How food wastage is addressed in LCA

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is at the core of quantifying the environmental impact of food loss and waste (FLW) and to identify pros and cons of the options for food loss minimisation and waste management or valorisation. However, dealing with food loss in LCA is a complex task and currently different approaches have been adopted. A lack of homogeneity has been observed, both at the methodological level and in the choice of inventory data. Starting from the analysis of the recent scientific literature, this work discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the variety of approaches adopted and provides some recommendations for LCA practitioners on how to deal with food loss in LCA applications focused on food products.