Pork
Pork is produced by slaughtering and cutting the pigs produced in agriculture. The value of different classes of pork vary (see table below) and the environmental impacts associated with each class of pork have been determined by price allocation (see Weidema, 2003).
|
Pork |
Approximate
|
|
Tenderloin |
140 |
|
Ham |
90 |
|
Neck |
90 |
|
steaky bacon |
90 |
|
Forends (minced meat) |
70 |
|
Neck (minced meat) |
70 |
| 1) ISO supermarket, March 2003. |
The main processes influenced by
pork meat demand
ex retail
store
are shown in the figure below
exemplified with prok neck ex retail store.
|
|
.gif)
| Figure 1: Market based product chain diagram for pork meat (exemplified with ham) 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 ("Ham" 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. |
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 limited to be included
in the above diagram.
The tables below show potential environmental impacts associated with pork demand ex slaughterhouse and ex retail. All data are provided per kg of pork.
Tenderloin (mørbrad)
| Impact category | Unit | Ex slaughterhouse |
Ex retail |
||
|
Conventional |
Organic |
Conventional |
Organic |
||
|
Global warming |
g CO2-eq. |
4520 |
|
4560 |
|
|
Acidification |
g SO2-eq. |
75 |
|
75 |
|
| Nutrient enrichment | g NO3-eq. | 413 | 414 | ||
| Photochemical smog | g ethene eq. | 1.3 | 1.4 | ||
| Land use | m2 year | 12 | 12 | ||
| Location in database: Material/ Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Pork tenderloin (mørbrad) and Material/Food from supermarket/Coolingcounter/Pork tenderloin (mørbrad), fresh, in supermarket |
Ham (skinke), Pork neck (svinekam) and Steaky bacon (brystflæsk)
| Impact category | Unit | Ex slaughterhouse |
Ex retail |
||
|
Conventional |
Organic |
Conventional |
Organic |
||
|
Global warming |
g CO2-eq. |
2900 |
|
2950 |
|
|
Acidification |
g SO2-eq. |
48 |
|
49 |
|
| Nutrient enrichment | g NO3-eq. | 266 | 266 | ||
| Photochemical smog | g ethene eq. | 0.8 | 0.9 | ||
| Land use | m2 year | 8 | 8 | ||
| Location in database: Material/ Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/ and Material/Food from supermarket/Coolingcounter/ |
Minced meat (hakket flæskesmåkød)
| Impact category | Unit | Ex slaughterhouse |
Ex retail |
||
|
Conventional |
Organic |
Conventional |
Organic |
||
|
Global warming |
g CO2-eq. |
2660 |
|
2310 |
|
|
Acidification |
g SO2-eq. |
28 |
|
38 |
|
| Nutrient enrichment | g NO3-eq. | 207 | 207 | ||
| Photochemical smog | g ethene eq. | 0.64 | 0.73 | ||
| Land use | m2 year | 6.0 | 6.0 | ||
| Location in database: Material/ Food from industry/from Slaughterhouses/Pork minched meat (flæskesmåkød) and Material/Food from supermarket/Coolingcounter/Pork minched meat (Flæskesmåkød), fresh, in supermarket |
References
Weidema B (2003). Market information in life cycle assessments. Technical report, Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Environmental Project no. 863).