Impact of consumer behaviour on the environmental sustainability profile of food production and consumption chains – a case study on chicken meat

Abstract

The relationship between consumer behaviour, food-packaging system, and food loss and waste (FLW) has often been overlooked within environmental sustainability assessments of food products. The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to quantify the food and packaging flows of the combination of four packed chicken products and four types of household behaviour using material flow analysis, and (2) to assess the environmental profile of these combinations through life cycle assessment (LCA) within a Flemish (Belgian) context. The household behaviours described different household chicken meat waste percentages and particular household actions (e.g. storage location). The life cycle stages entailed chicken farm, poultry processing, meat cutting and packaging, distribution, retail, consumer, and end-of-life. The impact assessment method was the Environmental Footprint (2.0). The food yield—the ratio of the food amount consumed by its intended user and that entering meat cutting and packaging—of all combinations was 79.1–97.3%. The behaviour of major wasters increased the environmental impact of the food chain by 8.4% compared to the non-wasters. The impact of the product with the worst score, i.e. diced chicken breast 0.5 kg, rose 9.6% compared to the product with the best score, chicken breasts 0.5 kg. In case of the major wasters, the impact of FLW was higher by a factor of ten higher than those of the packaging materials. The single score of the average Flemish consumer or weighted average was 2.3–4.0% higher than non-wasters depending on the chicken product. These results highlight the importance of including household behaviour, FLW and packaging within food LCA research.