Sustainability indicators in beef slaughterhouses: a systematic review

Abstract

The sustainable management of slaughterhouses follows market demands. The article reports a systematic literature review on the environmental impacts of beef slaughterhouses, using the PRISMA method. The review highlights the use of analytical hierarchy (AHP), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions assessment, and life cycle assessment (LCA). The studies used the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate sustainability in the supply chain and meat production, highlighting the preponderance of economic criteria over social and environmental aspects. They identified crucial indicators such as industry diversity and energy consumption, highlighting the need for a balanced approach that considers these different aspects to achieve sustainability. The life cycle assessment focused on reducing the water footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, with the potential for mitigation through the recovery of by-products in slaughterhouses. The study showed importance of maximizing the use of slaughtered animals to reduce the environmental footprint, identifying fossil fuels as the main contributors to climate change and recommending the transition to organic agriculture as a strategy to reduce emissions. After screening, 14 were selected and, finally, 7 works were included. It also showed the low number of bibliographic materials on sustainability indicators in beef slaughterhouses e pointing out the need for more research in this field, implementation of sustainable practices in beef production, with special emphasis on the incorporation of ESG indicators to ensure an approach aligned with the global sustainability demands.