Environmental Impact Assessment of Tomato Consumption Using Life Cycle Assessment from Cultivation to Cooking

Abstract

In recent years, organic farming has garnered much attention worldwide. In addition, with the increasing demand for induction heat (IH) cooking in Japan, the trends surrounding the consumption of vegetables are rapidly changing. In this study, we assessed the life cycle impacts of tomatoes in each consumption path, considering differences in the cultivation and cooking methods. We found that the cultivation stage had the largest impact on the tomato life cycle and the other stages were not negligible in all impact categories. It was also suggested that the marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential (MAETP) was the most influential area in the environmental impact of tomatoes from cultivation to consumption. In addition, MAETP was found to have a significant effect on the consumption path, including IH cooking. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was conducted at the cultivation and cooking stages where there was a large degree of uncertainty. As a result, it was found that cultivation affects abiotic depletion potential (ADP), ozone layer depletion potential (ODP), freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP), and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential (TETP). Furthermore, for cooking, sensitivity analysis showed that increasing or decreasing the output by 10% in the consumption path including IH cooking changed the MAETP value by 6.1% at maximum. The effect on ODP was greater for gas cooking, resulting in a maximum increase or decrease of 8.3%.