Towards more sustainable food processing: a structured tool for the integration and analysis of sustainability aspects of processing equipment

Abstract

Sustainable food production along with food security and safety demands attention. Reducing the undiagnosed impacts of the food processing sector contributes to the transition towards a more sustainable food production system. Consequently, food processing technologies and production planning should be developed or modified with caution to align with sustainability issues. Appropriate tools are needed to ensure the complete coverage of different aspects of sustainability in the design phase and to recognize the opportunities for sustainability improvements in the use phase. This study proposes a structured tool to analyze the sustainability of food processing technologies from the stakeholder’s points of view, that can be used to make more knowledgeable decisions and find manageable trade-offs. The proposed tool is adapted from the acknowledged Sustainable Development Analytical Grid (SDAG) tool. The theoretical contribution of this study is the synthesis of literature to identify sustainability criteria for integrating into the design phase, thereby enhancing sustainability across the entire life cycle. A case study from the food sector illustrates the applicability of the tool and suggests solutions to address the identified sustainability issues. Future research should strengthen the validity and applicability of the proposed tool through additional cases.