Life cycle assessment of frozen broccoli processing: Environmental mitigation scenarios

The production, processing and export of vegetables has been increased in the last decades in Latin America, due to the international demand for vegetables of high nutritional quality. The horticultural industry generates a large amount of waste that is used in livestock feed. These residues owing d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainable production and consumption 2022-07, Vol.32, p.27-34
Main Authors: Ríos-Fuentes, Brenda, Rivas-García, Pasiano, Estrada-Baltazar, Alejandro, Rico-Martínez, Ramiro, Miranda-López, Rita, Botello-Álvarez, José Enrique
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agro-industrial waste
Broccoli
Life cycle assessment
Sustainable consumption
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Summary:The production, processing and export of vegetables has been increased in the last decades in Latin America, due to the international demand for vegetables of high nutritional quality. The horticultural industry generates a large amount of waste that is used in livestock feed. These residues owing due to their abundance, nutritional characteristics and their high nutraceuticals content can be valorized as ingredients in the food industry. In this work, the environmental impacts of frozen broccoli production in Mexico with two alternatives for the valorization of broccoli stalk (principal waste) as forage for cattle and as a food ingredient in the form of flour were evaluated. The environmental impact was evaluated through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, defining a ton of frozen broccoli as a functional unit (FU). The environmental benefits of the recovery alternatives were evaluated as environmental credits for the avoided production of alfalfa hay and wheat, considering the protein content as a substitution criterion. The greenhouse gas emission (GHG) for 1 t of frozen broccoli was estimated in 816.44 kgCO2eq, N2O emissions in the crop fertilization and the waste generation in industrial processing are the main contributor to this figure. When broccoli stalk is valorized through its use as forage or flour production, potential saving in GHG emissions are presented, 689 and 640 kgCO2eq, respectively. Other environmental benefits are reducing the use of agricultural land and water, resources earned by growing broccoli to produce basic grains in Mexico.
ISSN:2352-5509
2352-5509
DOI:10.1016/j.spc.2022.04.001