Halloran Afton, Roos Nanna, Eilenberg Jørgen, Cerutti Alessandro, Bruun Sander
1Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 25, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
2Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Agron Sustain Dev. 2016;36(4):57. doi: 10.1007/s13593-016-0392-8. Epub 2016 Sep 29.
Compared to their vertebrate counterparts in traditional husbandry, insects are extremely efficient at converting organic matter into animal protein and dietary energy. For this reason, insects for food and feed show great potential as an environmentally friendly choice in future food systems. However, to obtain a true assessment of this, more information is needed about the production systems. Currently, only six studies applying the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to insect production systems have been published. The studies are heterogenous and thus difficult to compare. The aim of this paper was to establish a versatile reference framework that would allow for the selection of standardized settings for LCA applications in insect production systems, taking both the peculiarity of each system and the latest developments in food LCA into account. It is recommended that future LCAs of insect production systems take the following into account: (1) clear definition of the insect species and life stages included in the LCA, (2) use of at least two of the following types of functional units: nutritional, mass, or economic-based, (3) collection of empirical data in situ (e.g., on farms/production sites), (4) comparative analysis where production systems produce products that are realistic alternatives to the insect species under investigation, (5) inclusion of additional or previously unconsidered unit processes, such as processing and storage and waste management, and (6) use of a wide range of impact categories, especially climate change, resource consumption, nutrient enrichment potential, acidification potential, and impacts on land and water consumption in order to allow for comparison between studies.
与传统养殖中的脊椎动物相比，昆虫在将有机物质转化为动物蛋白和膳食能量方面效率极高。因此，食用和饲料用昆虫作为未来食品系统中的环保选择具有巨大潜力。然而，要对此进行真正评估，还需要更多关于生产系统的信息。目前，仅有六项将生命周期评估（LCA）方法应用于昆虫生产系统的研究发表。这些研究各不相同，因此难以比较。本文的目的是建立一个通用的参考框架，在考虑每个系统的特殊性和食品LCA最新进展的同时，能够为昆虫生产系统的LCA应用选择标准化设置。建议昆虫生产系统未来的LCA考虑以下几点：（1）明确界定LCA中所包含的昆虫物种和生命阶段；（2）使用以下至少两种类型的功能单位：营养型、质量型或基于经济的功能单位；（3）实地（如农场/生产场所）收集实证数据；（4）进行比较分析，其中生产系统生产的产品是所研究昆虫物种的现实替代品；（5）纳入额外的或先前未考虑的单元过程，如加工、储存和废物管理；（6）使用广泛的影响类别，特别是气候变化、资源消耗、营养富集潜力、酸化潜力以及对土地和水资源消耗的影响，以便能够在研究之间进行比较。
