Life Cycle Assessment of Dairy Products: A Case Study of a Dairy Factory in Brazil

The production of dairy products generates several environmental impacts, and life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful methodology to quantify understand those impacts. In Brazil, some traditional have not yet been evaluated using the LCA methodology. Based on this gap, we conducted cradle-to-gate six from plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We also performed two sensitivity analyses. first analysis was how profiles changed depending multifunctional processes were allocated. second these changes occurred way that impacts allocated by-products (whey buttermilk) produced within factory. Among studied, mozzarella cheese butter substantially surpassed other products; spread dulce de leche had similar impact; yoghurt milk lowest values for impact categories assessed. inclusion proved be an effective reduce attributed products, especially spread, which decreased by 56% 46%, respectively. Additionally, use different strategies deal with significantly affected results products. subdivision combined causal allocation best alternative as opposed solids. These could offer better understanding such spread. Other contributions study include proposal alternatives improve (such processing questioning according solids, commonly used studies) method assessing