How to improve environmental impact from meals served in public sector?

Britta Florén, SIK – The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, Dep of Sustainable Food Production, bf@sik.se28th of May, 2013

Structure of my presentation:

1. Short about SIK

2. Overview of environmental impact of food products and some brief methodology about LCA

3. Environmental impact of meals, example from a project about carbon footprints from school meals

4. Improvement options

3

SIK develops products and processes in the food chain

SIK has about 100 employees (more than one third with PhD) to support food companies to develop their products and processes.

This is achieved through:

• research (we are the world leader in several areas)

• advanced consultancy and advisory work• open and client-specific training programmes• development of small companies

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Food a

nd n

on-a

lcoho

lic b

ever

ages

Trans

port

Furnish

ing,

hou

seho

ld equ

ipm

ent,

and ro

...

Resta

urant

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d ho

tels

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g, w

ater

, elec

tricit

y, g

as and

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er...

Recre

atio

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Misc

ellan

eous

good

s an

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rvice

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Clothin

g an

d Foot

wear

Comm

unica

tions

Alcoho

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evera

ges,

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Health

Educa

tion

% o

f to

tal

con

sum

pti

on

d

rive

n G

WP

em

issi

on

s

GWP from different areas of final consumption (EU 25)

Source: Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO), European Commission Joint Research Centre, available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/pdf/eipro_report.pdf

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT IS MUCH MORE THAN CLIMATE CHANGE

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM FOOD:

1) How many people need to eat

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM FOOD:

2) WHAT and HOW MUCH we eat

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5

10

15

20

25

30

Car

bo

n f

oo

tpri

nt

(kg

CO

2e/k

g e

dib

le p

rod

uct

)

Source: SIK-The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM FOOD:3) Climate change impact from the production,

example of carbon footprints

Resources used:

9

• Energy• Material • Land

• Air• Water• Soil• Waste

Emissions to:

Our main instrument:Life Cycle Assessment

A systems approach is essential !

V

VV

V

VV

consumer

Home transport

”Functional unit”: 100 gram beef

retail

transport

slaughter

Farm feedfertilisers

diesel

El.

soyBarley OatsWheat peasRoughage

pesticides

packaging

Feed fat minerals

growing

processing/drying

transport

By-products etc.

el./other energy

transport

Waste management

By-product-management

transport

new products/ energy utilisation

”Environmental impact”

e.g. refrigerators, cars, shampoo, houses, light bulbs

Food

Raw material Industry Retail Household Post-consumption

Very generalised picture of life cycle environmental impact

Carbon footprint with biogenic emissions

Methane Nitrous oxide Carbon dioxide CH4 N2O CO2

Total contribution tothe environmental impactcategory

Carbon dioxide

Methane

Dinitrogen oxide

1x

x25

x298

Climate change Impact

Emission with impact on the environment Impact strength

Characterization

LCA RESULTS MILK

Agricultu

re

Transport

to dairyDairy

Packaging

Distrib

ution

Retail and co

nsumer

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

Nitrous oxide (N2O)

Methane (CH4)

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Kg C

O2-

eq./

litre

milk

Climate change

Poultry (SE) Turkey (SE) Pork (SE) Lamb (SE) Beef (SE) Beef (BR)0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

18 % of the global climate change from animal produc-tion

Example of carbon footprint for different meat

kg C

O2-

eq./

kg

1990 20100

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90Meat consumption per capita, 1990 and 2010

ÖvrigtFågelGrisNöt

Källa , Jordbruksverket (SJV)

kg m

eat (

with

bon

e) p

er c

apita

totalt: +43%

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT CARROTS

AgriculturePackagingTransportRetailer

How to improve environmental impact from meals served in public sector?

• Tool for working with climate change goals in the organisation• Increase knowledge and show the importance of choosing the right

ingredients• Example from a project : Climate change impact for school meals.

GOAL: Make it easier to choose the ”right” ingredients!

Focus on the meal!

• Typical Swedish school meals (with the possibility to make small changes)

• From a range of different food ingredients

• LCA data available• Same nutrient

requirements (protein, carbon hydrates, fat)

5 Indian Poultry stew with rice/pearled barley6 Fried saithe/herring with mashed potatoes7 Meat & vegetable soup/carrot & lentil sauce, soft bread with cheese8 moussaka/seafood lasagne

1 Spagetti Bolognese/lentil sauce with spaghetti & ketchup2 Falu sausage with white sauce& pasta/potatoes3 Hamburger/fish burger with dressing, bread & potato wedges4 Pork kebab stew /bean stew with rice

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 80

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Climate change school meals

Original mealAlternative meal

kg C

O2e

/por

tion

Spaghetti Bolognese Spaghetti with lentil sauce

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

milkbread and margarinesaladketchupbolognese/lentil saucespaghetti

kg C

O2-

eq/m

eal

Falu sausage, pasta and white sauce

Falu sausage, potatoes and white sauce

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

milkbread and margarinesaladwhite saucefalu sausagepotatoes/pasta

kg C

O2-

eq/m

eal

Hamburger, bread, potato wedges & dressing

Fish burger, bread, potato wedges & dressing

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

milkbread and margarinesaladdressing, tomato & onionhamburger/fish burgerhamburger bread & potato wedgeskg

CO

2ekv

/mea

l

Fried saithe with mashed potatoes Fried herring with mashed potatoes0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

milkbread and margarinesaladfried saithe/herringmashed potatoes

kg C

O2e

q./m

eal

Moussaka with ketchup Seafood lasagne0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

milkbread and margarinesaladmeat/fish moussaka/seafood lasagne other ingridientskg

CO

2eq/

mea

l

Potatoes 210 g

Pearled barle

y 80g

Pasta 75g

Rice 80 g (tr

ansporte

d to SE)

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Climate change impact from one portion of carbohydrate source

Climate change transportClimate change food

kg C

O2-

eq/c

arbo

hydr

ate

sour

ce

Conclusions• Reduce the amounts ingridients from animal products if possible

(feed production & methane from ruminants)• Of the included ingredients beef has the highest climate change

contribution• Vegetarian protein alternatives (lentils, beans, chick peas) make a

big difference• Reduce the use of rice and instead favor potatoes, pasta and

pearled grain.• From a meal perspective the climate change contribution from

one glass of milk is not negligible

How can we continue?• With better knowledge easier to make choices…• Change a little bit at a time…• Communicate why you change• Set up environmental goals and follow up• Reduce unnecessary food waste

Food consumption and GHG emissions in Sweden, relative values

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

GWP Amount

Part

of G

WP

and

Con

sum

ptio

n (%

)

Condiments, sauces, oilsand spices

Confectionary and snacks

Fruits

Salad vegetables

Root vegetables andtubers

Dairy products

Meat and fish

Bread

"Dry products" (flour, rice,pasta etc )

FOOD PLANNER

There are great potential in reducing environmental impact

from food!

Thank you!! Britta Florén, bf@sik.se