Inclusion of microbiological food safety as a novel aspect in life cycle assessments of food production

ABSTRACT

The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology currently covers a limited number of human health-related impact categories. Microbiological food safety is an essential aspect for the selection of an appropriate food production system and has been neglected in the LCA so far. A framework for the inclusion of a microbiological food safety indicator, expressed as disability-adjusted life year (DALY) value of the consumed food product to the human health damage category (end-point) was created, and applied in a case study model on the cooked-chilled meals as the ready-to-eat meals can be associated with the occurrence of foodborne illness cases and outbreaks. This study suggests a framework for the inclusion of microbiological risk caused by Bacillus cereus associated with the consumption of ready-to-eat meals (in Belgium) in the LCA. The results indicated that the microbiological risk of one package of the investigated ready-to-eat meal was 1.95 × 10⁻⁶ DALY, and the obtained DALY value was included as an impact category in the LCA methodology. Inclusion of other categories of food safety (including chemical safety hazards, pesticide residues, heavy metals, and mycotoxins) in LCA could be done in the same fashion.

KEYWORDS:

• DALY
• food safety
• LCA
• microbiological risk
• sustainability

Acknowledgements

A.N. and S.V.H. would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Ghent University Global Campus. A.N and N.B. were also supported by the Interdisciplinary Research Innovation Fund (RAFINS) at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical procedure

• The research meets all applicable standards with regard to the ethics of experimentation and research integrity, and the following is being certified/declared true.

• As an expert scientist and along with co-authors of concerned field, the paper has been submitted with full responsibility, following due ethical procedure, and there is no duplicate publication, fraud, plagiarism, or concerns about animal or human experimentation.

List of abbreviations

CO2	=	carbon dioxide
DALY	=	disability-adjusted life year
Eq	=	equivalent
FSC	=	food supply chain
FU	=	functional unit
GHG	=	greenhouse gas
GWP	=	global warming potential
ILCD	=	international reference life cycle data system
ISO	=	international standardization organization
REPFED	=	refrigerated and processed foods of extended durability
kg	=	kilogram
LCA	=	life cycle assessment
m3	=	cubic meter
MJ	=	mega joule
PDF	=	potentially disappeared fraction
SO2	=	sulfur dioxide

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2248899

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ghent University Global Campus and the Interdisciplinary Research Innovation Fund (RAFINS) at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.