Integrating food waste in LCA of nutrition

A considerable amount of food waste is caused in households due to bad storage, poor planning and consumer’s preference for fresh food. The industrial processes used to prepare ready-meals on the other hand are, for the most part, highly optimized and food waste due to bad handling is minimal. This leads to the question whether overall food losses for a ready-made meal are lower than that of a meal freshly prepared at home.

Case study for lasagna Bolognese

This question was explored in an LCA study comparing ready-made and home-made lasagne Bolognese. The aim of the study was to better understand where the food losses occur in the production chains and what this implies for the overall environmental impacts of lasagne provided at home. Life-cycle inventories were established for all the stages in the preparation of the two types of lasagne under study. The data for the ingredients, food losses, energy use, transport distances and infrastructure needed were derived from literature and own measurements. The data and life cycle model of the ready-made lasagne production was supplemented by inputs from the food industry. Contrary to the expectations, the total food waste is about the same for both production chains under comparison. The losses occurring in the production chain of the ready-made lasagne are driven by losses in the food industry and returned products reaching their expiry date. In case of the home-made lasagne, the major losses are caused at the household. The study showed the environmental impacts of the two types of lasagne to be comparable. In both cases, the major contribution derives from the supply of the ingredients. Differences occur in the respective contributions of the packaging, storage (chilled) and preparation at home. Due to the importance of the ingredients, food losses need to be understood also from a life cycle perspective. In the ready-made lasagne supply, food losses could be reduced by further optimising the industrial processes and the in-store storage. Similarly, the households could contribute through a reduction in the wastage of fresh ingredients.

Food waste is now also systematically included in our database on food production and consumption.

Flury K., Jungbluth N. and Houlder G. (2013) Food losses in the life cycle of lasagne Bolognese: ready-to-serve vs. home-made. Presentation. In proceedings from: 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, Gothenburg

Flury K., Büsser S. and Jungbluth N. (2012) Ready-to-serve vs. home-made lasagne: An LCA with a focus on food waste in different production chains. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by European Aluminium Foil Association e.V. (EAFA), Düsseldorf, DE and Zürich, CH. Executive summary.