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Burger King has announced it is putting the cows it serves in its restaurants on ‘low methane diets’ in a bid to slash emissions.
The fast-food chain worked with scientists from the Autonomous University at the State of Mexico and the University of California, Berkeley to create the new diet.
According to reports, the cows will now be fed 100g of lemongrass leaves daily, which will reportedly ‘help them release less methane as they digest their food’. Burger King says the new diet ‘reduced a cow’s daily methane emissions by up to 33 percent in the last three to four months’.
‘Reduced Methane Emissions Beef Whopper’
Numerous cows who have been fed this diet have been slaughtered and are being served (while supplies last) as a burger branded the ‘Reduced Methane Emissions Beef Whopper’ at five restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, Portland, and Oregon.
Fernando Machado, global chief marketing officer for Restaurant Brands International (which owns Burger King) said the chain will be making all its findings public.
“This an open-source approach to a real problem,” he added. “If the whole industry, from farmers, meat suppliers, and other brands join us, we can increase scale and collectively help reduce methane emissions that affect climate change.”
cow farts & burps are no laughing matter. they release methane, contributing to climate change. that’s why we’re working to change our cows’ diet by adding lemongrass to reduce their emissions by approximately 33%. learn about our ongoing study: https://t.co/kPCXpjfbGL #CowsMenu pic.twitter.com/DnmF8gVVL0
— Burger King (@BurgerKing) July 14, 2020
Go vegan to slash emissions
The Vegan Society told Plant Based News that you can reduce your food-related carbon footprint by up to a staggering 50 percent by going vegan.
Sam Calvert, spokesperson for The Vegan Society, added: “Growing vegan food uses 50 percent less land than animal agriculture. A meat and dairy diet is wasteful: for every 100 calories fed to animals we receive back only 12 calories by consuming their flesh and milk.
“Feeding crops to people rather than farmed animals could feed three billion more people. With an ever-growing worldwide population we all need to accept that helping the environment will take a lot more than tweaking the diet of cattle. If Burger King wants to help the environment producing vegan options would be the best way to achieve this.”
