Green Prix

The Green Ninja and the Carbon Ninja are in a car race, using cars that are fueled by different foods. Let's take a look at the different fuels they choose to power their race cars.

Carbon intensity of foods : Just like any fuel, the food the Green Ninja and the Carbon Ninja choose to fuel their race cars have carbon emissions associated with them. Click here to learn more about the carbon intensity of different foods.

In this case, the Carbon Ninja goes after the leg of ham instead of the cereal and milk.In terms of carbon intensity of foods, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with meats tend to be the highest. Other animal products such as milk or eggs have lower carbon intensities.

The Carbon Ninja also seems to go after processed foods hike hot dogs. These foods have undergone so many processing stages that they require a lot of energy to make, and therefore have higher carbon intensities.

Finally, the Carbon Ninja can't resist the temptation of the most carbon intensive food item on the track: the fast food combo. This meal not only has abundant amounts of animal products (beef and cheese), but it also contains processed ingredients, like high-fructose corn syrup (in the soda and sauces), corn starch (in the patties, bun and sauces), dextrose (in the cheese, sauces and pickles), and refined corn oil (in the mayonnaise, fries and sauces). This excessive amount of corn-derived products is the reason why we can see corn popping out in the image below.