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

PARALLEL SESSION 7A: CONSUMERS 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Life cycle impacts of protein-rich foods for consumer information.
How LCA results can be presented to consumers to make
environmentally sustainable supermarket choices
CE Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
Corresponding author. E-mail: krutwagen@ce.nl
Marieke Head, Maartje Sevenster, Bart Krutwagen*, Harry Croezen
ABSTRACT
CE Delft has calculated the life cycle environmental impacts of 98 different animal products and animal product alternatives from the
farm to the supermarket. The goal of this study was to provide the consumer with scientifically sound environmental data for several
protein-rich products. The results of this expansive life cycle assessment have been used in a mobile application. This consumer
support tool will allow Dutch consumers to scan product barcodes and obtain relevant environmental impact information on their
mobile phones. The impact assessment for the products was carried out using a customised version of the ReCiPe (hierarchic)
method on both midpoint and endpoint levels. The results from the analysis show substantial differences between the lowest and the
highest scoring products, particularly in terms of the effects on nature & environment. However, the most pronounced trend is that
the difference in environmental impact within product groups can be just as great as the environmental impacts between product
groups.
Keywords: LCA, agriculture, animal products, app, consumer, variation in impact
1. Introduction
Developed by the Varkens in Nood foundation (Pigs in Need), the Vleeswijzer (Meat Index) was launched
at the end of 2009 and offers consumers information about the environmental and animal welfare impacts of
the most common meat and meat alternative products. The Vleeswijzer was giving however only general
impact data that did not distinguish between products within a product group. With the large variety of protein
products within one productgroup available in the supermarkets, such as conventional, organic, freerange
options, it is often difficult for the consumer to assess which products are the more sustainable ones.
To overcome this problem CE Delft was asked to make a follow up, the Superwijzer; the end goal of this
study was to update and expand the Vleeswijzer such that the consumer is able to make informed purchasing
decisions amongst various meat, dairy, eggs, and alternative products, in terms of the environmental and
animal welfare performance of those products.
CE Delft’s contribution (Head et al., 2011) was determining the climate change, biodiversity and human
health impact of meat, meat alternatives, dairy and additional product types. In comparison to the assessment
done for the Vleeswijzer, the list of product types was expanded and the most recent scientific developments
were included in the product assessments. The environmental data for this app are derived from the thorough
study of 98 protein-rich product types available in the Dutch supermarkets, within 10 different product categories.
Such a wide variety of products were examined in order to not only compare between product groups
but also within product groups. It also made assessment of less obvious products like coffee creamer and
whipped cream possible.
For this information to be accessible and convenient for the consumer, Varkens in Nood created a smartphone
App. This App allows the consumer to have an interactive version of the Superwijzer, allowing them
to have product information available while shopping. Simply by scanning the barcode of the products.
2. Methods
As stated above, 98 protein-rich product types within 10 categories were assessed (Head et al., 2011). The
results of this assessment were used to score over 15,000 products available in Dutch supermarkets. Relevant
issues concerning the extend of the life cycle, allocation and cut-off and included impact categories are discussed
in the following sections.
2.1 Extent of the life cycle
The life cycles of all the products are modelled up to the point of retail (including cooling). Although the
products are diverse, there is much overlap between the life cycles and therefore the system boundaries of
each life cycle can be summarised by a simplified diagram (see Figure 10).
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