Food...

Food manufacturing facilities, the fifth largest energy-consuming manufacturing category, have in front of them the tough task of reducing their energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions when the food manufacturing facility is, particularly, a frozen one. The problem? Temperature-controlling a facility that is similar to running 200,000 refrigerators.

In fact, no frozen food plant has ever been LEED-certified by the United States Green Building Counsel. That is, until Contessa Premium Foods invested $6 million in green innovation to become the first LEED-certified frozen food plant in the country and the first energy-efficient frozen food plant in the world.

Their new $40 million Green Cuisine Plant opened in Los Angeles earlier this year. And next month, the company will introduce their new Green Cuisine packaging to reflect the eco-friendlier meals that are now being produced at the plant.