Awareness of the environment and our effect upon it has become ingrained in American thinking. Now restaurants have a way of indicating their dedication to efficient and environmentally sound practices with a new certification from Green Seal.

Green Seal, which has been creating standards for consumer health and environmental safety for 20 years, has introduced GS-46, the Environmental Standard for Restaurants and Foodservices, which studies the entire life-cycle of a food operation to judge its impact. This means it looks at food, energy and water use and waste. Certification comes in three levels of achievement: Gold, Silver and Bronze.

One of the reasons for an exhaustive standard on the life-cycle of restaurants and food services is that food is a major source of environmental impact, contributing between 17-32% of all global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by Greenpeace.

Food service is a major industry in the U.S. According to the U.S. Industry and Market Outlook, in 2006 there were approximately 215,000 full-service restaurants and 250,000 fast food restaurants in the country. Combined, they amounted to a $558 billion industry.