Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Sustainable Food Processing
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1424282

Analyzing the complexity of animal products' processing and its impact on sustainability

Provisionally accepted
Arno Germond Arno Germond 1*Anthony Fardet Anthony Fardet 1,2Carlos Álvarez García Carlos Álvarez García 3Mike Boland Mike Boland 4Hong-Minh Hoang Hong-Minh Hoang 5,6Anne Maria Mullen Anne Maria Mullen 7Lovedeep Kaur Lovedeep Kaur 4
  • 1 INRAE Clermont-Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France
  • 2 Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France
  • 3 Department of Environment, Teagasc Food Research Centre (Ireland), Dublin, Ireland
  • 4 Riddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand
  • 5 Université Paris-Saclay, Saint Aubin, France
  • 6 Institut National de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE), Paris, Auvergne, France
  • 7 Teagasc Food Research Centre (Ireland), Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Processing is an inevitable step in the manufacturing of animal-based foods (ABF) and animal byproducts (ABP). However, our society has reached a point where our food systems have reached unsustainable levels. The impact of ABF/ABP processing on sustainability has been arguably overlooked in comparison with production. This perspective paper aims to discuss and identify research gaps regarding the assessments of the sustainability of ABF/ABF processing. First, we describe why processing techniques can have various levels of complexity, with uses that are more or less impactful on the environment depending on the products and possible synergies. In the second part, we review how impacts on sustainability have been evaluated at global and local scales using life cycle assessments (LCA). To contribute to such an approach, we suggest novel or recently introduced types of indicators that would improve future LCA studies by capturing relevant information. In the third part, we encourage a systemic view of sustainability by considering the complexity of the whole supply chains of ABF and ABP. We highlight the current gaps or challenges in evaluating sustainability across supply chains and point the readers toward recent studies that address these limitations. We hope this perspective will help improve the design of academic and industrial studies or evaluation of ABF and ABP sustainability.

    Keywords: animal products, Food security, supply chain, sustainability, Energy, food processing

    Received: 27 Apr 2024; Accepted: 07 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Germond, Fardet, Álvarez García, Boland, Hoang, Mullen and Kaur. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Arno Germond, INRAE Clermont-Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.