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Effects of cultivation, transportation and distribution methods on the life cycle inventory (LCI) of fresh tomato

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  MBSK 06-200,  ASABE/CSBE North Central Intersectional Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.22363) @2006
Authors:   Poritosh Roy, Daisuke Nei, Hiroshi Okadome, Nobutaka Nakamura, Takeo Shiina
Keywords:   Life cycle of fresh tomato, distribution systems, CO2 emission

Life cycle of fresh tomato was evaluated to determine CO2 emission throughout the cultivation and distribution processes. Low temperature (LT) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) have been compared considering the quality aspect. Road and marine transportation were also compared. This study revealed that the method of cultivation, transportation and distribution systems affect the overall life cycle inventory (CO2 emission). The distance between production and consumption area affected the LCI significantly. MAP method would not be environmentally acceptable over the LT in the case of road transport if the distance is less than 2500 km even though no cooling treatment is required during transportation and storage. However, MAP method would be better option than the LT distribution in case of marine transport if the distance is more than 1000 km. The distance of acceptability of MAP method differs because of the traveling speed of road and marine transportation. Therefore, a change in cultivation (greenhouse to plastic-cover), transportation (road to marine) and distribution processes (LT to MAP) is required to minimize the LCI.

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