Cattle meat (Oksekød)


Danish cattle meat is produced by slaughtering and cutting cattle produced in dairy farms. The cattle meat production is regulated by milk production which is in turn regulated by milk quotas. Hence, cattle meat production is independent of the market demand and environmental impacts associated with a demand for cattle meat is determined by the products the cattle meat displace in the market.

It has been assumed (Weidema, 2003) that cheap cattle meat (< 101 DKK per kg) displaces cheap pig meat (< 101 DKK per kg) whereas expensive cattle meat (> 101 DKK per kg) displaces imported cattle meat produced in extensive farms abroad. Approximate cattle meat prices are provided in the table below.

Cattle meat

Approximate
p
rice in the supermarket2)
DKK per kg

Tenderloin1)

300

Fillet1)

200

Top round1)

190

Steak1)

190

Foreend1)

110

Outside1)

100

Flanchet1)

100

Round1)

100

Minced meat1)

70

Knuckle shank1)

66

1) Refer to cheap pig meat
2) ISO supermarket,
 March 2003.

The main processes influenced by a demand for expensive cattle meat are shown in the figure below, exemplified with tenderloin. Due to lack of data, cattle meat production in Denmark (Farm type 23) has been used to represented cattle meat production at extensive farms abroad.

 Node cut-off: 2.8%

Figure 1: Market based product chain diagram for expensive beef meat (exemplified with tenderloin) covering the most important processes in terms of contribution to global warming. Boxes refer to production processes. Names of grey boxes refer to the main product of the processes ("Beef tenderloin" refer to the slaughtering process). Red arrows represent material or energy transfer between two processes; green arrows represent saved material or energy transfer as a result of displacements; green lines represent displacements and red lines represent avoided displacements. Further details can be found in the LCA model.

Bread wheat, pork and a number of other products are produced at Farm type 23. Environmental impacts associated with theses products have been eliminated by system expansion, explaining the green lines to bread wheat and pork.

Slaughterhouse waste (bones, intestines etc.) is converted into bone and blood meal etc. The products were previously used as ingredient in animal feed but are presently incinerated due to fear of BSE ("mad cow disease"). The contributions to global warming from these processes are too small to be included in the above diagram.

The value of different parts of the cattle varies and the environmental impacts associated with each type of cattle meat has been determined by price allocation, see Weidema (2003).

The potential environmental impacts associated with various classes of expensive cattle meat (> 100 DKK per kg) in the present market situation with milk quotas1) are provided in the tables below. All data are provided per kg of cattle meat.
 

Tenderloin (mørbrad)

Impact category
Unit
Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq.

67900

 

68000

 

Acidification

g SO2-eq.

680

 

680

 

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 6410   6410  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 14   14  
Land use m2 year 90   90  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef tenderlion (Mørbrad) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef tenderlion (Mørbrad), fresh in supermarket

Fillet (fillet)

Impact category
Unit
Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq.

44800

 

44800

 

Acidification

g SO2-eq.

451

 

451

 

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 4230   4230  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 9.28   9.37  
Land use m2 year 60   60  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef fillet (Oksefillet) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef fillet (Oksefillet), fresh in supermarket

Top round (Okseinderlår)

Impact category
Unit
Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq. 42300   42300

Acidification

g SO2-eq. 426   426

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 3990   3990  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 8.8   8.9  
Land use m2 year 56   56  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef top round (Okseinderlår) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef top round (Okseinderlår), fresh in supermarket

Steak (tyksteg)

Impact category
Unit
Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq.

42400

 

42400

 

Acidification

g SO2-eq.

427

 

427

 

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 4000   4000  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 8.8   8.9  
Land use m2 year 56   56  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef steak (Tyksteg) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef steak (Tyksteg), fresh in supermarket

Foreend (bov)

Impact category
Unit
Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq.

24600

 

24600

 

Acidification

g SO2-eq.

247

 

248

 

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 2320   2320  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 5.1   5.2  
Land use m2 year 32   32  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef foreend (Bov) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef foreend (Bov), fresh in supermarket

Outside (Okseyderlår)

Impact category Unit Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq. 2230   2230

Acidification

g SO2-eq. 225   225

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 2110   2110  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 4.6   4.7  
Land use m2 year 30   30  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef outside (Okseyderlår) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef outside (Okseyderlår), fresh in supermarket

Flanchet (Okseflanchet)

Impact category Unit Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq. 2240   2240

Acidification

g SO2-eq. 225   226

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 2110   2110  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 4.6   4.7  
Land use m2 year 30   30  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef flanchet (Okseflanchet) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef flanchet (Okseflanchet), fresh in supermarket

Round (Okseklump)

Impact category Unit Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq. 2210   2220

Acidification

g SO2-eq. 223   223

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 2090   2090  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 4.6   4.7  
Land use m2 year 29   29  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef round (Okseklump) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef round (Okseklump), fresh in supermarket

Minched meat (Oksesmåkød og div.)

Impact category Unit Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq. 4320   4370

Acidification

g SO2-eq. 103   103

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 789   790  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 1.3   1.4  
Land use m2 year 11   11  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef minched meat (Oksesmåkød og div.) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef minched meat (Oksesmåkød og div.), fresh in supermarket

Knuckle shank (Okseskank)

Impact category Unit Ex slaughterhouse

Ex retail

 Conventional

Organic 

 Conventional

Organic 

Global warming

g CO2-eq. 4040   4080

Acidification

g SO2-eq. 96   96

Nutrient enrichment g NO3-eq. 737   738  
Photochemical smog g ethene eq. 1.2   1.3  
Land use m2 year 10   10  

Location in database: Material/Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Beef knuckle shank (Okseskank) and Material/Food from supermarket/Cooling counter/Beef knukle shank(Okseshank), fresh in supermarket

References

Weidema B (2003). Market information in life cycle assessments. Technical report, Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Environmental Project no. 863).


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1)
It has been assumed that cattle production in Denmark is determined by the milk production also if the milk quotas are removed. Thus, the environmental impacts associated with cattle production are the same in an envisioned market situation without milk quotas.