Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Apr 27;13(9):1479.
doi: 10.3390/ani13091479.

Life Cycle Assessment Project for the Brazilian Egg Industry

Fabiane de Fátima Maciel  1 , Richard Stephen Gates  2 , Ilda de Fátima Ferreira Tinôco  1 , Fernanda Campos de Sousa  1 , Nathan Pelletier  3 , Maro A Ibarburu-Blanc  2 , Carlos Eduardo Alves Oliveira  1
Affiliations
Review

Life Cycle Assessment Project for the Brazilian Egg Industry

Fabiane de Fátima Maciel et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Brazil is among the ten largest egg producers in the world. The domestic consumption of Brazilian eggs is 99.6%, the rest being exported to more than 82 countries, with an expectation of growth in the foreign market. The Brazilian egg industry has evolved considerably in recent decades, incorporating new technologies and smart practices. However, there is no assessment of how production could become more sustainable over the years. The LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) approach aims to recognize the polluting potential, identify the environmental impacts generated and reduce these impacts throughout production. On a global scale, researchers approach LCA as a constructive and quantitative technique, and there is great interest in implementing an LCA for the Brazilian egg production sector. With the aim of introducing the LCA methodology to the Brazilian egg industry, this review presents the concept and accounting structure of LCA through LCI (Life Cycle Inventory) and LCIA (Life Cycle Impact Assessment), based on the ISO 14040 and 14044:2006 standards, to quantify the environmental performance of production and identify areas for future improvement, thus promoting the environmental footprint of the Brazilian egg industry.

Keywords: LCA; LCI; LCIA; agricultural sector; egg production; intensive system; sustainability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Life Cycle Assessment Framework, according to the ISO 14040 and 14044:2006 [21,22].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Stages of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). Source: EPA [27]—Adapted by the author.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Flow diagram of the egg production system.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Limits of the egg production Life Cycle Assessment system. Source: Turner et al. [44]—Adapted by the author.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Input and Output analysis in the Egg Production Process (just a suggestion of relevant inputs/outputs).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. FAO Food and Agriculture Organization. [(accessed on 5 July 2021)]. Available online: https://www.fao.org/global-perspectives-studies/food-agriculture-project...
    1. Van Horne P. Global Challenges for the Economy of the Poultry Sector; Proceedings of the Invited Lectures—World’s Poultry Congress 2022; Paris, France. 7–11 August 2022; [(accessed on 1 April 2023)]. p. 12. Available online: https://www.wpsa.fr/images/publications/wpc2021/22WPC_Proceedings_of_Inv....
    1. Shahbandeh M. Global Egg Production from 1990 to 2021. [(accessed on 28 February 2023)]. Available online: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263972/egg-production-worldwide-sinc...
    1. Maas D.V., Nicácio J.A., Walter S.A., Gresele W.D. Análise da Viabilidade Financeira na Implantação de um Aviário Automatizado para Produção de Ovos. Gestão. Org. 2020;18:103–115. doi: 10.21714/1679-1827-2020.v18.n1.p103-115. - DOI
    1. FAO . World Food and Agriculture—Statistical Yearbook 2022. Food and Agriculture Organization; Rome, Italy: 2022. [(accessed on 1 April 2023)]. Available online: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc2211en.