Can we associate environmental footprints with production and consumption using Monte Carlo simulation? Case study with pork meat

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Growing population demands more animal protein products. Pork remains one of the traditional and relatively sustainable types of meats for human consumption. In this paper, life-cycle assessment was performed using data from 12 pig farms. In parallel, a survey on the consumption of pork meat products was conducted analyzing responses from 806 pork meat consumers. The study aims to provide a quantitative calculation of six environmental footprints associated with the consumption of pork meat products in Serbia by analyzing data from pig farms and a pork meat consumption survey. RESULTS Results revealed that pork meat production is responsible for the emission of 3.50 kg CO2(e)kg(-1)live weight, 16.1 MJ(e)kg(-1), 0.151 mg R11(e)kg(-1), 31.257 g SO(2e)kg(-1), 55.030 g PO(4e)kg(-1)and 3.641 kg 1.4 dB(e)kg(-1). Further calculations reveal that weekly emissions of various environmental potentials associated with an average consumer of pork meat products in Serbia are estimated at values of 4.032 kg CO(2e)week(-1), 18.504 MJ(e)week(-1), 0.17435 mg R11(e)week(-1), 35.972 g SO(2e)week(-1)and 63.466 g PO(4e)week(-1). CONCLUSIONS Results show that, on the one hand, pork products are responsible for environmental production impacts that mainly occur on farms while, on the other hand, consumption is characterized with high meat inclusion rates. As a leverage strategy it is recommended for producers to concentrate on lowering the production impacts rather than trying to reach consumers for sustainability conciseness.