Dessau. To mark World Ecolabel Day on 10 October, the Blue Angel is publishing the representative survey by opinion research institute forsa on “Environmental awareness within your own four walls”. For 74% of those surveyed, environmental friendliness is important or very important when purchasing household products – environmental friendliness is thus a little less important to respondents than quality (98%) and price (86%). The survey also shows: the government ecolabel Blue Angel is well known to almost everyone with 94% awareness.

The environmental goals have been supplemented by social aspects across the entire value added chain. This includes the use of fair trade food and criteria for the working conditions in canteen and catering services. Furthermore, companies are required to comply with the recommendations issued by the German Nutrition Society (DGE) because health aspects are crucially important to sustainable nutrition. The Blue Angel ecolabel not only provides consumers but also public procurers with reliable guidance for the sustainable consumption of food.

Agricultural food production for these services has an especially large impact on the environment e.g. on climate change or biodiversity, while the more animal products used in these services and the more food waste they generate, the bigger the impact on the environment. The operating infrastructure for these services also influences the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The Blue Angel does not only focus on environmental impacts but also on social aspects because the production of food and meals can also be damaging to human health.