TY - JOUR
T1 - Water–Energy–Food Nexus and Life Cycle Thinking
T2 - A New Approach to Environmental and Nutritional Assessment of Potato Chips
AU - Fernández-Ríos, Ana
AU - Laso, Jara
AU - Amo-Setién, Francisco José
AU - Abajas-Bustillo, Rebeca
AU - Ortego-Mate, Carmen
AU - Fullana-I-palmer, Pere
AU - Bala, Alba
AU - Batlle-Bayer, Laura
AU - Balcells, Merce
AU - Puig, Rita
AU - Aldaco, Rubén
AU - Margallo, María
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful for the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the KAIROS-BIOCIR project (PID2019-104925RB) (AEO/FEDER, UE). Ana Fernández-Ríos thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship RE2020-094029. The authors also thank those responsible at the potato chip processing plant for the provision of data.
Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the KAIROS-BIOCIR project (PID2019-104925RB) (AEO/FEDER, UE).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/4/1
Y1 - 2022/4/1
N2 - The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has become a key concept to promote the cross-sectoral coordination toward sustainable development. In particular, understanding the interdepen-dences of these pillars, as well as addressing a life cycle perspective, is essential when evaluating food production systems. This study explores the environmental impacts and nutritional quality of potato chips, addressing life cycle thinking and a WEF nexus approach. For this purpose, the combined application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and the Nutrient-Rich Food 9.3 (NRF9.3) index was considered to identify the main environmental hotspots and advanced opportunities. The results indicated a major contribution of the cultivation stage on water use, whereas the processing accounted for most of the impacts in energy-related indicators and eutrophication potentials. Improvement opportunities reside in the joint application of drip irrigation, allowing to achieve important water savings, as well as the use of natural gas or pellets instead of diesel, which constitute cleaner energy sources. On the other hand, a poor nutritional density of potato chips became evident from the quantification of the NRF9.3, which can be significantly improved if potatoes undergo a roasted process instead of frying.
AB - The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has become a key concept to promote the cross-sectoral coordination toward sustainable development. In particular, understanding the interdepen-dences of these pillars, as well as addressing a life cycle perspective, is essential when evaluating food production systems. This study explores the environmental impacts and nutritional quality of potato chips, addressing life cycle thinking and a WEF nexus approach. For this purpose, the combined application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and the Nutrient-Rich Food 9.3 (NRF9.3) index was considered to identify the main environmental hotspots and advanced opportunities. The results indicated a major contribution of the cultivation stage on water use, whereas the processing accounted for most of the impacts in energy-related indicators and eutrophication potentials. Improvement opportunities reside in the joint application of drip irrigation, allowing to achieve important water savings, as well as the use of natural gas or pellets instead of diesel, which constitute cleaner energy sources. On the other hand, a poor nutritional density of potato chips became evident from the quantification of the NRF9.3, which can be significantly improved if potatoes undergo a roasted process instead of frying.
KW - carbon footprint
KW - environmental impact
KW - life cycle assessment (LCA)
KW - Nutrient-Rich Food 9.3 (NRF9.3)
KW - nutritional quality
KW - processed product
KW - snack
KW - sustainability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128011315&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/foods11071018
DO - 10.3390/foods11071018
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85128011315
SN - 2304-8158
VL - 11
JO - Foods
JF - Foods
IS - 7
M1 - 1018
ER -