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

PLENARY SESSION 1: FOOD 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Gender and dietary recommendations in an IO-LCA of food
consumption in Germany
Toni Meier * , Olaf Christen
Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Betty-
Heimann-Straße 5, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Corresponding author. E-mail: toni.meier@nutrition-impacts.org
ABSTRACT
Besides technical improvements and a reduction of food losses in the food chain, diet shifts offer practicable opportunities to reduce
environmental impacts in the agri-food sector on a low-cost level. Due to their production intensity, different foods of animal or plant
origin play a crucial role in the assessment of the environmental impacts of human nutrition and dietary habits. Based on a representative
nutrition survey in Germany from the year 2006, a life cycle assessment was conducted to quantify nutrition-related impacts,
with a special focus on the socio-demographic factor gender in comparison with different dietary recommendations, dietary styles
and the average diet profile 20 years ago. Regarding the analysed scenarios the highest impact changes would be expected from the
vegan and the ovo-lacto vegetarian diet. The impact potentials of the recommendations of UGB and D-A-CH range on the 3rd and
4th position, but are still significant. Concerning gender the average female diet is already closer to the recommendations. In comparison
to the years 1985-89 all indicators (exception blue water) show lower impacts, mainly derived by changes in the diet. In
comparison to that, impact changes due to food losses were lower and mainly contrarian, which could be explained by higher food
losses in 2006 compared to 1985-89.
Keywords: Input-output LCA, direct land use change & land use (dLUC, LU), diet shift, nutrition patterns, dietary recommendations
1. Introduction
Human nutrition has a strong effect on environmental impacts. Taking political considerations into account
(EC 2011), nutritionally acceptable und environmentally sound measures have to be developed to cope
with current agro-ecological challenges. Various studies with a life cycle perspective have identified food
supply as one of the main contributors to environmental impacts (Nijdam et al., 2005, Tukker et al., 2011).
To facilitate political and economic decisions various life cycle assessments (LCA) have been elaborated: (i)
either on a product level basis or (ii) on a diet basis to identify the most polluting food items or to compare
dietary choices (Carlsson-Kanyama 1998, Taylor 2000, Peters et al., 2007, Muñoz et al., 2010, Jungbluth et
al., 2011, Meier & Christen 2012).
Besides technical solutions (improvements in efficiency during production and processing) and a reduction
of food losses, changes in diets and nutrition patterns are also discussed with a view to decreasing environmental
impacts of the agri-food sector (Stehfest 2009, Popp et al., 2010).
The first part of the study builds mainly upon Meier & Christen (2012), where the influence of the factor
gender in an LCA of food consumption was analysed. Here, we examine these gender-related differences in
comparison to nutrition recommendations (D-A-CH & UGB), nutrition styles (ovo-lacto vegetarian, vegan)
and the average diet profile 20 years ago (in the years 1985-89).
2. Materials and methods
For the study, representative data sets concerning German food production and consumption were used
(BMELV 2009, BML 1991). Exact, subgroup-specific intake data was provided by the both National Nutrition
Surveys from the years 1985-89 and 2006 (Kübler et al., 1995, MRI 2008). The environmental impact
assessment was based mainly on the input-output tables of SEEA (System of Environmental and Economic
Accounting, Schmidt & Osterburg 2011). To consider the impacts of food imports, emissions from direct
land use change and land use (dLUC, LU), food processing, trade/transport and packaging, these were complemented
by several LCA data sets - e.g. Leip et al., (2010), the Danish LCA Food database (Nielsen et al.,
2003), Institute of Applied Ecology (2010) and Mekonnen & Hoekstra (2012) for blue water. Thus, the system
boundaries are set cradle-to-store. The functional unit considered on the product level refers to 1 kg consumed
product. The reference year in the study is the year 2006. According to ISO 14040/14044 (2006) the
four distinct steps of an LCA have been completed.
As regards environmental impact assessment, global warming potential (GWP) was assessed, which included
emissions from direct land use change and land use (dLUC, LU), along with five inventory indicators
(ammonia emissions, land use, blue water use, phosphorous use and cumulative primary energy demand
(CED)).
The following food groups were analysed: milk products (including butter, high-fat milk products like
cheese and cream, low-fat milk products like milk and yoghurt), meat products (including pork, beef/veal,
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