Utilizing animal by-products in European slaughterhouses to reduce the environmental footprint of pork products

Abstract

Reducing food loss addresses global warming, protects natural resources, and improves food security. The study focuses on improving the use of animal by-products at the slaughterhouse stage.An LCA of pork production was performed using actual data from four European slaughterhouses and two methods for handling by-products. A scenario analysis was then conducted to compare the improved re-use of animal by-products.The study showed substantial variations in the proportion of live weight pig used for human food purposes, with an edible yield ranging from 72 to 88 %. Improved utilization, where 92 % of the live weight pig is used as edible products, could reduce environmental impact per kg pork product sold for human consumption by 4–26 % depending on the current utilization rate, impact category, and by-product handling method. Using system expansion, such as substituting soybean meal in pet feed, lowered the reduction potential from 19 % with economic allocation to 7 % with system expansion due to high net avoided impacts, highlighting the importance of the method to accurately evaluate the environmental benefits of utilizing more edible products. A scenario analysis comparing waste treatment options for the animal by-products proved that the best option is pet feed, followed by biofuel, then biogas, aligning with the circular bioeconomy value pyramid and food waste hierarchy.Higher edible yield per live weight pig considerably reduces the environmental impacts per kg pork product sold for human consumption. The waste hierarchy and the value pyramid are useful tools to prioritize waste utilization for animal by-products.