Examinando por Autor "Amador Cervera, Manuel"

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    Carbon and water footprint of food loss and waste prevention actions: cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of a prepared salad
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2025-04-10) Amador Cervera, Manuel; Scherhaufer, Silvia; Gollnow, Sebastian; Alonso Vicario, Ainhoa
    Food loss and waste (FLW) represents a major challenge for sustainable development. FLW prevention actions are proliferating, but key gaps persist in assessing their actual net environmental benefits, particularly in prevention at the point of generation. Additionally, data transparency is still a key issue. This study aims to assess the environmental impacts avoided by 5 groups of FLW prevention actions implemented in a prepared salad case study in Spain. Additionally, 4 different salad recipes are analysed, so that the influence of ingredient composition on the effectiveness of FLW prevention actions is accounted for as well. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to have a holistic view of the real impacts across the entire system. The methodology involves an identification and characterisation of the points of FLW generation, enabling a more precise estimation of the FLW that can be reduced through prevention actions. Results indicate that innovative governance solutions yield the most positive impacts, avoiding climate change impacts by 9.8 and water use by 8.80 %. The salad with higher proportions of animal-based ingredients experienced the largest impact reductions. These findings highlight areas for targeted prevention efforts for decision makers. Primary production generated the most environmental impacts coming from FLW. However, the holistic perspective taken demonstrated that effective prevention should focus on downstream points of generation. In conclusion, the presented LCA approach accurately identifies the most promising FLW prevention opportunities to improve the environmental performance of food products. The enhanced data transparency improves accuracy and promotes openness and accountability in LCA and FLW research
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    The FOODRUS index: assessing suitability for effective food loss and waste prevention management under an integral perspective
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2024-04) Amador Cervera, Manuel; Angarita Zapata, Juan S.; Calle, Alberto de la; Alonso Vicario, Ainhoa
    The impact of food loss and waste (FLW) generation on food supply chains' (FSC) sustainability represents a challenge embodied in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3. This problem requires a methodology to measure such an impact in a rigorous, holistic, and standardized way that can be applied to any FSC. This paper aims to develop and validate a single index to assess the readiness of FSCs to implement FLW prevention strategies and measure their impact: the so-called FOODRUS index. The co-creation methodology followed incorporates experts and FSC stakeholders feedback. The index has been validated in 3 FSCs: The Slovak pilot scored 74.35%, the Spanish pilot reached 68.79%, and the Danish pilot was rated 61.14%. Its calculation, eased by the FOODRUS index self-assessment tool (described in the Appendix), allows quick diagnosis of the FSC capability to implement FLW prevention strategies considering both the knowledge provided by experts and the experience of the FSC stakeholders that participated in its co-creation process. In this way the FSC can assess its FLW prevention performance at a strategic and management level, with the aim of improving its sustainability impact.
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    Methodology for the sustainability assessment of food loss and waste prevention actions
    (Universidad de Deusto, 2024-11-28) Amador Cervera, Manuel; Alonso Vicario, Ainhoa
    Food Loss and Waste (FLW) pose a significant global challenge, with approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption lost or wasted annually, amounting to about 1.3 billion tons. This immense loss has profound environmental, economic, and social implications, contributing to environmental issues, economic inefficiencies, and food insecurity. In the European Union alone, an estimated 88 million tons of food are wasted annually, costing approximately €143 billion. For these reasons such a problem is embodied in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 aims to halve per capita global food waste by 2030, underscoring the urgency to understand FLW across the entire Food Supply Chain (FSC) and develop effective mitigation strategies. In order to measure the effectiveness of FLW prevention actions, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are pivotal tools widely used in the literature, particularly those quantifying FLW generated and avoided. But despite a growing recognition of the FLW problem, current literature reveals fragmented methodologies for quantifying FLW and assessing the sustainability impacts of FLW prevention actions, resulting in inconsistencies and limited comparability. This includes FLW quantification, where while the European Union's standardised FLW quantification guidelines (Commission Delegated Decision 2019/1597) provide a foundational framework, variations persist in definitions, causes, and destinations across studies. On the other hand, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) offers a standardised approach for assessing FLW's environmental impact, although its application to FLW prevention remains underexplored. Moreover, integrating sustainability KPIs with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) shows promise in enhancing the standardisation of these assessments by advancing data reliability and transparency. Especially as regards LCA, a resource-intensive methodology that enormously benefits from this synergy. To address these gaps, this dissertation develops a standardised methodology for evaluating the environmental, social, and economic impacts of FLW prevention actions across FSCs. With a holistic life cycle approach, the methodology aims to enable efficient and rigorous comparisons between different FSCs, considering the upstream and downstream consequences of FLW prevention efforts. Specific objectives include defining a taxonomy for FLW, establishing KPIs for sustainability impacts, refining FLW quantification and LCA methodologies, and leveraging digitisation for enhanced data reliability and transparency. Validation of this methodology involves analysing five circular economy scenarios in a real case study, encompassing various types of FLW prevention actions. The research focuses on an entire FSC of prepared salads in Spain, adopting a cradle-to-grave approach to have a comprehensive vision of the case study. The data collected for this case study encompasses different temporal periods between 2021 and 2023. Through extensive literature review, and consultation to experts and stakeholders from 3 different FSCs, a robust set of 69 KPIs was defined, culminating in the creation of the FOODRUS index. This index integrates economic, environmental, and social dimensions, providing a comprehensive framework for evaluating FSC's preparedness to implement FLW prevention actions. The methodology adheres to Delegated Decision 2019/1597 guidelines to quantify FLW and expands its scope, refining definitions and methodologies to include preharvest losses and diverse waste fractions. It enhances FLW quantification by incorporating food characteristics, root causes, destinations, and standardised classifications using NACE codes for FSC stages, UNSPSC codes for food products, and EWC codes for FLW flows. This approach strengthens methodological reliability and exhaustiveness, crucial for monitoring progress towards SDG 12.3. LCA methodology was employed to evaluate the environmental impacts on climate change and water use of FLW prevention actions using the PEF v3.0 as impact assessment method. Digitisation was integrated in the methodology at different steps including the definition, calculation, and visualisation of KPIs. Validation through circular economy scenarios demonstrates the methodology's robustness, assessing a range of FLW prevention actions categorised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC). These scenarios integrate social actions and technological solutions aimed at reducing FLW, each evaluated based on identified causes and potential impacts. A decision tree aids in identifying optimal FLW prevention measures, particularly in Scenario 4. Results include a standardised set of 69 KPIs to measure the sustainability impact of FLW prevention actions validated through expert knowledge and stakeholder consultations. The index, evaluated across five organisations within the case study, effectively measures readiness, coherent with subsequent KPI measurements. Detailed calculations for each KPI demonstrate considerable performance of the case study at the baseline, highlighting robust FLW prevention efforts such as food donations and animal feeding, notably from Processing and manufacturing (P&M) and Retail and other distribution of food (RDF) stages. FLW prevention action scenarios showcase diverse impacts within the FSC. Supply chain efficiency in Scenario 1 delivers significant economic benefits and reduces FLW to landfills. Redistribution efforts in Scenario 2 achieve moderate economic impact and FLW reduction. Consumer behaviour-focused Scenario 3 generates substantial social benefits despite targeting only the Household (HH) stage. Scenario 4, which incorporates FLW prevention governance, yields significant economic gains and nutritional value saved. Integrating all actions in Scenario 5 shows mixed economic performance but excels in social and technical KPIs, such as nutritional value saved. These scenarios underscore trade-offs and benefits of different FLW prevention actions across the FSC. As concerns FLW prevention, Scenario 5 showcases the best performance, followed closely by Scenario 4. Environmental assessments via LCA highlight significant impacts from Primary Production (PP), primarily contributing to carbon and water footprints. Even if this FSC stage is not where most FLW is generated, this result is due to the additional food production needed to fulfil the functional unit when FLW generation acts. Among FLW prevention actions, Scenario 4 demonstrates the best performance, significantly reducing carbon and water footprints through effective governance. Digitisation enhanced KPI visualisation, promoting transparency and aiding decision-making. Digital tools and data models supported rigorous sustainability assessments by standardising data and enhancing transparency and reliability. In conclusion, this dissertation establishes a robust framework for assessing and enhancing sustainability within FSCs through 69 KPIs. Spanning economic, environmental, and social dimensions, these KPIs provide a comprehensive toolkit for measuring FLW prevention action impacts. The methodology integrates expert insights, stakeholder inputs, and regulatory guidelines, culminating in the FOODRUS index, a demonstrated useful tool to assess the readiness of FSCs to implement FLW prevention actions validated across 5 FSC stakeholders. The methodology provides a representative measure crucial for achieving SDG 12.3, enriched by food characteristics, root causes, destinations, and standardised classifications. LCA identifies effective solutions and underscores trade-offs, with governance actions showing the highest potential for environmental impact mitigation. Additionally, it is concluded that optimisation of FLW prevention actions' efficiency requires tailored approaches for each specific context. As regards digitisation, it streamlines the deployment of the methodology mainly by enhancing the KPI measurement practicality. Finally, prioritising critical KPIs results to be crucial for optimising FLW prevention actions combinations.