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Purpose The main purpose of this article is to assess the nutritional and economic efficiency of food loss and waste (FLW) along the supply of 13 food categories included in the Spanish food basket by means of the definition of a new method which combines two indexes. MethodsThe Nutrient Rich Foods index and the economic food loss and waste (EFLW) index were combined by means of linear programming to obtain the Nutritional Cost Footprint (NCF) indicator under a life cycle perspective. The functional unit used was the daily supply of food for a Spanish citizen in year 2015. Results and discussionResults showed that vegetables and cereals were the food categories most affected by the inefficiencies in the food supply chain under a nutritional perspective, being agricultural production and household consumption the main stages in which the nutritional content of food is lost or wasted. Moreover, according to the NCF index, vegetables represented 27% of total nutritional-economic wastage throughout the entire Spanish agri-food chain. They are followed by fruits, which add up to 19%. Hence, specific food waste management strategies should be established for these specific products and supply stages. Finally, the sensitivity analysis performed highlighted that results were mostly independent from the importance attributed to either nutritional or economic variables. ConclusionsThe methodology described in this study proposes an indicator quantifying the nutritional-economic cost of different food categories in the Spanish food basket. This NCF indicator makes it possible to define reduction strategies to promote the use of food waste fractions for waste-to-energy valorization approaches or the extraction of different types of pharmacological, chemical or cosmetic compounds.

Feeding the world’s population sustainably is a major challenge of our society, and was stated as one of the key priorities for development cooperation by the European Union (EU) policy framework on food security. However, with the current trend of natural resource exploitation, food systems consume around 30% of final energy use, generating up to 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Given the expected increase of global population (nine billion people by 2050) and the amount of food losses and waste generated (one-third of global food production), improving the efficiency of food systems along the supply chain is essential to ensure food security. This study combines life-cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency of Spanish agri-food system and to propose improvement actions in order to reduce energy usage and GHG emissions. An average energy saving of approximately 70% is estimated for the Spanish agri-food system in order to be efficient. This study highlights the importance of the DEA method as a tool for energy optimization, identifying efficient and inefficient food systems. This approach could be adopted by administrations, policy-makers, and producers as a helpful instrument to support decision-making and improve the sustainability of agri-food systems.

Recently, important efforts have been made to define food loss management strategies. Most strategies have mainly been focused on mass and energy recovery through mixed food loss in centralised recovery models. This work aims to highlight the need to address a decentralised food loss management, in order to manage the different fractions and on each of the different stages of the food supply chain. For this purpose, an energy flow analysis is made, through the calculation of the primary energy demand of four stages and 11 food categories of the Spanish food supply chain in 2015. The energy efficiency assessment is conducted under a resource use perspective, using the energy return on investment (EROI) ratio, and a circular economy perspective, developing an Energy return on investment – Circular economy index (EROIce), based on a food waste-to-energy-to-food approach. Results suggest that the embodied energy loss consist of 17% of the total primary energy demand, and related to the food categories, the vegetarian diet appears to be the most efficient, followed by the pescetarian diet. Comparing food energy loss values with the estimated energy provided for one consumer, it is highlighted the fact that the food energy loss generated by two to three persons amounts to one person's total daily intake. Moreover, cereals is the category responsible for the highest percentage on the total food energy loss (44%); following by meat, fish and seafood and vegetables. When the results of food energy loss and embodied energy loss are related, it is observed that categories such as meat and fish and seafood have a very high primary energy demand to produce less food, besides that the parts of the food supply chain with more energy recovery potential are the beginning and the end. Finally, the EROIce analysis shows that in the categories of meat, fish and seafood and cereals, anaerobic digestion and composting is the best option for energy recovery. From the results, it is discussed the possibility to developed local digesters at the beginning and end of the food supply chain, as well as to developed double digesters installations for hydrogen recovery from cereals loss, and methane recovery from mixed food loss.

Food loss and waste (FLW) has become a central concern in the social and political debate. Simultaneously, using FLW as a bioenergy source could significantly contribute to closing the carbon cycle by reintroducing energy into the food supply chain. This study aims to identify best strategies for FLW management in each of the 17 regions in Spain, through the application of a Life Cycle Assessment. To this end, an evaluation of the environmental performance over time between 2015 and 2040 of five different FLW management scenarios implemented in a framework of (i) compliance and (ii) non-compliance with the targets of the Paris Agreement was performed. Results revealed savings in the consumption of abiotic resources in those regions in which thermal treatment has a strong presence, although their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a scenario of compliance with climate change targets are higher. In contrast, scenarios that include anaerobic digestion and, to a lesser extent those applying aerobic composting, present lower impacts, including climate change, suggesting improvements of 20–60% in non-compliance and 20–80% in compliance with Paris Agreement targets, compared to the current scenarios.

There is a growing debate surrounding the contradiction between an unremitting increase in the use of resources and the search for environmental sustainability. Therefore, the concept of sustainable degrowth is emerging aiming to introduce in our societies new social values and new policies, capable of satisfying human requirements whilst reducing environmental impacts and consumption of resources. In this framework, circular economy strategies for food production and food loss and waste management systems, following the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are being developed based on a search for circularity, but without setting limits to the continual increase in environmental impacts and resource use. This work presents a methodology for determining the percentage of degrowth needed in any food supply chain, by analyzing four scenarios in a life cycle assessment approach over time between 2020 and 2040. Results for the Spanish case study suggested a degrowth need of 26.8% in 2015 and 58.9% in 2040 in order to achieve compliance with the Paris Agreement targets, highlighting the reduction of meat and fish and seafood consumption as the most useful path.

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