LCA FOOD 2010

Products in the food and drink sectors are of increasing concem at both institutional and company level. Their contribution to the environmental impact of the private consumption has been widely recognized to be relevant if the full food production and distribution chain 'from farm to fork' is taken into account (about 20 to 30% in the EU).

The European Parliament has also started a discussion to see if it is possible to set  reliable environmental criteria for food and feed products in the Ecolabel scheme. Of particular concern is the consideration whether only products certified organic would be eligible for receiving the Ecolabel award, to avoid confusion far consumers.

The European Technology Platform Food for Life in the Stakeholders' Proposal for a Research Agenda 2006-2020 has placed sustainability at the centre of future European food production.

The challenge is to develop and exploit the tools necessary to better understand the sustainability of food chains, optimise sustainable primary production and identify consumer attitudes towards sustainable food production.

In order to find the possible directions to sustainable food production and consumption, LCA has been applied for more than 15 years to agricultural and food systems, identifying their environmental impacts throughout their life cycle and supporting environmental decision making.

A variety of databases and methodological approaches have been outlined over this period to support the applications of LCA to food systems.

The University of Bari (Italy) will host the International Conference on LCA in the Agri-Food sector, from 22 to 24 September 2010. This is the seventh in a series including Brussels (1996, 1998), Gothenburg, (2001,2007), Horsens (2003), Zurich (2008).

The objectives of the conference are:

• to show the recent developments in the methodology, approaches, databases and tools
• to present applications of the LCA methodology to food product systems and to food consumption patterns
• to increase the use of LCA and other industriaI ecology tools in agricultural and industriaI food products
• to support information sharing and exchange of experience regarding environmental conscious decision making in the agri-food chain
• to provide background for the sustainability of the agri-food sector.

The Organising Committee of the LCA Food 2010 warmly invites you to join this scientific event hosted in the beautiful setting of the Mediterranean sea.