- Burger King announced that it is selling burgers made with “Reduced Methane Emissions Beef” from July 2020
- Lemongrass is being used as a feed additive to reduce their cows’ methane emissions by around 33%
- Burger King conducted a study in partnership with researchers from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico and U.C. Davis
- The study found that adding 100 grams of dried lemongrass leaves to the cows’ daily feed saw a reduction of up to 33% on average of methane emissions during the period the diet was fed
- The burgers will be available in Miami, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin Texas, and Portland Oregon
- However, whilst a positive start, the emissions reduction is only during the last 3-4 months of the cow’s life
Burger made the announcement with a tweet
A tweet announced the carbon emissions reduction initiative from Burger King restaurants in the United States.
Accompanied by a catchy video, the announcement shared that Burger King is planning to serve reduced emissions beef in selected restaurants starting in July 2020.
Reduced Emissions Feed Additives are addressing a major challenge
The reason for this initiatives comes about due to the carbon and methane emissions of cows used in the food chain.Cows emit carbon dioxide and methane as a byproduct of their digestion, and the massive global impact of this is becoming an increasingly challenging issue for major food producers.
According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Livestock is responsible for 14.5% of all human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, , and beef production accounts for 41% of those emissions — equating to 6% of all emissions.
Burger King’s research partnerships trialled additives in Mexico and the United States
Burger King conducted a study in partnership with researchers from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico and U.C. Davis. The study went through a number of stages across three rounds of research in Mexico, through to a study a U.C. Davis, and then a pilot with 50 head of cattle.
Burger King chose to partner with researchers from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico because they had been testing natural ingredients in cow’s diets for a decade. Starting in 2018, they worked with Dr. Octavio A. Castelán-Ortega and his team to test ingredients which had a methane emission benefit but could also be understand by Burger King’s customers as natural remedy, like herbs such as chamomile or lemongrass.
The researchers tested three natural plants – Cosmos Bipinnatus, Chamomile, and Lemongrass. the conducted the research in the last three months of the cow’s lives, during the fattening period, using four cows to test the effects using respiration chambers. The study found average methane emissions were reduced by 29% to 33%.
The second round of testing validated the initial results, finding that both Cosmos Bipinnatus and Lemongrass were the most effective. Because Lemongrass has better availability, it was selected as the preferred option.
The third round of research tested varying amounts of lemongrass as a feed additive, testing 0%, 2%, 3%, and 4%. These tests showed that the optimal amount of additive was 2%, which gave the best overall methane reduction without affecting the weight gain or digestibility for the cow.
A fourth round of testing was conducted at the University of California, led by Dr. Ermias Kebreab and his team. This test was conducted with nine cows over a ten week period, and was aimed at understanding two things: was fresh lemongrass as effective as dried lemongrass, and whether the 2% additive level had an impact on the daily weight gain of the cows. Here, researchers used a technique call Green Feed Respiration Sample System, which is an automated head-chamber system.
The results of the research delivered a 33% reduction in methane emissions
Overall, the studies found that by adding 100 grams of dried lemongrass leaves to the cows’ daily feed saw a reduction of up to 33% on average of methane emissions during the period the diet was fed, which was the last 3-4 months of the cow’s life. The study also examined different varieties of lemongrass to determine which was optimal for emissions reduction, with Cymbopogon citratus used in the Mexico studies and Cymbopogon martinii used in the America studies. Researchers believe that the variety of lemongrass used contributes to different outcomes across the studies.
The fascinating thing about this research is that there appears to be a number of alternatives to the use of Asparagopsis as a feed additive to reduce methane emissions.
There is a lot of room for improvement but this is a great start
However, there are some issues with Burger King’s current plans. The additive is only going to be used during the last 3-4 months of the cow’s life, during the fattening period, which means that the reduced emissions period is only for as little as 13% of the cow’s life and at most 33%, depending on the lifespan of between 12-24 months.
Burger King are building positive momentum by open sourcing their solution and resources
Burger King has open-sourced the recipe for their emissions reducing feed additive, in a positive sign for the attitude towards this challenge – one of collaboration and sharing to find the best solutions.
The reduced emissions feed additive recipe is available here.
The research paper is in pre-publication and can be downloaded here.
More resources are available on Burger King’s sustainability site
You can also learn more by visiting the the Burger King sustainability website here. There is also a list of frequently asked questions available, including such questions as:
- What is enteric fermentation?
- What is Burger King doing to reduce methane emissions from cows?
- How did you measure methane emissions during research?
- Global beef supply chains have a major impact on deforestation. How are you handling this environmental issue?
Photo by Angelos Michalopoulos on Unsplash