A life cycle assessment of broiler chicken meat and egg production in Iceland

Abstract

As the world population grows, so does the production and consumption of emission-intensive foods. To reduce environmental impacts of food systems, significant and immediate changes are needed, both by adopting more environmentally sustainable practices and changing people's diets. To evaluate these strategies in connection with their potential environmental impacts, additional research is required on staple food systems. This study aims to assess the potential environmental impacts of broiler chicken meat and egg production in Iceland, which have become important protein sources among its inhabitants. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to evaluate and analyze possible environmental impacts. Although both products are derived from the same species, the common practice amongst farmers is to produce broiler chicken meat and eggs in separate housing systems, and thus, each system was modeled independently from each other. The system boundary for broiler chicken meat production was cradle-to-slaughterhouse gate with the functional unit (FU1) of 1 kg of broiler chicken (carcass weight). The life cycle stages included feed production, rearing of birds, manure management, and slaughterhouse for broiler chicken. In addition, a scenario analysis with the functional unit based on 100g of edible protein was also conducted to assess the impact for meat only. For egg production, the system boundary used was cradle-to-farm gate, with the functional unit (FU2) of 1 kg of eggs.

Results showed that feed production has the greatest environmental impact within the life cycle of both broiler chicken meat and eggs for the analyzed impact categories. Most of the impact was caused by wheat, soybean, and maize, all of which are commonly used in poultry feed at a global level. The results showed that Icelandic poultry production has lower environmental impact compared to other international studies. Furthermore, the outcome could be used when assessing the impacts of Icelandic dietary guidelines in the future.