Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
Meat Sci. 2012 Nov;92(3):179-81. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2012.04.013. Epub 2012 Apr 13.
Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) are useful tools to analyze a product's "carbon footprint" (e.g., the net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions expressed as standardized carbon dioxide equivalents per unit of product) considering all phases of the production chain. For beef, an LCA would include the GHG emissions from feed production, from the enteric fermentation of the cattle, from the cattle's waste, and from processing and transportation. Identifying the scope and scale of the LCA is critical and key to preventing inappropriate applications of the analysis (e.g., applying a global LCA for beef to the regional or national scale). Ideally, a LCA can integrate the complex biogeochemical processes responsible for GHG emissions and the disparate animal and agricultural management techniques used be different phases of the beef production chain (e.g., feedlot vs. cow-calf) and different production systems (e.g., conventional vs. organic).
生命周期评估（LCA）是一种有用的工具，可以分析产品的“碳足迹”（例如，以单位产品的标准化二氧化碳当量表示的净温室气体（GHG）排放量），同时考虑生产链的所有阶段。对于牛肉，LCA 将包括饲料生产、牛的肠道发酵、牛的废物以及加工和运输过程中的 GHG 排放。确定 LCA 的范围和规模对于防止分析的不当应用至关重要（例如，将全球牛肉 LCA 应用于区域或国家规模）。理想情况下，LCA 可以整合负责 GHG 排放的复杂生物地球化学过程，以及不同阶段的牛肉生产链（例如，饲养场与牛犊）和不同生产系统（例如，常规与有机）中使用的不同动物和农业管理技术。
