Environmental Assessment and Management in the Food Industry


Book Description

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of production and processing in the food industry is an important tool for improving sustainability. Environmental assessment and management in the food industry reviews the advantages, challenges and different applications of LCA and related methods for environmental assessment, as well as key aspects of environmental management in this industry sector.Part one discusses the environmental impact of food production and processing, addressing issues such as nutrient management and water efficiency in agriculture. Chapters in Part two cover LCA methodology and challenges, with chapters focusing on different food industry sectors such as crop production, livestock and aquaculture. Part three addresses the applications of LCA and related approaches in the food industry, with chapters covering combining LCA with economic tools, ecodesign of food products and footprinting methods of assessment, among other topics. The final part of the book concentrates on environmental management in the food industry, including contributions on training, eco-labelling and establishing management systems.With its international team of editors and contributors, Environmental assessment and management in the food industry is an essential reference for anyone involved in environmental management in the food industry, and for those with an academic interest in sustainable food production. - Reviews the advantages, challenges and different applications of LCA and related methods for environmental assessment - Discusses the environmental impact of food production and processing, addressing issues such as nutrient management and water efficiency in agriculture - Examines environmental management in the food industry, including contributions on training, eco-labelling and establishing management systems




The Interaction of Food Industry and Environment


Book Description

The Interaction of Food Industry and Environment addresses all levels of interaction, paying particular attention to avenues for responsible operational excellence in food production and processing. Written at a scientific level, this book explores many topics relating to the food industry and environment, including environmental management systems, environmental performance evaluation, the correlation between food industry, sustainable diets and environment, environmental regulation on the profitability of sustainable water use in the food industry, lifecycle assessment, green supply chain network design and sustainability, the valorization of food processing waste via biorefineries, food-energy-environment trilemma, wastewater treatment, and much more. Readers will also find valuable information on energy production from food processing waste, packaging and food sustainability, the concept of virtual water in the food industry, water reconditioning and reuse in the food industry, and control of odors in the food industry. This book is a welcomed resource for food scientists and technologists, environmentalists, food and environmental engineers and academics. - Addresses the interaction between the food industry and environment at all levels - Focuses on the past decade's advances in the field - Provides a guide to optimize the current food industry's performance - Serves as a resource for anyone dealing with food and environmental science and technology - Includes coverage of a variety of topics, including performance indicators, the correlation between the food industry, sustainable diets and the environment, environmental regulations, lifecycle assessments, green supply chain networks, and more




Food Industry Wastes


Book Description

Food Industry Wastes: Assessment and Recuperation of Commodities presents emerging techniques and opportunities for the treatment of food wastes, the reduction of water footprint, and creating sustainable food systems. Written by a team of experts from around the world, this book provides a guide for implementing bioprocessing techniques. It also helps researchers develop new options for the recuperation of these wastes for community benefit. More than 34 million tons of food waste was generated in the United States in 2009, at a cost of approximately $43 billion. And while less than three percent of that waste was recovered and recycled, there is growing interest and development in recovering and recycling food waste. These processes have the potential not only to reduce greenhouse gases, but to provide energy and resources for other purposes. This book examines these topics in detail, starting with sources, characterization and composition of food wastes, and development of green production strategies. The book then turns to treatment techniques such as solid-state fermentation and anaerobic digestion of solid food waste for biogas and fertilizer. A deep section on innovative biocatalysts and bioreactors follows, encompassing hydrogen generation and thermophilic aerobic bioprocessing technologies. Rounding out the volume are extensive sections on water footprints, including electricity generation from microbial fuel cells (MFCs), and life cycle assessments. - Food waste is an area of focus for a wide range of related industries from food science to energy and engineering - Outlines the development of green product strategies - International authoring team represents the leading edge in research and development - Highlights leading trends of current research as well as future opportunities for reusing food waste




Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption


Book Description

Environmental Impact of Agro-Food Industry and Food Consumption covers trends associated with the impact of food production on the environment using lifecycle analysis and the standard methods used to estimate the food industry's environmental impact. The book discusses city-scale actions to estimate the environmental impact of food systems, including the meat chain, feeding crops to farmed fish, the confectionary industry, agriculture, tea processing, cheese production, the dairy industry, cold chain, and ice cream production. Food waste and consumption in hospitality and global diets round out these interesting discussions. Written for food scientists, technologists, engineers, chemists, governmental regulatory bodies, environmentalists, environmental technologists, environmental engineers, researchers, academics and professionals working in the food industry, this book is an essential resource on sustainability in the food industry. - Addresses all levels of the food chain - Provides solutions for the food industry to estimate and reduce environmental impact - Assists members of the food industry in optimizing their current performance and reducing their environmental footprint




A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System


Book Description

How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality, and the federal budget. From the earliest developments of agriculture, a major goal has been to attain sufficient foods that provide the energy and the nutrients needed for a healthy, active life. Over time, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption have evolved and become highly complex. The challenges of improving the food system in the 21st century will require systemic approaches that take full account of social, economic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Policy or business interventions involving a segment of the food system often have consequences beyond the original issue the intervention was meant to address. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System develops an analytical framework for assessing effects associated with the ways in which food is grown, processed, distributed, marketed, retailed, and consumed in the United States. The framework will allow users to recognize effects across the full food system, consider all domains and dimensions of effects, account for systems dynamics and complexities, and choose appropriate methods for analysis. This report provides example applications of the framework based on complex questions that are currently under debate: consumption of a healthy and safe diet, food security, animal welfare, and preserving the environment and its resources. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System describes the U.S. food system and provides a brief history of its evolution into the current system. This report identifies some of the real and potential implications of the current system in terms of its health, environmental, and socioeconomic effects along with a sense for the complexities of the system, potential metrics, and some of the data needs that are required to assess the effects. The overview of the food system and the framework described in this report will be an essential resource for decision makers, researchers, and others to examine the possible impacts of alternative policies or agricultural or food processing practices.




Sustainable Food Processing


Book Description

Sustainable Food Processing Food processors face numerous challenges from ever-changing economic, social and environmental conditions. With global inequalities increasing, ingredient costs climbing, and global climate change becoming a major political issue, food producers must now address environmental concerns, social responsibility and economic viability when shaping their food processing techniques for the future. Food production, preservation and distribution contribute to greenhouse gas emissions from the agri-food sector, therefore food producers require detailed, industrially relevant information that addresses these challenges. The food industry, as one of the world’s largest users of energy, must embrace new ways of meeting the needs of the present without compromising future viability. It is important that the industry does not merely focus on simple indicators of sustainability that are relatively easy to calculate and hold appeal for governments and the public, but which do not properly address the many dimensions of sustainability. This book provides a comprehensive overview of both economic sustainability and the environmental concerns that relate to food processing. It is divided into four sections. Part one deals with principles and assessment of sustainability in the context of food processing; Part two summarises sustainability in various food processing applications within the food industry; Part three considers sustainability in food manufacturing operations that are vital in food production systems; and Part four addresses sustainable food distribution and consumption. As the most comprehensive reference book for industry to date, this book will provide engineers, educators, researchers, policy makers and scientists working in the food industry with a valuable resource for their work.




Waste Management for the Food Industries


Book Description

The continuously increasing human population, has resulted in a huge demand for processed and packaged foods. As a result of this demand, large amounts of water, air, electricity and fuel are consumed on a daily basis for food processing, transportation and preservation purposes. Although not one of the most heavily polluting, the food industry does contribute to the increase in volume of waste produced as well as to the energy expended to do so. For the first time, nine separate food industry categories are thoroughly investigated in Waste Management for the Food Industries in an effort to help combat this already acute problem. The current state of environmental management systems is described, offering comparisons of global legislation rarely found in other resources. An extensive review of commercial equipment, including advantages and disadvantages per employed waste management technique, offers a unique perspective for any academic, student, professional, and/or consultant in the food, agriculture and environmental industries. - Thoroughly examines the most prevalent and most polluting industries such as Meat, Fish, Dairy, Olive Oil, Juice and Wine industries - Includes synoptical tables [methods employed, physicochemical or microbiological parameters altered after treatment etc] and comparative figures of the effectiveness of various waste management methods - Contains nearly 2500 of the most up-to-date references available




An Integrated Approach to Environmental Management


Book Description

Covers the most recent topics in the field of environmental management and provides a broad focus on the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of environmental management Provides an up-to-date survey of the field from the perspective of different disciplines Covers the topic of environmental management from multiple perspectives, namely, natural sciences, engineering, business, social sciences, and methods and tools perspectives Combines both academic rigor and practical approach through literature reviews and theories and examples and case studies from diverse geographic areas and policy domains Explores local and global issues of environmental management and analyzes the role of various contributors in the environmental management process Chapter contents are appropriately demonstrated with numerous pictures, charts, graphs, and tables, and accompanied by a detailed reference list for further readings




Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-food Sector


Book Description

The book presents an overview of the International practices and state-of-the-art of LCA studies in the agri-food sector, both in terms of adopted methodologies and application to particular products; the final purpose is to characterise and put order within the methodological issues connected to some important agri-food products (wine, olive oil, cereals and derived products, meat and fruit) and also defining practical guidelines for the implementation of LCAs in this particular sector. The first chapter entails an overview of the application of LCA to the food sector, the role of the different actors of the food supply chain and the methodological issues at a general level. The other chapters, each with a particular reference to the main foods of the five sectors under study, have a common structure which entails the review of LCA case studies of such agri-food products, the methodological issues, the ways with which they have been faced and the suggestion of practical guidelines.




Life Cycle Assessment Handbook


Book Description

The first book of its kind, the Life Cycle Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Environmentally Sustainable Products will become an invaluable resource for environmentally progressive manufacturers and suppliers, product and process designers, executives and managers, and government officials who want to learn about this essential component of environmental sustainability. As the last several decades have seen a dramatic rise in the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in decision making, the interest in the life cycle concept as an environmental management and sustainability tool continues to grow. The LCA Handbook offers a look at the role that life cycle information, in the hands of companies, governments, and consumers, may have in improving the environmental performance of products and technologies. It concisely and clearly presents the various aspects of LCA in order to help the reader better understand the subject. The content of the book was designed with a certain flow in mind. After a high-level overview to describe current views and state-of-the-practice of LCA, it presents chapters that address specific LCA methodological issues including creating life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and capturing eco-systems services. These are followed by example applications of LCA in the agri-food industry; sustainable supply chain management; solid waste management; mining and mineral extraction; forest products; buildings; product innovation; and sustainable chemistry and engineering. The international success of the sustainability paradigm needs the participation of many stakeholders, including citizens, corporations, academia, and NGOs. The handbook links LCA and responsible decision making and how the life cycle concept is a critical element in environmental sustainability. It covers issues such as building capacity in developing countries and emerging economies so that they are more capable of harnessing the potential in LCA for sustainable development. Governments play a very important role with the leverage they have through procurement, regulation, international treaties, tax incentives, public outreach, and other policy tools. This compilation points to the clear trend for incorporating life cycle information into the design and development processes for products and policies, just as quality and safety concerns are now addressed throughout product design and development.