Protein Chains and Environmental Pressures: A Comparison of Pork and Novel Protein Foods

Abstract

The production and consumption chains of pork and Novel Protein Foods (NPFs) and their environmental pressures have been compared using life-cycle assessment (LCA) in terms of environmental pressure indicators. We define two types of environmental pressure indicators: emission indicators and resource use indicators. We focus on five emission indicators: CO2 equivalents for global warming, NH3 equivalents for acidification, N equivalents for eutrophication, pesticide use and fertilizer use for toxicity, and two resource use indicators: water use and land use. The results of LCA show that the pork chain contributes to acidification 61 times more than, to global warming 6.4 times more than, and to eutrophication six times more than the NPFs chain. It also needs 3.3 times more fertilizers, 1.6 times more pesticides, 3.3 times more water and 2.8 times more land than the NPFs chain. According to these environmental indicators, the NPFs chain is more environmentally friendly than the pork chain. Replacing animal protein by plant protein shows promise for reducing environmental pressures, in particular acidification.