Towards a harmonised framework methodology for the environmental assessment of food and drink products

¿Food and drink¿ products are the basis of life. However, it is recognised that their supply also contributes to the environmental impacts associated with European production and consumption. Recently, an increasing number of food chain partners and public authorities have introduced a widening range of initiatives to provide information about the environmental performance of food and drink products. These initiatives show a high degree of diversity in terms of their chosen scope, assessment methodologies and means of communication, which has the potential to confuse or even mislead consumers and other stakeholders. In this context, the European Food Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Round Table was launched by food supply chain partners and the European Commission with the vision of promoting a science-based, coherent approach to sustainable consumption and production in the European food sector. This article presents this European initiative by introducing its Guiding Principles and summarizing the proceedings of the scientific workshop held in Ispra on 14-15 June 2010. The aim of the workshop was to identify scientific inputs for developing the harmonised environmental assessment methodology for food and drink products. The workshop conclusions are summarised, thereby identifying potential areas for harmonisation that would contribute toward more consistent assessments of the environmental performance of food and drink products.

PEACOCK Nina;  DE CAMILLIS Camillo;  PENNINGTON David;  AICHINGER Herbert;  PARENTI Alberto;  RENNAUD Jean-Pierre;  RAGGI Andrea;  BRENTRUP Frank;  SÁRA Balázs;  SCHENKER Urs;  UNGER Nicole;  ZIEGLER Friederike; 

2011-03-15

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

JRC60942

0948-3349,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC60942,   

10.1007/s11367-011-0250-5,