The Italian meat production and consumption system assessed combining material flow analysis and life cycle assessment

Meat production and consumption is associated with the generation of significant environmental pressure and impacts, and resource inefficiencies. This study combines Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life cycle Assessment (LCA) to analyse the meat supply chain in order to better comprehend the circularity of the system, considering the Italian meat supply chain as a case study. The system boundaries of both the MFA and LCA included all the life cycle stages starting from slaughter phase to meat consumption at household and food services level. The LCA study included also all the stages upstream of the slaughter phase. Consumed meat and animal by-products (ABPs) were quantified, and the potential benefits due to the re-use of rendered ABPs were assessed. Results showed an average meat consumption of 55 kg/per-capita/year with pig, poultry and cattle meat contributing respectively by 46%, 27% and 25%, followed by other meat categories, representing 2% of the total meat consumption. Daily meat consumption is responsible for the emission of 2.80 kg CO2eq per capita with beef meat contributing to 65% of the emissions. Results showed the same relative importance among meat types for acidification, terrestrial and freshwater eutrophication, and land use impact categories. A sensitivity analysis showed that the approach to allocate environmental impacts between meat and rendered ABPs did not affect the ranking of meat categories. The system under study resulted to be efficient and to promote circularity, thanks to the re-use and valorisation of ABPs.