Abstract
The beef supply chain has multiple negative impacts on the environment. A method widely used to measure impacts from both the use of resources and the emissions generated by this sector is the life cycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 14040). This study aimed to evaluate a semi-intensive system (SIS) and an extensive organic system (EOS), combined with two different slaughterhouses located in the northeast of Portugal. The studied slaughterhouses are similar in size but differ in number of slaughters and in sources of thermal energy: natural gas (Mng) vs. biomass pellets (Mp). Four categories of environmental impact were evaluated: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). As expected, higher impacts were found for SIS for all studied impact categories. Slaughterhouse activities, fertilizer production, and solid waste treatment stages showed little contribution when compared to animal production. Concerning the slaughterhouses activities, the main sources of environmental impact were the use of energy (electric and thermal) and by-products transportation.
Highlights
As global meat production continues to grow, high amounts of energy and water are used, releasing large quantities of waste and gaseous emissions into the environment
The two systems analyzed in this study are located in the northeast of Portugal: a semi-intensive system (SIS) and an extensive organic system (EOS) (Figure 1)
This study considered the production for the generated meat residues (Figure 1). chain of cattle from feed production to the slaughterhouse, with the respective transport, energythe production, production, as a Processes were chosen considering availabilityfertilizer of reliable data
Summary
As global meat production continues to grow, high amounts of energy and water are used, releasing large quantities of waste and gaseous emissions into the environment. As a consequence, this agro-industrial sector has been facing significant market and social pressures to minimize its negative environmental impacts in order to become more eco-efficient. According to United States Department of Agriculture [2], world beef production is approximately. The largest meat production country is the United States of America, with 19.0% of world production, followed by Brazil, with 15.3%, and the European Union (EU), with 13.0%. In Portugal about 88,645 tons of beef are slaughtered per year, representing 70% of the needs of the internal market. The annual national consumption of meat is approximately 111.2 kg per person, of which about 17.9 kg are beef [3]
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