Ideal packaging for ripened peaches determined through modeling the relationship between food loss reduction and life cycle environmental impacts

Ripeness of fruits is one of the factors causing food losses in the supply chain. Food loss increases the environmental burden through additional production undertaken to compensate for the losses. Packaging decreases the losses and consequently, the environmental burden, but itself causes additional environmental burden. This study models the relationship between food loss reduction via packaging for ripened peaches and the environmental burden across their life cycle. The results reveal that the slope of the straight line approximating the relationship increases with transportation distance. Relationship between the slope and transportation distance shows that for transportation up to 100 km, packaging with lower environmental burden is sufficient while above 300 km, packaging that provides a high level of protection for peaches—with the consequent reduction in food loss contributing to the reduction of the environmental burden—is appropriate. We propose packaging with superior environmental‐friendly qualities, based on the transportation distance, for ripened peaches.