Environmental and economic sustainability of fresh-cut and pre- cooked vegetables

Due to the growing awareness about the environmental and economic sustainability of food products, the present research aims to evaluate the sustainability of fresh-cut and pre-cooked vegetables, a niche market with growing de-mand. An analysis was carried out using a detailed material, energy, and economic inventory based on a commercial food processing plant located in northeast Spain. The environmental sustainability was determined using process -based environmental life cycle assessment (E-LCA), applying a cradle-to-market approach, and using the EF3.0 impact assessment methodology to quantify impacts on five midpoint categories (climate change, photochemical ozone for-mation, acidification, freshwater eutrophication, and fossil resource use) and an aggregated single score. Additionally, an environmental life cycle costing (E-LCC) was performed. The pre-cooked vegetable products showed a higher envi-ronmental footprint than the fresh-cut products in all the impact categories (between 14.0 % and 39.9 %) and involved higher life cycle costs (15.2 %), due to the increased demand for ingredients, packaging materials, and electricity con-sumption per FU (kg of product). The carbon footprint (CF) and the cost for the fresh-cut products were 0.72 kg CO2 eq/kg and 2.62 E/kg, respectively, compared to 0.86 kg CO2/kg and 3.02 E/kg for the pre-cooked vegetables. The environmental profiles of both products were rather similar, with a dominance of the Upstream stage (production of ingredients and packaging materials), followed by the Core stage (mainly due to electricity consumed during vegetable processing). The relevance of the Core stage is amplified in the economic analysis due to the incorporation of certain processes which were not included in the process-based E-LCA (e.g., labour, capital, insurance, maintenance costs, etc.). To integrate the economic and environmental analyses, an eco-efficiency index was calculated that describes the carbon emissions per unit of monetary cost, resulting in 0.27 kg CO2eq/ euro for the fresh-cut and 0.28 kg CO2 eq/ euro for the pre-cooked vegetables.

Automated summary

The sustainability of fresh-cut and pre-cooked vegetables was evaluated using a detailed material, energy, and economic inventory. The study found that pre-cooked vegetables had a higher environmental footprint and higher life cycle costs compared to fresh-cut vegetables. The carbon footprint and cost for fresh-cut vegetables were lower than that of pre-cooked vegetables.