DSM-Firmenich and Sustained are collaborating to capture the impact of the life cycle assessment (LCA) of animal proteins at the farm level, making it easier for food producers to assess and communicate the environmental footprint of their products.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

A life cycle assessment evaluates the environmental aspects associated with a product throughout its life cycle. This includes the extraction of raw materials associated with the product, as well as the production and distribution of energy during its use, the potential reuse of energy, and final disposal.

In food, this cradle-to-grave methodology is widely used to assess the environmental impact of agricultural products. LCAs can also play a key role in helping businesses move towards more sustainable processes of production, consumption, and supply chain.

However, as LCAs involve collecting detailed data during each stage of the life cycle, they have traditionally been costly and time-consuming. "Until recently, conducting a comprehensive LCA for agricultural and food products has been a costly and labor-intensive process that often stretched the resources of companies dealing with hundreds or even thousands of product variations," explained David Nickell, VP Sustainability & Business Solutions at DSM-Firmenich, Animal Nutrition & Health.

To reduce these barriers, the major ingredients supplier has partnered with the software-as-a-service company Sustained to provide product-level LCAs of consumer food products containing animal proteins at scale.

A "Ground-Up" Approach for Eggs, Meat, Milk, and Fish Products

The collaboration uses DSM-Firmenich's Sustell service to capture specific farm-level emission data for eggs, meat, milk, and fish. By partnering with the Sustained platform, data management across the entire food supply chain is simplified.

This makes it more accessible and easier to manage on a large scale, said Nickell to FoodNavigator. "The main goal is to support farms and the food industry in making a real transformation in the sustainability of our food system."

The partnership will create product-level LCAs with a "ground-up" approach, we were told. The Sustell platform captures detailed LCA effects of animal proteins at the farm level, using data on feed and farm and LCA calculation methodologies. This data is then transmitted to the Sustain platform for the final LCA analysis of the food product at the SKU level.

"The combined platforms enable companies to continuously measure and assess the value chain impact of each product, based on specific agricultural conditions and food manufacturing processes, thus providing credible and accurate environmental footprints of food products."

Regarding why the service is available for products containing animal-derived ingredients, the ingredient supplier explained that this is its specialization. In many of these foods, the majority of the environmental footprint is linked to the animal protein component and, to a lesser extent, other ingredients and packaging.

"To efficiently address the environmental impact of these animal protein products, we focus on key areas where the majority of the footprint and potential for footprint reduction exist, namely in feed and farm management practices."

While DSM-Firmenich does not provide animal feed itself, it supplies ingredients for animal nutrition (premixes and feed additives) and services. Up to 80% of a farm's emissions are related to nutrition—especially animal feed, its composition, and its consumption by the animal.

Growing Demand for Environmental Footprint Data

DSM-Firmenich has observed demand for LCA studies since at least 2021 when it began providing its customers—from producers/farmers to CPG and retailers—information about the environmental footprint of animal-derived products.

Demand is also growing across the EU to disclose environmental footprints as part of evolving regulatory proposals, said DSM-Firmenich's Vice President for this publication. The new partnership will help the food value chain adapt and produce credible reports to comply with EU regulations, he continued.

Assessing and communicating the environmental impact can also be good for business, considering that 70% of consumers now consider sustainability a key factor in purchasing decisions—creating a "pressing" need for transparent and reliable sustainability data throughout the value chain.

"From here, producers and retailers are keen to assess and communicate the environmental impact of their products."

By doing so, companies also contribute to building a competitive environment in environmental footprint reporting. The "race to the top" in sustainability creates a "win" across the value chain, explained Nickell.

"Consumers can make more informed purchasing decisions, companies can meet their regulatory reporting requirements, and farmers can improve their operations and unlock national value, while becoming more sustainable at the same time."

From Assessment to Reduction

An increasing number of food companies are setting net-zero ambitions, in line with or ahead of the EU target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Measuring the basic environmental footprint of a product is an important initial step, but for companies with sustainability objectives, reductions must follow.

In many cases, customers and the value chain want to establish science-based roadmaps for emission reductions to meet their sustainability commitments, explained Nickell, adding that Sustell can help.

The platform allows customers to achieve their reduction goals by making it possible to run multiple scenarios of intervention on the basic footprint, thus determining which technology and interventions are most suitable for achieving improvement goals.