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Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) results on the environmental impact in 16 different categories for the 'new production' and 'optimised new production' scenarios compared with the 'old production' system. Negative values indicate a reduction in emissions following the shift and positive indicate an increase in emissions.
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To facilitate transition to a sustainable food system, it is necessary to address food losses. A large proportion of waste occurs during primary production, with large quantities of edible crop parts left in the field at harvest. One such product is broccoli, where normally only around one-third of the edible parts of the plant are harvested in Swe...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... CLCA results showed a slightly shifted perspective, indicating the change in impact imposed by the shift (Table 2) and not the impact from each scenario. A shift from the 'old production' system, where only broccoli heads of a certain size were harvested, to the 'new production' system, where the leaves were harvested and processed into broccoli powder, reduced the environmental impact for nine of the 16 impact categories studied. ...Context 2
... shift from the 'old production' system, where only broccoli heads of a certain size were harvested, to the 'new production' system, where the leaves were harvested and processed into broccoli powder, reduced the environmental impact for nine of the 16 impact categories studied. A shift from 'old production' to the 'optimised new production' system, where the broccoli powder was only used as a soup base to replace German broccoli production, reduced the environmental impact in all 16 categories assessed (Table 2). Figure 2. Global warming potential impact from each process included in the 'bread additive', 'soup additive' and 'sliced broccoli' scenarios. ...Context 3
... CLCA results showed a slightly shifted perspective, indicating the change in impact imposed by the shift (Table 2) and not the impact from each scenario. A shift from the 'old production' system, where only broccoli heads of a certain size were harvested, to the 'new production' system, where the leaves were harvested and processed into broccoli powder, reduced the environmental impact for nine of the 16 impact categories studied. ...Context 4
... shift from the 'old production' system, where only broccoli heads of a certain size were harvested, to the 'new production' system, where the leaves were harvested and processed into broccoli powder, reduced the environmental impact for nine of the 16 impact categories studied. A shift from 'old production' to the 'optimised new production' system, where the broccoli powder was only used as a soup base to replace German broccoli production, reduced the environmental impact in all 16 categories assessed (Table 2). Once again, global warming potential was selected as an environmental impact category to investigate in greater depth. ...Citations
... Yet the potential for valorisation of these residues is a subject too important to ignore, bearing in mind their quantity, which Bedoić et al. [1] estimated to amount to 18.4 billion tonnes between 2010 and 2016, representing a mean 2.6 billion tons/year in the EU alone. Much of the waste occurs during primary production, with large quantities of edible crop parts left in the field at harvest [5]. ...
Valorisation of agri-food waste is an essential aspect of creating sustainable circular food systems. The European Research Area Network Cofund Food Systems and Climate (FOSC) and the SUSFOOD2 ERA-Net Cofund supported eight projects focusing on the valorisation of waste generated during primary production or food processing. The projects identified barriers related to technological, socio-economic, legislative, and institutional challenges of developing a circular food system, and concluded that overcoming these barriers and promoting a circular bioeconomy requires a comprehensive approach involving multiple stakeholders, including fostering supportive policies, and addressing regulatory concerns. The collective experience of the eight projects demonstrates that it is essential to rethink the limitations imposed by the term ‘waste’, and instead to consider all agri-food residues as side streams which have the potential to be valorised as resources for food and feed production if they can be proven as safe to return
to the food chain.
... Whether or not FLW is avoided by definition depends on the valorisation option and the definition used (see also section 2.1). Eriksson et al. (2021) provide an example of the valorisation of inedible broccoli leaves into a powder for soups. By replacing more resource-intensive ingredients in regular soups, the life cycle assessment shows a positive environmental impact of this intervention. ...
The overall aim of this thesis is to examine drivers and courses of action concerning food loss in the pre-retail fruit and vegetable supply chains in European countries. This dissertation aims to unravel the interactions and power relations between value chain actors and the impact of private product requirements as drivers of food loss in these supply chains. Furthermore, it seeks to identify potential actions that can be undertaken by the private sector and policymakers to reduce food loss in these supply chains.
... Both broccoli stems and curds (broccoli florets) have high moisture content (90.6% and 86.1%, respectively) [9]. Currently, broccoli leaves and stems are discarded because only the florets (heads) and adjacent stems are utilized [10]. However, other parts of cauliflower such as leaves and stems, as well as broccoli that are discarded as too small, could also be used. ...
Stem cutting is the main process of broccoli harvesting, and the structure and mechanical properties of the stem significantly affect the cutting efficiency. In the current research, the structural characteristics and component contents of the broccoli stem are analyzed. Through different processing methods of stretching, compressing and bending, the aim is to obtain the parameters for mechanical properties of broccoli stem, and to provide basic data and reference for establishing visual models of broccoli stem. The test results show: The content of rind is highest in the middle of the stem, the content of xylem is highest in the bottom of the stem, and the content of pith is highest in the top of the stem. The densities of rind, xylem and pith of broccoli stem were 1056.1, 938.9 and 1009.9 kg·m⁻³, respectively. The elastic modulus of the rind of broccoli stem was 27.2~47.5 MPa, the elastic modulus of the xylem was 19.2~110.7 MPa, and the elastic modulus of the pith was 6.5~7.5 MPa. The compressive elastic modulus of the stem was 1.3~2 MPa. The bending strength of the broccoli stem was 6.9 MPa, and the bending modulus was 3.1 MPa. The mechanical model of broccoli stem established in this study provides a theoretical basis for cutting and other processes.
... The authors also suggested focusing on waste valorization measures. Later, Eriksson et al. (2021) conducted LCA of broccoli in Sweden, which shows that utilizing a side stream of broccoli in powdered form in bread and soup can fetch potential environmental benefits/savings. ...
The present agriculture food supply chain (AFSC) faces numerous challenges about the growing demand for food items and consumer preference regarding food safety. In addition to growing concerns about sustainability, stringent government regulation, food security, and traceability issues force the managers, industries, and practitioners working in AFSC to adopt new tools, techniques, and methodology to model current food supply chain issues and correspondingly design the food logistics network. To this effect, the purpose of this article is threefold: the first focus is to identify the various challenges in AFSC, second is to review the research contribution in the field of designing agro-food supply chain network (AFSCN), while the third aspect is to investigate performance measurement system of AFSC through various performance indicators. For this, 108 articles are reviewed, and the main research findings are discussed in different aspects. Technology adoption and integration in design AFSCN are exciting prospects for future AFSC research. In addition, the digital transformation of AFSC is gaining wide acceptance across all agro-stakeholders and practitioners. Similarly, other research trends are further emphasized, and possible future challenges are also identified.
Bananas are one of the most widely consumed crops globally. However, this industry generates a large amount of residual biomass that is currently undervalued. The disposal of banana residues creates an environmental issue. A circular economy is an economic system characterized by minimizing virgin resources extraction and waste disposal to the environment. The bioeconomy is the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value-added products. This study has two main aims: (i) to perform a literature review to describe the state-of-the-art regarding the obtention of non-food bioproducts derived from banana residues, and (ii) to propose an envisioned circular bioeconomy around the banana value chain with a focus on closing the loop for material and energy self-sufficiency. This review has made it possible to explore recent advances in the use of residual banana biomass as raw material for obtaining compounds of interest through biologically-based processes and focused on the concept of biorefinery. Likewise, it has been determined that aerobic fermentation is the widely investigated strategy for the production of bioenergy from banana residues, in addition, techno-economic analysis studies indicate that the use of biorefineries are sustainable and economically viable as long as more than one compound of industrial interest is obtained. However, the commitment of stakeholders is crucial to overcome the barriers to a transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. A circular bioeconomy around the banana value chain was depicted, in which the residual banana biomass could cover the energy requirements of primary production at least. Technical feasibility is only one side of the coin; the innovation potential of the system has other barriers associated with economic and cultural issues that must be overcome.
