Introduction
Everyday decisions can have very dramatic affects on the environment. Even something as trivial as what peanut butter to use on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich has consequences. For example, the amount of CO2 that is produced making one six-teen ounce jar of Skippy creamy peanut butter is completely different than the amount produced making one similarly sized, eight-teen ounce jar of Field Day organic creamy peanut butter. More over the amount of CO2 produced could be drastically different depending on where someone lives. Skippy and Field Day’s peanut butter tends to have almost identical life-cycles; however one produces much less CO2 per serving than the other. CO2 production will be the main factor in determining how environmentally friendly each product is.
Peanut Butter Manufacturing
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Peanut butter is produced in more or less the same way regardless of who makes it. Typically, fresh peanuts are brought to shelling plants from farms in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. The shelling plants remove any non-peanut material mixed in with the peanuts, the peanuts’ shells, and any immature peanut kernels. The peanuts are then shipped to the actual peanut butter factories to be processed. The incoming peanuts are roasted in industrial ovens that continually rotate to cook all of the peanuts evenly. Immediately upon leaving the oven the peanuts are cooled to prevent over-cooking. Next all unwanted parts of the peanuts, such as the skins and hearts, are removed and the peanuts are cleaned. The peanuts are finally ground by giant grinders. Usually the grinding is broken up into at least two intervals to prevent heat build-up. During the final grinding session all of the ingredients, if any, are added to the peanuts. Lastly the peanut butter is put into appropriately sized jars, sealed with an aluminum heat seal, and shipped out to the distribution centers all across the world (“How It’s Made”).
Skippy 16.3 ounce Creamy Peanut Butter
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| Figure 2: Picture from The Serious Eats Team. |
Skippy peanut butter is made in a factory in Little Rock, Arkansas and distributed by Hormel Foods Sales. Skippy adds sugar, salt, and hydrogenated vegetable oil during the final grinding process. The vegetable oil is used as a stabilizer. Skippy also has no qualms about using genetically modified peanuts in their peanut butter (“Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter”).
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| Figure 3: A flow chart of Skippy peanut butters life cycle. |
Field Day 18 ounce Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
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| Figure 4: Picture from VineMarket.com |
Field Day organic peanut butter is produced in Providence, Rhode Island and is distributed by Field Day. Field Day and the farms it buys from do not use genetically modified organisms, inorganic pesticides, inorganic fertilizers (Burry), or add any stabilizers during production. The only ingredient Field Day does add aside from organic peanuts is sea salt (“Field Day Organic Peanut Butter: Creamy”).
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| Figure 5: A flow chart of Field Day organic peanut butter's life cycle. |
Calculation
Assume that both Skippy and Field Day use fifty-three foot long tractor trailers to ship to ship their peanut butter and that neither of them use any pallets. That particular tractor’s cargo storage area is one-hundred, ten and a quarter inches by ninety-nine inches by six-hundred and twenty-four inches (“Trailer Dimensions”) and is required to get a minimum of seven and two tenths of a mile per gallon (Berg). Consistently round down and assume that both Skippy and Field Day are shipping to the same place in Arcata, California for the purposes of comparison. One gallon of diesel fuel produces approximately twenty-two and thirty-eight hundredths pounds of CO2 (“How much carbon dioxide is produced by burning gasoline and diesel fuel?”).
Skippy Peanut Butter Calculation
Skippy’s six-teen ounce peanut butter jar is about five inches by two and a half inches by two and a half inches. Skippy is also two thousand, two hundred and thirty-five miles from Arcata, California (“from: Arcata, CA to: Little Rock, AR”).
Field Day Peanut Butter Calculation
Field Day’s eight-teen ounce peanut butter jar is about five inches by two and three quarter inches by two and three quarter inches. Field Day is also three thousand, two hundred and two miles from Arcata, California (“from: Arcata, CA to: Providence, RI”).
Conclusion
Field Day peanut butter is significantly less efficient in terms of servings per pound of CO2 than Skippy peanut butter when it comes to the transportation stage. The only other stage that the two peanut butter companies had any significant differences in was the materials extraction stage, the use of genetically modified crops being the main difference with in that stage. The effect farming genetically modified organisms will have on the environment is as of yet unknown making the transport stage vital in assessing which peanut butter is better for the environment. Therefore, Skippy peanut butter is a more environmentally friendly product for those residing in Arcata, California.
| Table 1: Comparison of Skippy Peanut Butter and Field Day Peanut Butter's life-cylce analyses. |
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Works Cited
Berg, Phil. “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Semi Trucks.” PopularMechanics.com. Popular Mechanics, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
Burry, Dore. “The USDA’s Standards for Organic Foods.” UCI.edu. University of California, Irvine, March 1998. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
“Field Day Organic Peanut Butter: Smooth.” Field Day, 2014. Print Product Label. 12 Dec. 2014
"Field Day Smooth Organic Peanut Butter, With Salt, 18 oz." VineMarket.com. Vine Market, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
“from: Arcata, CA to: Little Rock, AR.” Google.com. Google Maps, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
“from: Arcata, CA to: Providence, RI.” Google.com. Google Maps, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
“How It’s Made.” PeanutButterLovers.com. Southern Peanut Growers, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
“How much carbon dioxide is produced by burning gasoline and diesel fuel?” EIA.gov. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
LeBlond, Lawrence."Federal Regulators Expand Sunland Peanut Butter Recall To Include All Nuts." RedOrbit.com. Red Orbit, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
The Serious Eats Team. “Taste Test: Peanut Butter, Creamy.” SeriousEats.com. Serious Eats, 20 May 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2014
“Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter.” Hormel Foods Sales, LLC, 2014. Product Print Label. 12 Dec. 2014
“Trailer Dimensions.” YRC.com. YRC Freight, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014