Life cycle assessment to eco-design food products: industrial cooked dish case study

An industrial cooked dish is one of the food products with the most complex agri-food chain. In this study, an eco-design pilot experiment has been performed as a way to develop more efficient and sustainable agri-food products throughout its whole life cycle. To achieve this, a life cycle assessment (LCA) has been carried out to identify and quantify the environmental performance of the production and distribution of a cooked tuna with tomato dish. The most important stages of the life cycle have been established taking into consideration the full environmental impact as well as the potential reductions achievable by the application of various improvements. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.