![]() (11) Despite these initiatives there are still large data gaps concerning the environmental assessment of food products. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is therefore currently considering a standard on water footprint to allow consistent analysis and reporting for product labeling. (8) Finally, water footprint studies have gained high interest in the area of food production, (9, 10) revealing the amounts of water consumption and the related impacts. Private companies, such as Tesco and Walmart, calculate the carbon footprint of some of their products and communicate these to their customers, (7) while others use such environmental information for internal decision making regarding products and supply chain management. ![]() ![]() For instance, a new law in France (5) and a recommendation of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (6) encourage the labeling of food products with their carbon/environmental footprints. Policy makers and private companies in various countries have recognized the need to quantify these environmental impacts and, on this basis, to identify measures for impact reduction. (4) The effects of their production are revealed in different categories of environmental impacts, like climate change, impacts of land and water use, human- and eco-toxicological effects, eutrophication, acidification, soil fertility degradation, and landscape changes. (1-3) A considerable amount of the total food intake by mass (30%) is represented by fruits and vegetables, which constitute the largest food group consumed worldwide. Recent studies have shown that food production and consumption are responsible for 10–30% of an individual’s total environmental impact. The results were used by the retailer to support the purchasing decisions and improve the supply chain management. For some crops a trade-off between the carbon footprint and the induced water stress is observed. The impact of water consumption depends on the location of agricultural production. Sourcing fruits and vegetables locally is only a good strategy to reduce the carbon footprint if no greenhouse heating with fossil fuels is involved. The results show that the largest reduction of environmental impacts can be achieved by consuming seasonal fruits and vegetables, followed by reduction of transport by airplane. The LCI includes, among others, seedling production, farm machinery use, fuels for the heating of greenhouses, irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, storage and transport to and within Switzerland. In the present work, the life cycle assessment methodology is used for the environmental assessment of an assortment of 34 fruits and vegetables of a large Swiss retailer, with the aim of providing environmental decision-support to the retailer and establishing life cycle inventories (LCI) also applicable to other case studies. Food production and consumption is known to have significant environmental impacts.
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