Our Changing Menu - Ingredient Database

(Under Ongoing Development)

Saffron

Iran; India

Almost all saffron comes from Iran and research there indicates that production may decline by over 30% by late in the century due to climate change.[1] [2] In India’s Kashmir Valley changes in rainfall patterns and increasing incidence of drought have put this region of saffron production in rapid decline. Yields are dropping and so is the quality of this spice, jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and businesspeople.[3]

References:

[1] “Saffron: Leading Producers Worldwide 2019,” Statista, accessed March 17, 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1135621/leading-saffron-producers-worldwide/

[2] Saeedeh Kouzegaran et al., “Future Projection of the Effects of Climate Change on Saffron Yield and Spatial-Temporal Distribution of Cultivation by Incorporating the Effect of Extreme Climate Indices,” Theoretical and Applied Climatology 141, no. 3 (August 1, 2020): 1109–18, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03241-0. [3] Amjad M. Husaini, “Challenges of Climate Change,” GM Crops and Food 5, no. 2 (April 11, 2014), https://doi.org/10.4161/gmcr.29436.

Our foods and food ingredients: They're all changing.

Yields of major staple crops like wheat and rice are being hurt by increasing temperatures. Wine grape production is moving to cooler climes causing changes in the character of some of our favorites. The flavors and health benefits of teas, the size of potatoes, the sting of a hot pepper, where fish call home in the oceans, and a future decline in protein in vegetables—it’s all changing.

Our food database shows the ingredients affected by a changing climate.

To learn what farmers, scientists, and many others are doing to keep the menu stocked, see Stewardship of the Land and Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need. You have a role, too!

Using our database:

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Construction in progress...

This food ingredient database is in its early phase and we will strive to expand it on an ongoing basis so that everyone is aware of how climate change is affecting the foods we love and need.