Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Five Greek Yogurt Production Systems: A Perspective beyond the Plant Boundaries
| Autor: | Catherine Houssard, Scott Benoit, Yves Pouliot, Dominique Maxime, Manuele Margni |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
industrial_manufacturing_engineering
Emerging technologies lcsh:TJ807-830 Geography Planning and Development lcsh:Renewable energy sources Environmental pollution 010501 environmental sciences Management Monitoring Policy and Law 01 natural sciences Agricultural science Greek yogurt food multifunctionality allocation Production (economics) lcsh:Environmental sciences 0105 earth and related environmental sciences lcsh:GE1-350 Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment lcsh:Environmental effects of industries and plants LCA losses and wastage 0402 animal and dairy science food and beverages environmental impacts 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Modified milk ingredients engineering_other 040201 dairy & animal science food.food Product (business) lcsh:TD194-195 greek-style yogurt processing Sustainability Milk protein concentrate Business |
| Zdroj: | Sustainability Volume 12 Issue 21 Sustainability, Vol 12, Iss 9141, p 9141 (2020) |
| ISSN: | 2071-1050 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/su12219141 |
| Popis: | Greek yogurt (GY), a high-protein-low-fat dairy product, particularly prized for its sensory and nutritional benefits, revolutionized the North American yogurt market in less than a decade, bringing with it new sustainability challenges. The standard production of GY generates large volumes of acid whey, a co-product that is a potential source of environmental pollution if not recovered. This study aims to assess the environmental performance of different technologies and identify the main factors for improving GY production. A complete life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to compare the standard technology (centrifugation) with two new technologies (fortification and ultrafiltration) to reduce acid whey volumes. Three milk protein concentrate alternatives were also assessed. Results show that the technology choice is not a clear discriminant factor. However, minimizing losses and wastage (accounting for 23 to 25% of the environmental impacts for all indicators) beyond the processing plant and selecting milk ingredients (accounting for 63 to 67% of the impacts) with low environmental impacts are key factors in improving the environmental performance of GY systems. From a methodological perspective, the results also highlight a shortcoming in the current International Dairy Federation LCA guidelines (2015) for treating the multifunctionality of GY systems. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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