Reconciling regionally-explicit nutritional needs with environmental protection by means of nutritional life cycle assessment

Green, Ashley; Nemecek, Thomas; Smetana, Sergiy; Mathys, Alexander

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127696

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Accordingly, the review allowed this team of authors to identify a number of promising strategies for improving durum wheat quality from farm to fork, including: Exploring landraces’ germplasm as a source of novel alleles to improve productivity, environmental adaptability, tolerance or resistance to biotic stresses, and nutritional and health value; Making durum wheat nutritional and health-promoting properties the new goals of durum wheat breeding programs; Promoting participatory and decentralised breeding programs to select the desired genotypes also in relation to the choice of the most suitable growing area; Supporting low input practices, including organic farming, such as conservation tillage, crop rotation, and intercropping, to reduce environmental impact, achieve ecosystem services and improve grain quality attributes; Optimising N fertilisation strategies in terms of rate and time to maintain grain technological quality whilst reducing the release of N into the environment; Adopting innovative techniques, such as debranning, air classification, and micronisation, to increase the nutritional and health value of products in the pasta sector; Experimenting with new pasta formulations containing plant-based ingredients in order to contribute to the diversification of healthier and more nutritious diets; Evaluating environmental, nutritional, and health benefits and/or risks associated with new formulations of pasta through holistic and standardised methodologies (e.g., nutritional Life Cycle Assessment), as suggested and carried out in the previously published specialised literature [ 228 , 229 , 230 , 231 ]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting the Nutritional, Health, and Technological Quality of Durum Wheat for Pasta-Making: A Systematic Literature Review

Zingale

Spina

Ingrao

et al. 2023

Plants

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Durum wheat is one of the most important food sources in the world, playing a key role in human nutrition, as well as in the economy of the different countries in which its production areas are concentrated. Its grain also represents a staple and highly versatile ingredient in the development of health foods. Nonetheless, the aspects determining durum wheat’s health quality and their interactions are many, complex, and not entirely known. Therefore, the present systematic literature review aims at advancing the understanding of the relationships among nutritional, health, and technological properties of durum wheat grain, semolina, and pasta, by evaluating the factors that, either positively or negatively, can affect the quality of the products. Scopus, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched utilising sets of keywords following the PRISMA guidelines, and the relevant results of the definitive 154 eligible studies were presented and discussed. Thus, the review identified the most promising strategies to improve durum wheat quality and highlighted the importance of adopting multidisciplinary approaches for such purposes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting the Nutritional, Health, and Technological Quality of Durum Wheat for Pasta-Making: A Systematic Literature Review

Zingale

Spina

Ingrao

et al. 2023

Plants

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“…It is known that the choice of functional unit (Smetana et al 2016(Smetana et al , 2019Green et al 2020Green et al , 2021 and impact assessment method (Owsianiak et al 2014) can affect results in LCA studies. The sensitivity of the approach to these methodological choices was tested as follows.…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A modular environmental and economic assessment applied to the production of Hermetia illucens larvae as a protein source for food and feed

Spykman

Hossaini

Peguero

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose The inclusion of insect protein into the food system has been proposed as a promising solution to ensure future food security and mitigate negative environmental impacts related to food production. However, the market volume for edible insects in Europe is still small; consequently, producers need a decision-support system to ensure the sustainable upscaling of the sector. The study analyzed environmental and economic impacts of insect production to identify the most eco-efficient production scenarios. Methods A novel modular eco-efficiency assessment approach was developed to analyze the production of dried Hermetia illucens larvae. An exemplary, industrial-scale insect production system was disaggregated into a total of 29 module variants that can be combined into 4608 distinct production scenarios, which are characterized by different feeds, energy efficiencies, and processing technologies. Environmental life cycle and cost assessments were carried out for each module variant, and eco-efficiency assessment was used to jointly assess these two sustainability dimensions. Additionally, the influence of the insect feed on the production system performance and impact was investigated by employing feed-specific scaling factors. These were used to aggregate module results into production scenario results. Results and discussion The most eco-efficient production scenarios include energy-efficient rearing facilities that rely on blanching and microwave drying for processing. The insect feed is the largest contributor to the environmental impacts and costs, but from an eco-efficiency standpoint, the choice of feed might not be crucial. Waste-type feeds (e.g., manure, fruit, and vegetable waste) have low environmental impacts and costs, but the production scenarios based on these feeds are less efficient. The low impacts of the feed are offset by higher impacts during the rearing and processing stages. Conversely, scenarios based on higher quality feeds (e.g., by-products like wheat middlings or distiller’s grains) require less resources, but the initial feed impacts and costs are higher. Moreover, of the feed types studied, only highly processed ones, such as compound chicken feed, should be avoided for insect rearing. Conclusions The developed modular assessment approach is efficient in assessing multiple potential insect production scenarios. It can be adapted to incorporate additional variations of the production system via additional modules. Limitations include the potential for redundant module combinations and the up-front time investment needed. Finally, the results are sensitive to methodological choices: thus, these should be carefully considered and communicated during the design of the modular assessment system.

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“…1). Based on the United emphasizing the importance of a nutrition angle for better-informed comparisons 25 . Analyses of nutrients and emissions embedded in household food waste have suggested that global food waste is equivalent to 15% of recommended energy and vitamin A intake, and 6.6% of the food-related non-CO 2 GHG limit to keep global warming below 2 °C 26 .…”

Section: Emissions Associated With Closing the Nutrient Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-friendly and nutrition-sensitive interventions can close the global dietary nutrient gap while reducing GHG emissions

2022

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Under domestic-production-based scenarios, the nutrient gap is closed via changes to domestic production of food sources that minimize the emissions based on national production baskets. No change in nutrient adequacy is imposed for countries with adequate nutrient supply (for more details, see Scenario description). In contrast, under the trade scenario, the nutrient gap is closed via imports of optimal food sources from optimal trade partners that minimize the emissions based on current import baskets.

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Reconciling regionally-explicit nutritional needs with environmental protection by means of nutritional life cycle assessment

Cited by 24 publications

References 39 publications

Factors Affecting the Nutritional, Health, and Technological Quality of Durum Wheat for Pasta-Making: A Systematic Literature Review

Factors Affecting the Nutritional, Health, and Technological Quality of Durum Wheat for Pasta-Making: A Systematic Literature Review

A modular environmental and economic assessment applied to the production of Hermetia illucens larvae as a protein source for food and feed

Climate-friendly and nutrition-sensitive interventions can close the global dietary nutrient gap while reducing GHG emissions

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