These Frozen Meals Are The First To Be 100% Carbon-Neutral

This summer, frozen meals will receive a green upgrade. Evol has announced that in June, eight of its frozen meals will be certified as carbon neutral. They explain in a press release that the meals will not only be made in a zero-waste facility but that the carbon emitted during the production of the meals will be offset by investments.

The meals in question consist of five carnivorous options and three vegetarian ones. The ones with meat include the new Five Cheese Alfredo Mac with Chicken, the Fire Grilled Steak, the Chicken Enchilada Bake, the Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese, and the Teriyaki Chicken. The vegetarian meals that have been made carbon neutral are the Truffle Parmesan Mac and Cheese, the Portabello and Goat Cheese Ravioli, and the Butternut Squash Ravioli. 

Each frozen meal will have a suggested retail price of $4.49. For the longtime Evol enjoyer, the biggest change will be the introduction of a new product and the addition of "Carbon Neutral" to the packaging of the products.

Evol's customers may wonder what exactly the company means when it claims it will offset its carbon emissions. After all, as The Guardian describes, carbon offsets are often used by companies to balance out the impact they have on the environment by giving money to initiatives that counteract the carbon their production releases into the environment. While they are far from a permanent solution to larger climate issues, they are a way for those companies to theoretically void their emissions. The practice is becoming common in the food industry, as seen in products like the world's first carbon-neutral cheese.

It appears that critics can be optimistic about Evol's intentions. First, as the company points out in its press release, Evol extends its concerns for sustainability to include replacing all their plastic packaging with paper-based ones, sourcing this paper from certified locations, and working with facilities that divert the vast majority of their waste from landfills. Unfortunately, they do not go into greater detail about their offset projects than by saying they'll fund wind energy and forest conservation (via the brand's website). There does seem to be an attempt to introduce sustainable measures throughout Evol's production cycle.