Life Cycle Assessment with a Focus on Feed
Client
Blentagruppen is a Swedish family-owned food company rooted in Blentarp, Skåne. Since its founding in 1963, the company has grown from a small hatchery into a nationwide food supplier. Over the years, Blentagruppen has built operations that span the entire value chain – from producing day-old chicks and raising poultry to delivering complete meal experiences. The company’s mission is to create the best possible food experience from sustainable Swedish chicken and turkey, with care and proximity, for current and future generations. Blentagruppen operates the well-known brands Ingelsta Kalkon and Guldfågeln.
Background
Blentagruppen works with climate targets in accordance with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Life cycle assessments (LCAs) for both chicken and turkey production are used as the basis for calculating Scope 3 emissions. The current LCA for turkey production dates back to 2010 and no longer reflects today’s conditions – neither in terms of rearing methods, energy use, nor feed composition. As the demand for reliable and up‑to‑date sustainability data increases, especially from larger companies, Blentagruppen has identified a clear need to revise its LCA for turkey production.
Task
The project aims to develop a new LCA of climate impact covering the turkey’s life cycle from rearing to slaughter. Blentagruppen collaborates with six external growers in Skåne and Blekinge, and an important part of the work will be collecting primary data from these farms. This includes production volumes, feed consumption, energy use, water use, and manure management. Environmental impacts from the slaughterhouse will also be included, as well as transport across the different production stages. Blentagruppen has updated feed data from Lantmännen, but these need to be verified internally and with the feed supplier.
Because feed accounts for a large share of the climate impact in turkey production, the project places particular emphasis on analysing different feed alternatives. Blentagruppen is already exploring the possibility of replacing certified soy with more sustainable, locally grown protein sources such as fava beans.
The project will compare the climate impact and cost profile of different feed strategies, with the goal of identifying alternatives that are both environmentally and economically sustainable.
The LCA shall be carried out in accordance with ISO 14044. Since the environmental assessment focuses on climate impact, the analysis shall also follow ISO 14067:2018, the standard for calculating product carbon footprints. To enable future updates of climate data, there is an ambition to develop an Excel‑based calculation tool for the LCA. The tool should be usable internally at Blentagruppen to simulate different scenarios and update key figures over time.
The final presentation for Blentagruppen will also include an introduction to LCA methodology for knowledge‑building purposes.
Final delimitations will be defined together with the client and the university supervisor.
Related Sustainability Goals
