Can I get low-carbon fries with that?

The trend towards providing carbon labels on food has taken a significant step forward with the launch of the first restaurant in the world to feature carbon footprint information on its menu.

Vegetarian restaurant chain Otarian debuted the menus at the opening of its first outlet in New York last week, and immediately announced plans to open at two more locations in London within the next few months.

The company, which is also planning a third London outlet before the end of the year, said that every item on the menu would feature information on its carbon footprint, similar to the labels found on some supermarket products.

The carbon footprint assessment for each item on the menu was undertaken by UK-based carbon consultancy Sustain and food sustainability consultancy Eat England, in line with the UK government's PAS 2050 carbon footprint specification. As such, the two organisations looked at the carbon emissions associated with various dishes throughout their lifecycle and included emissions associated with manufacturing, packing transporting, cooking and disposing of the food.

Otarian said that it would aim to highlight the lowest-carbon choices on the menu through a new loyalty card programme.

Dr Jean-Yves Cherruault, environmental accounting manager at Sustain, rejected any suggestion that the carbon footprint menu is a gimmick, insisting that the growing trend for carbon labeling across the food industry meant that more restaurants were likely to follow suit.

"The work we have been doing for Otarian is very relevant, given the ongoing debate about low-carbon food choices," he said. "The carbon footprint assessment was instrumental in encouraging engagement with suppliers and identifying ways of reducing greenhouse gases from the menu. This hopefully marks the start of a new way of doing things for the restaurant industry."

The move follows in the footsteps of a number of high-profile food and retail brands, such as Boots, Walkers Crisps, and Innocent Smoothies, which have carried carbon labels on a number of products as part of a trial scheme with the Carbon Trust for several years. Supermarket giant Tesco has also made an ambitious pledge to eventually carry carbon labels on all its own-brand products.