Environmental Impacts of Egg Production from a Life Cycle Perspective

Abstract

The food industry represents a vast environmental burden to our planet. Most animal products are known to have greater environmental impacts than alternative plant-based sources of nutrition. One of the most consumed animal products are eggs, represented in most dietary habits both as a primary ingredient and processed. In the European Union (EU), eggs for consumption can be produced in four different laying systems: enriched cages, barns, free-range, and organic. In past years, discussions about the ethical perspective have been ongoing among the wider public, industry and academia. However, the essential comparison of environmental impacts of the laying systems has been missing in our region. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an excellent tool for comparing environmental impacts of various scenarios. Therefore, we performed a LCA of several egg-producing subjects in the Czech Republic, representative of all four laying systems. In addition, these regulated laying systems were compared to a community garden system. Our results suggest feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed composition, and manure management to be the most important factors influencing the total environmental impacts of eggs. Moreover, environmental benefits linked to outdoor access or using organic feed over conventional were observed in our study.

Keywords

• Life Cycle Assessment
• egg
• laying hen systems
• environmental impacts
• poultry
• food production