In my last blog post, I discussed daily breakfast, which I call a Breakfast of Champions. I now want to talk about two of the ingredients from that meal. The Good and Gather (GG) Grade A eggs and the Chobani yogurt. The GG eggs are made in the US. The Target (parent company) website says the eggs come from a certified United Egg Producer facility. It appears that exactly where they are made is unknown. For the Chobani yogurt, Chobani produces its yogurt in New York, Idaho, and Australia. Although we don't know much about where Target gets its GG eggs, we can find out more information from the United Egg Producer website. The group claims to put less of a strain on the environment by using less water in the production of eggs. This is great considering that the production of eggs was formerly something that would contain water. A similar takeaway from Chobani Greek yogurt. While Greek yogurt in general has bad environmental impacts (water usage, acid waste), Chobani has claimed to decrease water usage and repurpose its waste instead of sending it to landfills. Fossil fuels were likely used for both the Greek yogurt and eggs. To produce these items, machines have to run, create heat for livestock, and lastly transport these goods. The GG eggs are going to have a slightly higher amount of Carbon Dioxide emission because of the livestock (chickens). This depends on the type of feed used and the housing of the livestock. Since Chobani yogurt is made not only in the US but also in Australia. Making some of the issues like water usage a global issue. This water strain isn't just confined to the US or its cities but overseas as well. The opposite with GG eggs. The eggs are made solely in the US, meaning that the CO2 emissions and fossil fuel usage are impacting US cities more than Chobani yogurt. As mentioned earlier, with the production of Greek yogurt comes a lot of acid waste and water pollution.
The GG eggs and Chobani yogurt are both bought from my local Target store. To get goods to its customers, Target uses many different ways of transportation; flight, ground, freight. Chobani states that they produce yogurt overseas in Australia and in the US. Which would make it the product that traveled the farthest, but how do we know if I'm getting a container from another continent? On the Target website, the company mentions that the country of origin for Chobani yogurt is the US. Therefore, maybe it's not coming as far as I think it is. This makes it hard to identify which product is traveling the farthest distance. Since both are domestically produced. The GG eggs come in a normal egg container. So not the most wasteful on food products. Just think, 12 eggs come in that Styrofoam container. The Chobani yogurt comes in a plastic cup with foil on top. A 4-pack also comes secured in cardboard material with their marketing on it. That does add up. These materials can be recycled.These materials can be recycled. I wanted to lastly mention this great website that gives consumers a look at the environmental impact of their everyday grocery items. Here's the link: EWG Site. I used this site to gather information for this post.
The image showcases the environmental strides that United Egg Producers have made in the production of their eggs. Good & Gather packages these eggs and are sold in parent company Target's stores.
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