Environmental sustainability of agri-food supply chains in Italy: The case of the whole-peeled tomato production under life cycle assessment methodology

This life cycle assessment aimed to identify the impacts related to greenhouse gas emissions expressed as kgCO(2eq) 100- year Global Warming Potential (GWP100) in the whole peeled canned tomato production, considering all the supply chain steps. This study involved companies located in the Southern Italy who produce tinned tomatoes in 400 g tin cans. Tomato production throughout the field, processing, waste treatment, transport and post-consumers waste disposal phases were investigated. The analysis was conducted using a life-cycle approach, the related process flow chart and the relevant mass and energy flows for each production step were identified. Primary data were collected from farmers and processing companies located in the Capitanata plain (Southern Italy), whereas Ecoinvent (v 3.1) provided secondary data. The assessment was carried out by using the ILCD 2011 midpoint method. As regards greenhouse gas emissions, results showed that waste produced during the processing phase was the main contributor to the total environmental impact, followed by the packaging and cropping phase. Mineral fertilization especially nitrogen supply had the highest burdens for the growth phase. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the overall benefit achievable from different mitigation options, highlighting as the composting process and the use of compost replacing the mineral fertilization improved greatly the environmental sustainability of tomato supply chain. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.