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24 A WIN-WIN CROP ALBERTA PEAS Public awareness of the environmental impacts of food produc on systems and food choices is increasing. Consumers want to know more about how their food is being produced, and how their food choices impact their health and the environment. In a recent survey, Canadian consumers indicated a willingness to pay a premium price for certain product a ributes, such as nutri onal value and environmental sustainability. Peas, a pulse crop, are recognized as a good source of protein and as a major component of the Canadian Food Guide's meat-alterna ve food. To gain a comprehensive understanding of sustainability performance, the Alberta Pulse Growers (APG) and, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry (AAF) are collabora ng on measuring the environmental footprint of Alberta peas using a method called life cycle assessment (LCA). A study exploring the combined health and environmental benefits of pulses is included in this work. "This study contributes to the good news story of pulses for producers and consumers," said Debra McLennan, APG's Food and Nutri on Coordinator. "Now people can contribute to their good health and the environment by lowering their carbon footprint with inexpensive, nutrient dense pulses grown right here in Alberta." Quan fying the carbon footprint and nutri onal values of protein rich foods To measure the environmental footprint of Alberta peas, carbon was selected as the impact indicator for the study because it is the most widely used interna onal environmental impact indicator for life cycle assessment of consumer products. Carbon footprints of other protein rich foods were calculated from a number of Canadian studies on life cycle assessment that reported and included protein values. Both protein and energy were selected for the study because both are essen al to the human body for growth and development. The carbon footprint of the protein rich foods were assessed based on mass (kg), protein (100 g) and energy (1,000 kcal). In addi on, the carbon footprint of the foods was examined based on one serving. Nutri onal informa on (protein and energy) on the protein rich foods were collected from the USDA Food Composi on Database. Serving size informa on on the foods was collected from Ea ng Well with Canada's Food Guide®. Carbon footprint of protein rich foods Figure 1 illustrates the carbon footprints of various protein rich foods based on mass (kg) and nutri onal value (100 g of protein and 1,000 kcal). The carbon footprint values HIGH NUTRITIONAL VALUE, LOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT "Peas are a low carbon source of plant based protein, rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals."

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