In July 2009, The Food Ethics Council and Sustain published a briefing paper recommending that food companies' water stewardship should be shown on food labels.
The paper argues that we need to look not only at how much water is used, but where and what impact it has. For example, research cited in the report shows that while agriculture uses an average 24% of water across the EU, this rises to 80% in some regions. Some types of food are also "thirstier" than others, with tomatoes, sugar-cane and meat and dairy products being particularly water intensive.
Sustain's co-ordinator, Jeanette Longfield, who commissioned the report, says: "This information should go alongside other vital elements of sustainability, such as greenhouse gases, nutrition, and fair trade so people can get a full picture of the impact of the food they buy. But, most important, when companies measure their impact they often improve it. Labelling, on the basis of water stewardship, could soon offer people products that cause less environmental damage."
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