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
Product energy use within the agri-food supply chain
Carla Sarrouy 1,* , Joe Davidson 2 , Rob Lillywhite 1
1 School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Wellesbourne, Warwick, CV35 9EF, UK
2 Institute of Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, UK
Corresponding author. E-mail: c.sarrouy@warwick.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
The global food system consumes very large amounts of energy, a position which is made more challenging as an increasing global
population is demanding more food. In order that food production can be made more sustainable, it is important to produce food in a
more energy efficient way or to identify food types that require less energy in production. This paper presents the results of a UK
study that undertook a supply chain analysis of the embedded energy of selected food products.
A review of the academic literature identified over 50 products for which energy analysis had been undertaken for at least one stage
of the food supply chain; the majority of papers related to primary production. Embedded energy values for individual food products
across the whole supply chain (primary production to retailer) ranged from 2.4 MJ/kg for potato to 83 MJ/kg for coffee. For most
food products, the indirect and direct energy used in primary production remained the dominant use; 45, 45 and 72% respectively for
potato, milk and pork. Processing was the second biggest influence for selected products, e.g. the frying stage for oven chips consumed
50% of total energy requirement. Embedded energy values for total product market share was dominated by ‘every day’
items, e.g. meat, bread, milk and cheese.
The review was supported by new analysis of four multi-ingredient products. Data were collected from multiple sources (farmers,
trade associations, food processors, food manufacturers and retailers). The embedded energy of tinned soup, pasta sauce in a glass
jar, restaurant pizza and chocolate biscuits was 9, 24, 28 and 20 MJ/kg, respectively. The results show that different products have
very different demands for energy and that the ‘hotspot’ of energy use varied greatly with product; however, in many situations it
was possible to identify approaches to reduce energy use or to substitute one product with another. The choice of packaging was very
influential for some products; e.g. the glass jar for pasta sauce was responsible for 50% of the total product embedded energy whilst
the cardboard for frozen pizza was responsible for only 18% of the total product embedded energy.
Despite the high cost of energy, its contribution to product price remains relatively minor for most products and most food companies
do not identify energy as a priority; hygiene and food safety being the dominant focus.
Keywords: energy, LCA, food supply chain, dependency
1. Introduction
There is growing concern regarding the increased demand for energy within the UK agri-food supply
chain, which is currently estimated to be 326 petajoules per year (Lillywhite et al., 2012). The trend for more
processed foods to feed an increasing population is likely to increase the demand for energy in a time when
energy supplies are becoming more insecure.
This paper reports the results of a UK study to identify energy use, at both product and market scale, and
energy use hotspots within the agri-food supply chain; the supply chain is assumed to have four main stages
(primary production, processing/manufacturing, packaging and logistics/retail). The identification of product
and market embedded energy values and supply chain hotspots provides a better understanding of the whole
supply chain and has identified areas where improvements could be made.
2. Methods
Initial research was based on a literature review of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of food items.
This review was not limited to the UK but included any country in which these studies had been conducted.
The review identified 51 products for which energy analysis had been conducted in at least one stage of the
food supply chain (Audsley et al., 2009; Carlsson-Kanyama et al., 2003; Erzinger et al., 2003; Lillywhite et
al., 2007; Williams et al., 2006). The studies mainly focused on the primary production stage, i.e. primary
agricultural production rather than the entire food supply chain. The review identified that very few studies
had been undertaken on complex multi-ingredient products. This omission was addressed by analysing four
multi-ingredient products, i.e. pasta sauce, pizza, soup and chocolate biscuits. These were selected because
they are widely-available and highly-consumed in the UK and their ingredients include vegetables, cereals,
meat and dairy products; their consumption is forecast to continue increasing in the coming years (Lillywhite
et al., 2012). Data were collected from multiple sources: farmers, trade associations, food processors, food
and packaging manufacturers and retailers. Two functional units were used: mega joules per kilo (MJ/kg) for
individual products and terajoules (TJ) for total market share.
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