What do you think is the biggest challenge when linking up LCA studies from various parts of the food industry supply chain?
A. Insufficient data
B. Different allocation methods (mass, economic, etc.)
C. Different functional units
D. Different system boundaries
The answer: C! That’s especially true with commodity crops, where functional units are often expressed in kg of product, compared to serving-size portions of food products consumed by consumers. And that doesn’t include the myriad other ingredients, with nearly a different functional unit for each one. Using mass allocation can simplify the process of matching up functional units, but creating the necessary symmetry is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to integrating LCAs.
USB covered this topic – and many others – during a presentation at the Food Processing Environmental Conference this week. See the rest of the USB presentation here.
