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The environmental impact of the production of fresh cut salad: a case study in Italy

  • LCA FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS AND FOOD PRODUCTS
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Fresh-cut processed vegetables are defined as those subjected to some processing techniques of lesser magnitude than canning or freezing, which, nevertheless, add value to the product. The fresh-cut market represents about 18 % of the entire economic value of the fruit and vegetable market in Italy, and 2 % of the total food market. Over the past two decades, worldwide awareness regarding environmental issues has consistently increased: environmental aspect is now one of the variables taken into consideration by consumers during the purchasing process. The aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental burdens of one bag of fresh-cut salad in order to identify the most critical production phases and suggest possible improvements.

Methods

Such evaluation is based on the ISO standards for life cycle assessment. The selected functional unit is an “average bag” containing 130 g of fresh-cut lamb’s lettuce. Data concerning field operations, processing phases, and transportation to the logistic platforms were obtained directly from the producer, while background and foreground data come from Ecoinvent (Frischknecht et al. 2007).

Results and discussion

Results show that both the agricultural and the processing phase are the major contributors to the environmental impact of fresh-cut salad. The production of the greenhouse at the agricultural level, the high consumptions of energy, and the use of water at the processing stage represent the main of hotspots of the product considered in this study. The possibility to install a filtration plant for the recovery of 40 % of the washing solution has been evaluated. The reduction of the environmental impact stemming from the introduction of the water filtering system is considerably relevant for some categories.

Conclusions

Even though defined as minimally processed food, the environmental burden associated to fresh-cut salad is heavily influenced by the processing phase (washing and packing), which together with the agricultural phase represents the major contributor to overall impact of the product. The transportation stage instead appears to be negligible, probably due to the short distance covered for the product’s distribution in the case study considered.

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Notes

  1. Note that 5.5 cultivation cycles were assumed in the inventory for the agricultural phase.

  2. Compost produced from cow and horse manure.

  3. Since lamb’s lettuce is grown in greenhouses, leaching has not been considered. This is to be compliant with IPCC (2006).

  4. Heavy metal emissions from fertilizer use have not been included in this study.

  5. The Italian electricity mix with import has been assumed.

  6. Note that the HT category does not include the direct exposure route of human ingestion of the product. This route is expected to have a major contribution on human toxicity based on Margni et al. (2002).

  7. Source: ELCD database (European reference Life Cycle Database, Joint Research Centre), http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ELCD3/).

  8. The term “composting process” refers to the industrial process needed to convert natural manure into the industrial product “industrial compost.” Source: EcoInvent database (Frischknecht et al. 2007).

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially support from AGER as “STAYFRESH—Novel strategies meeting the needs of the fresh-cut vegetable sector” research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 2, 20133, Milano, Italy

    Alessandra Fusi, Jacopo Bacenetti, Giacomo Cocetta, Marco Fiala & Riccardo Guidetti

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milano, Italy

    Valentina Castellani

Authors
  1. Alessandra Fusi
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  2. Valentina Castellani
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  3. Jacopo Bacenetti
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  4. Giacomo Cocetta
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  5. Marco Fiala
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  6. Riccardo Guidetti
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Correspondence to Alessandra Fusi.

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Responsible editor: Niels Jungbluth

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Fusi, A., Castellani, V., Bacenetti, J. et al. The environmental impact of the production of fresh cut salad: a case study in Italy. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21, 162–175 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-1019-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-1019-z

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