Environmental indicators help to understand impacts and pollution issues. In the food production field, there is a need for an indicator (index) that provides the right information to the decision-maker regarding improvements and that is useful for making comparisons among companies. Among the research methodologies for establishing thresholds and assigning scores, the life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach was selected. The LCA was applied to chocolate production in an Italian medium-sized enterprise in the Piedmont region. Results have been used as a starting point to identify the critical environmental aspects of the 'gate-to-gate' life-cycle system, evaluating them like scores to compare other local chocolate production. The LCA case study shows that the most significant environmental aspects are energy consumption, depletion of non-renewable resources, and climate change. Some of the primary unavailable data for the life-cycle inventory phase and the need to adopt the same initial hypotheses to carry out comparative studies are the main limitations of the LCA application.

Life cycle assessment as a tool to integrate environmental indicators in food products: A chocolate lca case study

VESCE, Enrica;PAIROTTI, MARIA BEATRICE;BELTRAMO, Riccardo
2016-01-01

Abstract

Environmental indicators help to understand impacts and pollution issues. In the food production field, there is a need for an indicator (index) that provides the right information to the decision-maker regarding improvements and that is useful for making comparisons among companies. Among the research methodologies for establishing thresholds and assigning scores, the life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach was selected. The LCA was applied to chocolate production in an Italian medium-sized enterprise in the Piedmont region. Results have been used as a starting point to identify the critical environmental aspects of the 'gate-to-gate' life-cycle system, evaluating them like scores to compare other local chocolate production. The LCA case study shows that the most significant environmental aspects are energy consumption, depletion of non-renewable resources, and climate change. Some of the primary unavailable data for the life-cycle inventory phase and the need to adopt the same initial hypotheses to carry out comparative studies are the main limitations of the LCA application.
2016
8
1
21
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https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84979703407&origin=resultslist&sort=plf-f&src=s&st1=Vesce%2c+E.&st2=&sid=B615DA694ADC61ABADE7555AFCF4D68C.wsnAw8kcdt7IPYLO0V48gA%3a20&sot=b&sdt=b&sl=22&s=AUTHOR-NAME%28Vesce%2c+E.%29&relpos=0&citeCnt=0&searchTerm=
Environmental assessment methodologies; Environmental indicator; LCA; Life-cycle assessment; Sustainability
Enrica Vesce; Germana Olivieri; Maria Beatrice Pairotti; Annalisa Romani; Riccardo Beltramo
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1607343
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