Material flow cost accounting (MFCA) to enhance environmental entrepreneurship in the meat sector: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

The material flow cost accounting (MFCA) is one of the most broadly standardized tools accepted in environmental, social and economic research, which traces and quantifies material flows and stock in physical and economic units. Although its application has been recently developed in the field of resource and waste management, few academic articles have investigated its value towards food waste management, which represents a topical concern on a global scale. The present research applies the MFCA to investigate the material, energetic and economic costs associated with the Italian beef, pork and poultry production, exploring related challenges and opportunities towards the enhancement of the environmental entrepreneurship in the meat sector. The present countryside analysis is based on literature and empirical data collected during the Covid-19 pandemic. It highlights the need to improve knowledge on food waste issue under the economic perspective and its dual impact: when it is generated, in terms of income losses due to by-products and finished products sales failure, and when it is disposed, in terms of disposal costs sustained by farms, processing plants and distribution and sales centers. It is estimated that more than 0.45–0.50 Mt of fresh meat is wasted along the entire Italian agri-food chain, equal to more than 242–268 million euros, to which additional energy and water losses should be added (435–481 million euros). MFCA results are useful for business decisions, highlighting quantities, qualities and costs otherwise not considered in common financial reports.