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Environmental Assessment and Management in the Food Industry

Environmental Assessment and Management in the Food Industry

by F Ziegler, J Berlin, U Sonesson
Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
Release Date: September 2010
ISBN: 9781845695521
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Book Description

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of production and processing in the food industry is an important tool for improving sustainability. Environmental assessment and management in the food industry reviews the advantages, challenges and different applications of LCA and related methods for environmental assessment, as well as key aspects of environmental management in this industry sector.

Part one discusses the environmental impact of food production and processing, addressing issues such as nutrient management and water efficiency in agriculture. Chapters in Part two cover LCA methodology and challenges, with chapters focusing on different food industry sectors such as crop production, livestock and aquaculture. Part three addresses the applications of LCA and related approaches in the food industry, with chapters covering combining LCA with economic tools, ecodesign of food products and footprinting methods of assessment, among other topics. The final part of the book concentrates on environmental management in the food industry, including contributions on training, eco-labelling and establishing management systems.

With its international team of editors and contributors, Environmental assessment and management in the food industry is an essential reference for anyone involved in environmental management in the food industry, and for those with an academic interest in sustainable food production.

  • Reviews the advantages, challenges and different applications of LCA and related methods for environmental assessment
  • Discusses the environmental impact of food production and processing, addressing issues such as nutrient management and water efficiency in agriculture
  • Examines environmental management in the food industry, including contributions on training, eco-labelling and establishing management systems

Table of Contents

  1. Cover image
  2. Title page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Copyright
  5. Contributor contact details
  6. Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition
  7. Preface
  8. Part I: Environmental impacts of food production and processing
    1. Chapter 1: Improving nutrient management in agriculture to reduce eutrophication, acidification and climate change
      1. Abstract:
      2. 1.1 Introduction
      3. 1.2 Eutrophication and acidification
      4. 1.3 Climate change
      5. 1.4 Mismanagement of nutrients
      6. 1.5 Future trends
    2. Chapter 2: Increasing the efficiency of water use in crop production
      1. Abstract:
      2. 2.1 Introduction
      3. 2.2 Water scarcity: the global dimension
      4. 2.3 Future demand for water and food
      5. 2.4 Improving water use efficiency in agriculture
      6. 2.5 Future trends and options to increase water use efficiency
      7. 2.6 Conclusions
  9. Part II: Life cycle assessment of food production and processing
    1. Chapter 3: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of food production and processing: An introduction
      1. Abstract:
      2. 3.1 Introduction
      3. 3.2 History of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
      4. 3.3 LCA as a decision-support tool
      5. 3.4 Application of LCA to food systems
      6. 3.5 Future trends
    2. Chapter 4: Methodology for Life cycle Assessment
      1. Abstract:
      2. 4.1 Introduction
      3. 4.2 Application of LCA
      4. 4.3 LCA methodology in short
      5. 4.4 Critical methodology choices
      6. 4.5 Examples of different applications’ demands on methodology
      7. 4.6 Recent trends in LCA
      8. 4.7 Sources of further information and advice
    3. Chapter 5: Challenges relating to data and system delimitation in Life Cycle Assessments of food products
      1. Abstract:
      2. 5.1 Introduction
      3. 5.2 System delimitation in agricultural Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs)
      4. 5.3 System delimitation in electricity LCAs
      5. 5.4 System delimitation and by-products in food LCAs
      6. 5.5 Future trends
      7. 5.6 Sources of further information and advice
    4. Chapter 6: Challenges in assessing the environmental impacts of crop production and horticulture
      1. Abstract:
      2. 6.1 Introduction
      3. 6.2 Main challenges: (a) Defining agricultural systems
      4. 6.3 Main challenges: (b) Understanding agricultural systems
      5. 6.4 Implications and recommendations
      6. 6.5 Future trends
    5. Chapter 7: Complexities in assessing the environmental impacts of livestock products
      1. Abstract:
      2. 7.1 Introduction
      3. 7.2 Complexities in assessing the environmental impacts of livestock systems
      4. 7.3 Inventory analysis
      5. 7.4 Impact assessment
      6. 7.5 Interpretation of results
      7. 7.6 Future trends
    6. Chapter 8: Challenges in assessing the environmental impacts of aquaculture and fisheries
      1. Abstract:
      2. 8.1 Introduction
      3. 8.2 Overview of the biological impacts of fishing
      4. 8.3 Overview of the biological impacts of aquaculture
      5. 8.4 Energy use and carbon footprint of seafood supply chains
      6. 8.5 Eco-labeling of seafood
      7. 8.6 Conclusions and future trends
      8. 8.7 Acknowledgement
  10. Part III: Current and future applications of life cycle assessment and related approaches
    1. Chapter 9: Towards sustainable industrial food production using Life Cycle Assessment approaches
      1. Abstract:
      2. 9.1 Introduction
      3. 9.2 Case studies
      4. 9.3 Methodological approach: proposal of a framework
      5. 9.4 Discussion
      6. 9.5 Conclusions
    2. Chapter 10: Addressing land use and ecotoxicological impacts in Life cycle Assessments of food production technologies
      1. Abstract:
      2. 10.1 Introduction
      3. 10.2 Life cycle impact methods for land occupation and transformation
      4. 10.3 Life cycle impact methods for ecotoxicity
      5. 10.4 Future trends
      6. 10.5 conclusions
      7. 10.6 Sources of further information and advice
    3. Chapter 11: Combining Life Cycle Assessment of food products with economic tools
      1. Abstract:
      2. 11.1 Introduction
      3. 11.2 Methods of combining Life Cycle Assessment of food products with economics tools
      4. 11.3 Discussion and conclusion
    4. Chapter 12: Inclusion of social aspects in Life cycle Assessment of food
      1. Abstract:
      2. 12.1 Introduction
      3. 12.2 Including social aspects in Life cycle Assessment (LCA) of food
      4. 12.3 Methods of including social aspects in LCA of food
      5. 12.4 Applications
      6. 12.5 Future trends
      7. 12.6 Sources of further information and advice
    5. Chapter 13: Ecodesign of food products
      1. Abstract:
      2. 13.1 Introduction
      3. 13.2 What is ecodesign?
      4. 13.3 The spiderweb approach
      5. 13.4 Perspectives
      6. 13.5 Future trends
      7. 13.6 Sources of further information and advice
    6. Chapter 14: Footprinting methods for assessment of the environmental impacts of food production and processing
      1. Abstract:
      2. 14.1 Introduction
      3. 14.2 Footprinting, comparison and contrast to Life cycle Assessment (LCA)
      4. 14.3 An introduction to ecological footprinting
      5. 14.4 Water footprinting
      6. 14.5 carbon footprinting
      7. 14.6 Environmental footprinting
      8. 14.7 Nitrogen footprinting
      9. 14.8 Non-environment footprinting
      10. 14.9 Future trends
      11. 14.10 Sources of further information and advice
    7. Chapter 15: Carbon footprinting and carbon labelling of food products
      1. Abstract:
      2. 15.1 Introduction
      3. 15.2 Principles of carbon analysis and carbon labelling of food products
      4. 15.3 Examples of some food products for which carbon footprints have been published
      5. 15.4 Difficulties and uncertainties in calculating carbon footprints
      6. 15.5 Future trends
      7. 15.6 Sources of further information and advice
    8. Chapter 16: Sustainability indicators for the food supply chain
      1. Abstract:
      2. 16.1 Introduction
      3. 16.2 Sustainability indicators and sustainability benchmarking in the supply chain
      4. 16.3 Sustainability indicators for the food supply chain
      5. 16.4 Application of analytical network processing (ANP) to sustainability scores
      6. 16.5 Future trends
  11. Part IV: Environmental management in the food industry
    1. Chapter 17: Establishing an environmental management system in the food industry
      1. Abstract:
      2. 17.1 Introduction
      3. 17.2 Drivers for and benefits of implementing environmental management systems (EMS) in the food industry
      4. 17.3 Food industry context
      5. 17.4 Implementing an EMS
      6. 17.5 Auditing environmental management systems
      7. 17.6 success factors
      8. 17.7 Conclusions
      9. 17.8 sources of further information and advice
    2. Chapter 18: Environmental training for the food industry
      1. Abstract:
      2. 18.1 Introduction
      3. 18.2 The value and nature of environmental training
      4. 18.3 Training needs and improving environmental understanding throughout the organisation
      5. 18.4 The concept of the learning organisation: thinking in systems
      6. 18.5 Barriers to effective training
      7. 18.6 Learning in the supply chain
      8. 18.7 The external training situation: shared vision and the ‘learning lab’
      9. 18.8 On-the-job training
      10. 18.9 Internet-based training
      11. 18.10 Maintaining a learning organisation
      12. 18.11 Future trends
      13. 18.12 Sources of further information and advice
    3. Chapter 19: Eco-labelling of agricultural food products
      1. Abstract:
      2. 19.1 Introduction
      3. 19.2 Main approaches
      4. 19.3 Comparison
      5. 19.4 Effectiveness
      6. 19.5 Future trends
      7. 19.6 Conclusions
  12. Index