Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Mar 1;758:143662. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143662. Epub 2020 Nov 14.
This study discusses the environmental life cycle impacts of potato and tomato supply chains in a "cradle-to-grave" perspective. The principal focus is to evaluate the processed products, while fresh products are also briefly discussed. Processed products included are potato-chips, frozen fries and dehydrated flakes, and tomato-pasta sauce. The functional unit (FU) is 1 kg product(s), eaten at the consumer stage. Life cycle assessment (LCA) modeling has utilized multiple mechanistic crop models to estimate the crop yields, crop nutrient uptakes and irrigation water requirements. The farming systems represent the primary crop reporting districts where the selected crops are produced on a commercial scale in the United States. The post-harvest system was constructed utilizing the data collected from a processing plant and from other available studies. LCA modeling also constituted handling of co-products (e.g. starch in potatoes) and biowaste. A wide range of environmental impact categories were selected for the evaluation, which showed environmental differences between fresh and processed products. For instance, global warming potential for potato-fresh, chips, fries and dehydrated was 0.97, 0.85, 1.21 and 0.65 kg CO-eq/FU respectively. For fresh tomato and tomato sauce, it was 0.74 and 1.5 kg CO-eq/FU respectively. Likewise, fossil resource scarcity for fresh potatoes was higher than chips and dehydrated flakes, but lower than fries. Water consumption was slightly higher in fresh potatoes compared to the processed products. Similar impact patterns were found in fresh and processed tomato products. For most of the impact categories, processing and the agriculture systems were the major contributors. The contribution from the consumer stage varied with the ways the product is prepared, e.g. whether fries are oven heated or deep-fried in oil. Environmental mitigation measures include, the use of drip irrigation (for potatoes), and reducing: food miles, food waste and the use of secondary packaging materials.
本研究从“摇篮到坟墓”的角度探讨了马铃薯和番茄供应链的环境生命周期影响。主要重点是评估加工产品，同时也简要讨论了新鲜产品。加工产品包括薯片、冷冻薯条和脱水薄片，以及番茄酱。功能单位（FU）为 1 公斤产品，在消费者阶段食用。生命周期评估（LCA）模型利用多个机械作物模型来估算作物产量、作物养分吸收和灌溉水需求。这些农业系统代表了主要的作物报告区，在美国这些作物以商业规模生产。收获后系统是利用从加工厂和其他可用研究中收集的数据构建的。LCA 模型还包括处理副产物（例如马铃薯中的淀粉）和生物废物。选择了广泛的环境影响类别进行评估，这表明新鲜产品和加工产品之间存在环境差异。例如，新鲜马铃薯、薯片、薯条和脱水的全球变暖潜势分别为 0.97、0.85、1.21 和 0.65 kg CO-eq/FU。新鲜番茄和番茄酱的全球变暖潜势分别为 0.74 和 1.5 kg CO-eq/FU。同样，新鲜马铃薯的化石资源稀缺性高于薯片和脱水薄片，但低于薯条。与加工产品相比，新鲜马铃薯的耗水量略高。新鲜和加工番茄产品也存在类似的影响模式。在大多数影响类别中，加工和农业系统是主要贡献者。消费者阶段的贡献因产品的制备方式而异，例如薯条是在烤箱中加热还是在油中油炸。环境缓解措施包括滴灌（用于马铃薯）的使用，以及减少：食物里程、食物浪费和二次包装材料的使用。
