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

PARALLEL SESSION 7C: FOOD CHAIN AND FOOD WASTE 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
these adjustments can be made at different points in a generic food production-consumption system is a
strong indicator that life cycle assessment will be an effective tool to explore their environmental implications.
In this project, certain foods were selected as case studies through which the environmental implications
of different adjustments could be explored. The foods were lamb, potatoes, raspberry, strawberry and
two exotic fruits: melon and pineapple. This paper draws on the raspberry case study to illustrate how environmental
impacts vary across the year for one food consumed in the UK. The project did not explore storage
and preservation by the consumer, so considered only the effect of changing the times of production and
supply in the system as far as delivery to the food retailer.
2. Methods
2.1 Scope
In this research, we equate (reflecting mainstream economics and consumer data) consumption with purchase,
and purchase with supply. This embodies a simplification: it is possible that consumers store foods for
extended periods after purchasing them. The effect of this, if it occurs, was not considered in the LCA; it
would make food consumption less “seasonal” than statistics would lead us to believe it is. Some of the volume
captured by this data is supplied to commercial buyers rather than final consumers, of course. This is
still purchase, however, and there seems to be no reason to try to exclude it.
Fig. 1 shows UK supply of raspberries changes through the year in volume and by source (data compiled
from UK production 6 and import 7 statistics). There is scarcely competition between local production - certainly
“seasonal” according to the consumer-oriented definition above - and imports, which are “seasonal”
only according to the global definition; rather imports complement local produce in an overall supply pattern.
To gain some insight into the environmental implications of this supply pattern an LCA of raspberries
was conducted. This covered 3 functional units:
A. 1kg raspberries delivered fresh to a supermarket distribution centre (RDC) in May
B. 1kg raspberries delivered fresh to a supermarket RDC in July
C. 1kg raspberries delivered frozen to a supermarket RDC in November
Figure 1. UK Raspberry Supply 2007. Sources: Defra Horticultural Statistics, UK Trade Statistics
Reflecting the sources and production techniques relevant to them, an appropriate product system for A involved
production in Southern Spain. In this system, raspberries are grown on an annual basis in fields that
are covered for the whole season with “Spanish” tunnels. The ground is prepared each year and beds then
formed. The planting material (canes) is produced in the UK or Netherlands and transported to the producing
site in chilled lorries. The canes are kept for 3-4 weeks in a cold store prior to planting, then planted directly
through plastic into the pre-prepared beds. Fertilisers are applied through drip irrigation: nitrogen as
ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate. Irrigation draws water from an aquifer. Harvesting occurs by hand
with the fruit then transported directly to the packhouse; yield is 8 tonnes per ha. In the packhouse the fruit is
graded and cleaned, before being placed into punnets with a plastic film lid. Punnets are cooled in a cold
store prior to export in refrigerated trucks which travel 2,500km from Spain to the UK.
6 Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Horticultural Statistics: www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/foodfarm/landuselivestock/bhs/
7 HM Revenue & Customs Trade Statistics: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Pages/Home.aspx
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