Consideration of food wastage along the supply chain in lifecycle assessments: A mini-review based on the case of tomatoes

In recent years, increased light has been shed on the large amounts of food wasted along the food supply chain (FSC). As lifecycle assessments (LCAs) are commonly used for estimations of environmental impacts from food production, it is relevant to investigate and discuss how such wastage is reflect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Waste Management & Research 2017-01, Vol.35 (1), p.29-39
Main Authors: Bernstad, Anna Karin, Cánovas, Alba, Valle, Rogerio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assessments
Climate Change
Emission analysis
Emissions
Environment
Environmental impact
Food
Food Supply
Foods
Greenhouse Effect
Life cycle assessment
Lycopersicon esculentum
Strategy
Supply chains
Tomatoes
Waste disposal
Waste Management - methods
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Summary:In recent years, increased light has been shed on the large amounts of food wasted along the food supply chain (FSC). As lifecycle assessments (LCAs) are commonly used for estimations of environmental impacts from food production, it is relevant to investigate and discuss how such wastage is reflected in foodstuff LCAs. The objective of the present paper is to review a larger set of LCAs of foodstuff in order to (1) investigate if and how wastage along the FSC is addressed and (2) explore the importance of including wastage accumulated along the FSC in terms of environmental impacts. Twenty-eight LCA case studies and two review papers, focusing on tomatoes, were reviewed and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions chosen as indicator for the second objective. Only one third of the studies consider wastage at some part of the supply chain, in many cases in an inconsistent manner, and only in nine cases were GHG emissions from wastage included in overall systems GHG emissions. In these, wastage accounts for between 2 and 33% of total contribution to climate change. Omitting wastage when conducting LCA of foodstuff could result in underestimations of environmental impacts. Occurrence of wastage along all phases of the supply chain should be acknowledged in order to estimate environmental benefits from prevention and to identify areas where strategies with the aim of reducing wastage could be most efficient.
ISSN:0734-242X
1096-3669
DOI:10.1177/0734242X16666945