Water Footprint

Food is a major source of water consumption in hospitality businesses, with most of this consumption occurring indirectly via supply chains such as food production. It is estimated that food accounts for 85% of water consumption in the hospitality industry. The amount of water required for food production varies significantly: for example, 214 liters of water are needed to produce one kilogram of tomatoes, compared to 15,500 liters to produce one kilogram of beef.

This means that you can drastically reduce water consumption by buying food that requires less water to produce.

In an analysis of various menus, researchers found that 75% of the water footprint of food is attributable to meat and dairy products. The large amounts of water required for the production of meat and dairy products are due to the fact that animals such as cows eat large quantities of plants and thus indirectly consume large amounts of water during their lifetime.

Vegetable and fruit plants also consume certain amounts of water during their growth, but not as much as is needed for meat production. Reducing meat and dairy products is therefore very important for reducing indirect water consumption.