Empathy List Archives

 Laura McGuiness
 Shani Stewart
 Reed Mangels
 Carole Hamlin
 Hana Takemoto

 Our co-sponsors and friends at Baltimore Vegan Drinks, Rissa and Nat.
 Hana Takemoto
 Matt Baker
 Sam Stahler
 Mark Rifkin
 Cindy Blum

 Earthsave Baltimore
 517 Talbott Ave.
 Lutherville, MD,21093

 Hello,

 I am in search of a vegan/vegetarian chef for my yoga retreat
 April 2016. It is a 3-day retreat. There will be 15-20 people.
 The retreat will be in Central New Jersey. Thank you for your
 assistance.

 with Metta (loving kindness)

 Jennifer Arias

 www.essentialyogaschool.com

 potato seed production (fresh seed used every year);
 fertilizer and pesticide production;

 water loss from outgrade potatoes not meeting all quality
 specifications and thereby discarded from production lines
 (on farms: 10-20% and in the chip plants: 3-5%);

 storage from October to June where there is an ongoing water
 need to humidify and regulate temperature and ventilation;

 potato (and thereby water) losses when in long-term storage due to
 inadequate conditions (8-50% of crop);

 transporting, washing and processing potatoes during chip
 production;

 producing, processing and transporting vegetable
 oils including palm oil used in the final product;

 packaging materials manufacture;

 transportation from chip plant to distributors and on to
 retailers.

 My opinion is based on my experience in the potato
 industry.  I also cite Pimentel's work which states it takes
 500 L of water to grow one kilogram of potatoes. By comparison
 your brochure states it's only half of that.”
 [ http://www.kysq.org/docs/Pimentel97.pdf ] (p. 100)

 Can you imagine irrigation equipment working 24/7 on one
 farm which pumped approximately 5,000 cubic meters
 (approx.1.3 million gallons) of water per hour onto fields
 by 8 pumping stations from two rivers and four wells?

 ...The total area of the farm was more than 6,000 ha (hectare)
 (23.2 square miles)...potatoes grew on 1,000 ha (3.9 sq. mi.)...The
 irrigation system was used for vegetables (1/3) and potatoes
 (2/3)...The biggest unit there was a center pivot supplying 140 ha
 (0.54 sq. mi.) with a capacity of 600+ cubic meters (158,500+ gallons)
 of water per hr. used for potatoes only.

 In a “normal” year the irrigation system would work 30-50%
 below the drought year rate but it depended on the soil type
 and quality; potato     variety; climate at a particular farm
 location; and weather conditions (rainfall and temperature) in
 a given year.

 The paradox with potatoes is that the water supplied to fields
 and later in the factory is the same water that is removed:
 potatoes retain 78- 81% of water but potato chips, only 2.5-3%.
 In other words from a single one-ton (2,205 lbs.) capacity chip
 production line the amount of water which must be removed from
 potatoes exceeds 2.2 t of steam per hour (4,850 lbs. of steam
 per hour = 9.7 gallons of water per minute).

 ...In chips there is 30-35% fat from the oil the chips
 were fried in during processing. So if we add all water used
 in the supply chain for all ingredients including the vegetable
 oil...such as local sunflower or canola oil and imported palm oil...
 the water usage will be much higher than calculated by the authors
 you cite in your brochure.

 Palm oil is used in potato chips in some European countries...it
 may be used as part of a blend of sunflower and palm oils or used
 alone...I recently saw a bag of chips in the supermarket that
 contained only palm oil...In other cases the proportion of palm oil
 is going down from year to year but it is still in usage.

 Use of global averages (Values could be significantly more or
 less in different areas depending on many factors such as climate
 variability and agricultural practices.) See Summary and p. 41
 Table 4.1 for examples.

 Excluded water needed for processing (p. 38 of Report 16)

 Many simplifying assumptions (p. 26 of Report 16) when
 calculating the water footprint of processed products
 (e.g., potato chips) derived from primary raw commodities
 (e.g., potatoes):

         water needed to produce only one raw commodity
         used to calculate water footprint for each
         processed product

         raw commodity produced domestically using only
         domestic resources

         no mention of water footprints of packaging
         materials and their processing as well as water
         needed to run production lines in factories

 using crop water requirements (not actual water used by
 crops) as a basis

 excluding irrigation losses focusing only on quantitative
 use of water resources (disregarding impacts of human
 activities on water quality such as agricultural pollution
 due to pesticides and fertilizers)

 In some parts of Europe companies don't have customers with great
 environmental awareness and since competition is not a factor, no
 changes are in process that I know of...

 "It would also be mistaken to view other living beings as mere
 objects subjected to arbitrary human domination." (The cartoonist
 had a picture of a dog chained up.)

 "Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with
 love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent
 on one another." (Pictures of many animals holding paws and flippers)

 I am following up on your inquiry to Wrigley regarding stearic
 acid in Life Savers mints...

 While most Wrigley products sold in the U.S. do not contain
 animal-derived ingredients, we do use [animal-derived] stearic
 acid in Life Savers Spear O Mint, Pep-O-Mint and Wint-O-Green
 sugar mints, which is included in the ingredient line label.
 The ingredients in our products are necessary to achieve the right
 taste and texture. We are continually looking at alternatives to
 animal-derived ingredients that can deliver the same quality that
 our consumers love. - On behalf of Wrigley Corporate Affairs

 The pricing on triple-pressed stearic acid tallow- vs.
 vegetable-based is 0.82 vs 0.89/lb. respectively...

 ...plant-derived is generally higher, but sometimes it's tallow;
 plant is usually 10 cents per lb. higher.

 I don't think there would be a significant difference in
 taste/texture from a plant-based vs. a tallow-based version.
 But believe it or not, 7 cents extra per pound can be an issue,
 especially for a major company that mass produces in volume
 such as Wrigley's.

 Do you know anything about the food delivery company,
 greenbeandelivery.com?

 Please let us know if you had experience with them.

 Thank you.

vrg-maryland@lists.vrg.org

VRG Maryland News: December 2015

Water Footprints and Virtual Water

What happens to the removed water?

American Potato Chip Consumption

Are Chapagain's and Hoekstra's Values Accurate?

Conclusion

Post Script: Net-Zero Chips

Post Script: Ugly Vegetables

Background

Taste or Texture Factor?

Price Factor?

Conclusion