According to Burger King, the new diet plan will reduce cows’ methane emissions by 33% per day. Those emissions are one of the main contributors to climate change because the gas traps the sun’s heat and heats it up.
The restaurant-owned company Brands International said the new lemongrass-fed beef will be used in Whoppers at some restaurants in Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Portland starting Tuesday.
Burger King said the new formula is “open source and fairly simple to implement,” and the company worked with professors from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico and the University of California, Davis. Lemongrass is intended to help cows release less methane during the digestion process.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 50% to 65% of all methane emissions come from human activities, including industrial agriculture.
“If the entire industry, from farmers, meat suppliers and other brands join us, we can scale up and collectively help reduce methane emissions that affect climate change,” said Fernando Machado, director of global marketing for Restaurant Brands International (QSR), in a sentence.
Burger King has previously used its main menu item to promote sustainability and health initiatives. In February, an advertising campaign was launched with a moldy Whopper to highlight its efforts to remove artificial preservatives and other additives from the company’s menu. His goal is to have all his foods free of artificial ingredients by the end of this year.
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