The environmental impact of the production of fresh cut salad : a case study in Italy

Purpose: Fresh-cut processed vegetables are defined as those subjected to some processing techniques of lesser magnitude than canning or freezing, which, nevertheless, add value to the product. The fresh-cut market represents about 18 % of the entire economic value of the fruit and vegetable market in Italy, and 2 % of the total food market. Over the past two decades, worldwide awareness regarding environmental issues has consistently increased: environmental aspect is now one of the variables taken into consideration by consumers during the purchasing process. The aim of this study is to evaluate the environmental burdens of one bag of fresh-cut salad in order to identify the most critical production phases and suggest possible improvements. Methods: Such evaluation is based on the ISO standards for life cycle assessment. The selected functional unit is an “average bag” containing 130 g of fresh-cut lamb’s lettuce. Data concerning field operations, processing phases, and transportation to the logistic platforms were obtained directly from the producer, while background and foreground data come from Ecoinvent (Frischknecht et al. 2007). Results and discussion: Results show that both the agricultural and the processing phase are the major contributors to the environmental impact of fresh-cut salad. The production of the greenhouse at the agricultural level, the high consumptions of energy, and the use of water at the processing stage represent the main of hotspots of the product considered in this study. The possibility to install a filtration plant for the recovery of 40 % of the washing solution has been evaluated. The reduction of the environmental impact stemming from the introduction of the water filtering system is considerably relevant for some categories. Conclusions: Even though defined as minimally processed food, the environmental burden associated to fresh-cut salad is heavily influenced by the processing phase (washing and packing), which together with the agricultural phase represents the major contributor to overall impact of the product. The transportation stage instead appears to be negligible, probably due to the short distance covered for the product’s distribution in the case study considered.