LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 1C: ECODESIGN AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Parallel session 1c: Ecodesign and Environmental Management
86
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Environmental improvement of a chicken product through life cycle
assessment methodology
Guillermo Pardo 1,* , Ascensión Ciruelos 2 , Nuria López 3 , Lorenzo González 4 , Saioa Ramos 1 , Jaime Zufía 1
1,* AZTI-Tecnalia
2 CTAEX - Centro Tecnológico Agroalimentario de Extremadura
3 AIMPLAS – Instituto Tecnológico del Plástico
4 IAT – Instituto Andaluz de Tecnología
Corresponding author. E-mail: gpardo@azti.es
ABSTRACT
Life Cycle Assessment methodology was applied to a chicken product in order to identify the more relevant sources contributing to
environmental impact. Several potential improvements were proposed and developed at different stages of the food chain, based on a
technical and environmental point of view, with special focus on the application of innovative solutions. Improved food chain was
also evaluated through LCA in order to compare results. Significant impact reductions were achieved in the feed production stage by
replacing conventional ingredients with tomato by-products in the poultry diet, (freshwater eutrophication decreased 9% and global
warming effect 5%). Water consumption and wastewater generation was minimised about 16% in the slaughterhouse and meat
processing stage through reutilisation alternatives and pulsed light decontamination. Conventional plastic tray and film were replaced
with biodegradable materials avoiding up to 20% of greenhouse gases emissions. Finally product distribution was also optimised by
improving refrigerated storage and logistics achieving relevant reductions in electrical and diesel consumption estimated around 10-
15%.
Keywords: poultry, broiler, Life Cycle Assessment, ecodesign
1. Introduction
Spain is traditionally one of the major producers and consumers of chicken meat in the European Union.
In the last years consumers demand has risen to 1.12 million tons accounting one of the highest consumption
ratios of chicken meat in the UE (around 24 kg per capita), which represents 25% of the meat globally consumed
in the Spanish market. At the same time the concern with environmental issues related to meat production,
with special regard to acceptable levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, or the contribution of the sector
to the emission of greenhouse gases, may lead to a significant increase in costs in the poultry sector.
From a multidisciplinary approach the project ECOALIM aimed to perform the eco-design of a meat
product as a way to develop more efficient and sustainable food products throughout its whole life cycle.
Four different research centres were involved to investigate innovative technologies and processes in their
respective areas of expertise under the common objective of reducing the environmental impact of a food
product along various stages of the supply chain (Figure 1).
The product chosen for the study was a 600 gr tray of sliced chicken breast fillets packaged in modified
atmosphere, which is a commonly commercialised item in the Spanish market. The most significant impact
sources were identified using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and several improvement approaches
were selected at different life cycles stages, according to their potential to reduce the environmental
load of the product and their suitability from a technical point of view. The following solutions were proposed:
Processing of food industry by-products as valuable ingredients for animal feed.
Pulsed light technology for water decontamination and re-use in food sector
Development of a biodegradable packaging for meat products
Energy and resources reduction in the distribution system by means of improved storage, routes optimisation
and reverse logistics solutions.
Proposed improvements were studied and developed at each research centre involved in the project,
according to their field of knowledge, and feasibility was evaluated for their implementation to the industry.
Finally LCA methodology was applied in order to estimate the environmental impact of the new food chain
and to compare results with the original scenario.