ReviewA review of life cycle assessment (LCA) on some food products
Introduction
The food industry is one of the world’s largest industrial sectors and hence is a large user of energy. Greenhouse gas emission, which has increased remarkably due to tremendous energy use, has resulted in global warming, perhaps the most serious problem that humankind faces today. Food production, preservation and distribution consume a considerable amount of energy, which contributes to total CO2 emission. Moreover, consumers in developed countries demand safe food of high quality that has been produced with minimal adverse impacts on the environment (Boer, 2002). There is increased awareness that the environmentally conscious consumer of the future will consider ecological and ethical criteria in selecting food products (Andersson et al., 1994). It is thus essential to evaluate the environmental impact and the utilization of resources in food production and distribution systems for sustainable consumption.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for evaluating environmental effects of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle or lifetime, which is known as a ‘from cradle to grave’ analysis. Environmental awareness influences the way in which legislative bodies such as governments will guide the future development of agricultural and industrial food production systems. Although several researchers have compiled LCA studies to emphasize the need for LCA (Foster et al., 2006, Boer, 2002, Ekvall and Finnveden, 2001, Adisa, 1999, Andersson et al., 1994), some recent advances in agricultural LCAs have yet to be reported. Therefore, this study aims to present recent advances in LCA and provide a specific review of LCA in several food products.
Section snippets
LCA methodology
Although the concept of LCA evolved in the 1960s and there have been several efforts to develop LCA methodology since the 1970s, it has received much attention from individuals in environmental science fields since the 1990s. For this concept many names have been used, for instance eco-balancing (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Japan), resource and environment profile analysis (USA), environmental profiling and cradle-to-grave assessment. The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
LCA studies on food products
The growing concern about sustainable food production and consumption prompted different research activities on food production and distribution systems including agricultural produce. At the same time, international trade in food products also continues to increase. Predominantly, the LCA methodology has been applied to industrial products and processes. Although most of the life cycle studies carried out so far involve either agricultural production or industrial refining, several LCA studies
Ongoing efforts on LCA
The international LCA community is still struggling with issues related to LCA databases, data collection and data quality goals. A network of information sharing and exchanges of experience has expedited the development process of LCA. Several North American and Western European countries have led these efforts. In addition, researchers of different international organizations are closely involved in the development processes of LCA including the International Organization for Standardization
Discussion
One of the important characteristics of agricultural LCA is the use of multiple functional units. The commonly used functional units are mass of final products (kg), energy or protein content in food products (kJ), area (ha), unit of livestock. Gross profit and meal are also used. Table 2 shows some LCA studies that used multiple functional units. Although the use of LCA in the agro-food industries is rapidly increasing, there are considerable inconsistencies existing among the studies. The
Conclusions
LCA methodologies are very useful to evaluate environmental impacts and food safety of a product or production system. This study revealed that environmental load of a product can be reduced by alternate production, processing, packaging, distribution and consumption patterns. Hence, it improves the food safety and security and might improve international trade. Multiple outputs in many food production systems often make the system complex, and application of LCA on food products requires
Acknowledgement
The authors are indebted to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 18.06581).
References (101)
- et al.
Including environmental aspects in production development: a case study of tomato ketchup
Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft Und-Technologie
(1999) - et al.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) of food products and production systems
Trends in Food Science and Technology
(1994) - et al.
Screening life cycle assessment (LCA) of tomato ketchup: a case study
Journal of Cleaner Production
(1998) - et al.
Comparison of toxicological impacts of integrated and chemical pest management in Mediterranean greenhouses
Chemosphere
(2004) - et al.
Scenario-based environmental assessment of farming systems: the case of pig production in France
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
(2005) Environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of Swedish semi-hard cheese
International Dairy Journal
(2002)- et al.
A life cycle based method to minimize environmental impact on dairy production through product sequencing
Journal of Cleaner Production
(2007) - et al.
Application of the life cycle assessment methodology to agricultural production: an example of sugar beet production with different forms of nitrogen fertilizers
European Journal of Agronomy
(2001) - et al.
Environmental impact assessment of agricultural production systems using the life cycle assessment methodology: I. Theoretical concept of a LCA method tailored to crop production
European Journal of Agronomy
(2004) - et al.
Environmental impact assessment of agricultural production systems using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology: II. The application to N fertilizer use in winter wheat production systems
European Journal of Agronomy
(2004)
Climate change and dietary choices – how can emissions of greenhouse gases from food consumption be reduced?
Food Policy
Life cycle assessment of milk production – a comparison of conventional and organic farming
Journal of Cleaner Production
Allocation in ISO14041 – a critical review
Journal of Cleaner Production
Comparing intensive, extensified and organic grassland farming in southern Germany by process life cycle assessment
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
The value of resource efficiency in the food industry: a waste minimization project in East Anglia, UK
Journal of Cleaner Production
Simplified life cycle assessment of Galician milk production
International Diary Journal
The challenge of waste minimisation in the food and drink industry: a demonstration project in East Anglia, UK
Journal of Cleaner Production
Reduction of energy consumption in biodiesel fuel life cycle
Renewable Energy
Life cycle assessment of various cropping systems utilized for producing biofuels: bioethanol and biodiesel
Biomass and Bioenergy
Life cycle assessment of beer production in Greece
Journal of Cleaner Production
Life cycle costing for innovations in product chains
Journal of Cleaner Production
Biodiversity and life support impacts of land use in LCA
Journal of Cleaner Production
Life cycle assessment of food waste management options
Journal of Cleaner Production
Life cycle assessment of pesticides on human health and ecosystems
Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment
Agricultural land use in life cycle assessment (LCA): case studies of three vegetable oil crops
Journal of Cleaner Production
Reduction of phosphorus and other pollutants from industrial dischargers using pollution prevention
Journal of Cleaner Production
Influence of recycling rate increase of aseptic carton for long-life milk on GWP reduction
Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Farm costs and food miles: an assessment of the full cost of the UK weekly food basket
Food Policy
Cleaner production in Mauritian cane-sugar factories
Journal of Cleaner Production
The environmental effect of reusing and recycling a plastic-based packaging system
Journal of Cleaner Production
Life cycle inventory analysis of fresh tomato distribution systems in Japan considering the quality aspect
Journal of Food Engineering
Environmental impact of future milk supply chains in Sweden: a scenario study
Journal of Cleaner Production
The energy cost of protected cropping: a comparison of six systems of tomato production
Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research
A life cycle perspective on environmental effects of customer focused packaging development
Journal of Cleaner Production
Life cycle assessment and its application to process selection, design and optimization
Chemical Engineering Journal
LCA and tomato production in Mediterranean greenhouses
International Journal of Agricultural Resources Governance and Ecology
Environmental and human health impacts of growing genetically modified herbicide-tolerant sugar beet: a life cycle assessment
Plant Biotechnology Journal
Environmental impact assessment of conventional and organic milk production
Livestock Production Science
Alternative scenarios to meet the demands of sustainable waste management
Journal of Environmental Management
System expansion and allocation in life cycle assessment of milk and beef production
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Cited by (721)
Hydrogen from sewage sludge: Production methods, influencing factors, challenges, and prospects
2024, Science of the Total EnvironmentComparative life-cycle sustainability assessment of centralized and decentralized remediation strategies at the city level
2024, Science of the Total EnvironmentEnvironmental impact analysis of different wastes to biohydrogen, biogas and biohytane processes
2024, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy