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

PARALLEL SESSION 4A: CARBON FOOTPRINT 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Environmental and nutritional assessment of Breton pâté production
Anne Himeno, Lori Gustavus, Ricardo Teixeira *
Bluehorse Associates, 12 rue Soyer, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Corresponding author. E-mail: ricardo.teixeira@bluehorseassociates.com
ABSTRACT
As part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility, the Jean Hénaff company, a France-based pork meat processor, partnered
with Bluehorse Associates and a leading French engineering school Ecole Centrale Paris to conduct a study to measure the
carbon footprint of its country-style pâté line, which contains pork meat produced with different agricultural methods (conventional,
organic, high-quality labelled meat, and meat from linseed-fed pigs) and various packaging materials. The study was done with the
lifecycle assessment application Carbonostics and included nutritional data analysis. the analysis identified pork meat as the first
source of carbon emissions with differences linked to the recipe. The second most important source of emissions was the processing
stage. In addition, the results revealed that the Hénaff “country-style” pâtés had a carbon footprint lower than international benchmarks.
The study included recommendations for the elaboration of new recipes, for marketing and for operations improvement.
Keywords: life cycle assessment, pâté, pork, carbon emissions, nutrition
1. Introduction
Product environmental footprint, and particularly product carbon footprint (PCF), is now driving sustainable
business strategy. PCF is particularly important for food and agriculture companies since food products
have high impacts throughout their lifecycle, particularly during the agricultural stage. As the true impact of
these products is increasingly disclosed, consumers are empowered to make informed choices. Ensuring
sustainability is today as important as ensuring nutritional quality of the product. This is a new reality to
which companies must adapt.
The company Jean Hénaff (http://www.Hénaff.com/) has established itself over more than one hundred
years of existence as a reference in southern Finistère, Brittany (western coast of France). The company is
specialised in pork food products, most importantly pâté. For the past several years, Jean Hénaff has focused
on its corporate social responsibility through its sustainability policy and via its local engagement with suppliers
and commitment to nutrition and health. Hénaff was France's first SME and the first Breton company
to have signed the voluntary nutritional progress commitment charter with the French Ministry of Health in
November 2010.
In 2008 Hénaff concluded a Bilan Carbone, an inventory of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions generated
by all of the company's activities (ADEME, 2006). Following this initial company-level inventory, Hénaff
wished to conduct a more in-depth analysis at the product level for their flagship line of pâtés. In line with its
strong health and nutrition commitment, Hénaff wished to incorporate the nutritional aspect in parallel to
GHG emissions into this study (Hénaff, 2012).
A project in partnership with Bluehorse Associates and Ecole Centrale Paris was thus initiated in 2011 to
assess the carbon footprint of its line of country-style pâté products, integrating the nutritional profile into the
analysis and recommendations.
2. Methods
2.1. Goals of the study
Besides the carbon footprint assessment of the considered products, the goals of this study for Jean Hénaff
were:
To identify the main sources of emissions for each product in its range of country-style pâtés,
throughout their life cycle;
To compare country-style pâtés together (impact of meat type, recipe, packaging, etc.) taking nutritional
quality into consideration;
To identify potential avenues for carbon footprint improvement.
2.2. Products analysed
First, the number and type of products to analyse was determined. Considering the objectives Hénaff
posed for this study, the study targeted nine pork-based products, with net weights of between 78 and 200 g,
distinguished by recipe, type of pork meat (conventional, organic and other quality certifications), and type
of packaging.
362