Life cycle assessment of tomato juice – comparison of KRAV-labeled and conventional tomato juice.

Summary

Consumers demand organic crops and food that are grown and processed in a sustainable and healthy way. More studies regarding the organic agriculture's environment and climate impact are needed to demonstrate with certainty that such a cultivation system affects the environment less. The label KRAV is based on organic principles but also meets additional restrictions.
This study aims to investigate the climate impact of two tomato juices. One of which is KRAV-labeled and cultivated with Swedish tomatoes and the other tomato juice which is conventionally grown with tomato content from Italy.
The study is conducted as an attributional LCA with the functional unit (FU) 1 liter of tomato juice and with the life cycle perspective from cradle-to-consumer applied. The impact category assessed in the study is climate change, Global Warning Potential (GWP100). The study is limited to the fact that the production of juice for the two tomato juices takes place in the same facilities in Sweden and is based on sales within Sweden. A sensitivity analysis was made with the choice of changing the packaging from carton to glass bottle.
The result of the study shows that the konventional tomato juice contributes with the greatest climate impact according to the study's calculated GWP100 value. The value shows 0,760 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq) for the conventional and 0,627 kg CO2 eq for KRAV-labeled tomato juice per FU. Tomato cultivation and transportation are the two production stages during the life cycle that contribute most to the total value of both tomato juices and are identified as hotspot steps.
The cultivation systems for the tomatoes differ, which means that the result for climate impact initially benefits the conventional tomato cultivation. The transport distance of fresh tomato deviates greatly between the products, which means that in the production step transport, the conventional tomato juice generates higher climate impact.
The study’s limitations and exclusions can affect the result to the extent that it is not possible to apply these types of tomato juice in general. An additional study that examines the subject with broader system boundaries and more inclusions of processes and input is required to make such an application possible.