Beef actually wasn't at the top - surprise! Lamb edged it out. But only because a lamb produces less edible meat relative to the animal's overall weight. So the emissions are concentrated in those little chops.
Generally, beef and lamb are the Humvees of food because the animals' digestive functions make a lot of methane, a greenhouse gas with 20 times the potency of carbon dioxide.
They also are fed a lot of corn that is often heavily fertilized and spritzed with pesticide, which adds to the emission load.
Need I mention manure?
These studies make me wince because environmentalists may have an ax - or a butcher's knife - to grind.
Still, it made me wonder. What's the best way to lower the impact of food?
To be sure, agriculture accounts for only about 7 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Even though report author Kari Hamerschlag said that number counts only production and not the full life cycle, far more comes from transportation and electricity use.
But it's hard for many to change transportation overnight. Household energy use is easier, albeit still a tweak - adjust the thermostat, turn out some lights, and unplug devices.
But food? This part of your life you can change with one trip to the store or the farmer's market.
At the low end of the new report's emissions scale are tofu, dry beans, 2 percent milk, tomatoes, and lentils.
The food with the third-highest emissions was a disappointment: cheese. As a devoted cheese-lover, I object.
But since it comes from beef, sheep, or goats - all with similar methane-making digestive systems - perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.
Fortunately, Hamerschlag, an EWG senior analyst, softened when we talked about the cheese.
"If you looked at it from a serving-size situation, cheese would be much lower," she said. Most people don't sit down and eat four ounces of cheese at one sitting."
