from these fossil-fuel-heated greenhouses outside their short outdoor growing season, cooking with fresh ingredients can in some cases actually have a worse environmental impact than a frozen meal.
However, if the vegetables you prepare at home are those grown outdoors in the local area, then cooking them yourself comes out better. As you can see, there are many factors at play.

* The Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) is calculated in accordance with the requirements and calculation principles of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) (https://ghgprotocol.org/).

The method of transporting raw materials also has an impact on CO₂e footprints. We are often asked whether the fact that our ingredients come from all over the world is not extremely harmful to the climate. However, the transport of raw materials accounts for only a small proportion of the CO₂e footprint. One reason for this is that FRoSTA never transports raw materials by air.
At the same time, transporting frozen ingredients is more efficient than transporting fresh fruit and vegetables, because the ‘frozen’ produce is washed, peeled and cut to size locally where necessary. This naturally means that skins, stalks, stems and cores – as with peppers, for example – are removed and are not transported to us in the first place. This saves a considerable amount of weight and thus also CO₂e. Furthermore, the finely chopped ingredients take up much less space when stored. As a result, far more frozen vegetables fit into the lorry than fresh ones.

System boundaries determine the scope within which our emissions are calculated and data is collected. They define which processes, materials and activities are included in the analysis and which are not. In our ‘cradle-to-grave’ PCF (Product Carbon Footprint / CO₂e footprint) calculation, we take into account not only the production of our raw materials (vegetables, fruit, cereals, rice, animal products and fish, etc.) but also their processing and packaging, as well as the manufacture of packaging materials. Transport and storage are also included in this calculation.