Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of production and transport of chilled versus superchilled haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) fillets from Norway to France

AbstractNorwegian seafood products are important export products with regard to volume and value. More than 400 trucks of fresh fish products are weekly transported from Norway to European countries. The traditionally chilled fish is packed in boxes filled with approximately 30% ice (equivalent to approximately 130 trucks) to keep the temperature low during transport and storage. Superchilled fish contains 10-15% ice. The ice serves as a heat sink and thus, do not require use of ice during transport and storage. Compared with traditionally chilled foods, advantages related to superchilling are among others, extended shelf life, higher yield and reduced microbiological risk. Extended shelf life of superchilled products make it possible to sell a food product as fresh during a longer period of time. The results show that the traditionally chilled fillets have approximately 30% higher impact potentials than the superchilled fillets for all environmental impact categories. This number is a direct reflection of the ice content in the boxes with chilled fillets, and this is thus, the most important parameter in this assessment. Transportation by truck and packaging material are by far the two biggest contributors to impact potentials, in both systems, while the electricity used in the ice machine (chilled case) and in the Contact Blast Chiller (superchilled case) have only insignificant contributions. The results indicate the potential for saving in environmental impacts when switching from chilled to superchilled value chains. The truck export of fresh fish from Norway to Europe constitutes a potential for reducing the impact on global warming by approximately 78×106 kg of C02-equivilants per year. This corresponds to an annual emissions of roughly 24 000 cars