SCS Featured at 2013 Sustainable Foods Summit on Use of LCA to Measure the Environmental Impact of Food Products

SCS Global Services (www.scsglobalservices.com) presented expert insights into the increased use of product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for food, beverage and other consumer packaged goods at the Sustainable Foods Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday.

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SCS' Sustainability Manager, Ashley Foster, described the consecutive and interlinked stages of a food product's life cycle, from ingredient production, processing and packaging to retail sale, consumption, packaging, and disposal.  Her talk touched on the evolution of LCA practice and standards, and recent developments that will help food and beverage companies make better-informed decisions, influencing everything from product development to ingredient supply chain management.  

"In the past two decades, LCA has been transformed from a material and energy tracking tool to a more comprehensive environmental impact assessment resource," said Foster. "These changes are enabling leaders in the food industry to back up their sustainability goals with clear metrics."

SCS has provided leadership in third-party certification for the food industry since the early 1980s, and has been an LCA practitioner for more than two decades, serving a wide range of industries. SCS' suite of food and agriculture services support businesses throughout the food industry.  These services include Sustainable Agriculture certifications for food products, plants and flowers, Organic certification under the USDA National Organic Program, Pesticide Residue Free certification, a wide range of GFSI Food Safety audits and certifications, Flavor and Sensory ratings, and more.  SCS is the exclusive conformity assessment partner to Fair TradeUSA.

Among the most recent developments in LCA, Foster described the LEO-SCS-002 draft standard, a new standard being finalized under the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) process that will augment the international LCA framework (ISO-14044).  The new standard will help to streamline the data collection and analysis process to prevent excessive data processing and data fatigue, while simultaneously enabling users to more accurately and consistently assess all environmentally relevant impacts. 

To find out more about SCS' food industry programs, go to www.SCSglobalServices.com/food-and-agriculture.  SCS also offers an extensive LCA training series of webinars and courses; information is available at www.scsglobalservices.com/lca-training.  Sign up is available for an in-person 3-day intensive LCA Training course on March 5-7 in Emeryville, at http://bit.ly/lca-training.  For individuals looking for a less time intensive training schedule, SCS offers a monthly Third Thursday LCA seminar schedule. For more info; go to:http://bit.ly/3rd-Thursday

SCS Global Services (SCS) (formerly Scientific Certification Systems) has been providing global leadership in third-party environmental and sustainability certification, auditing, testing, and standards development for nearly 30 years. Its programs span a wide cross-section of industries, recognizing achievements in green building, product manufacturing, food and agriculture, forestry, retail, and more.  SCS provides accredited services under a wide range of internationally recognized certification programs.  SCS is a chartered benefit corporation and Certified B Corp™, reflecting its commitment to socially and environmentally responsible business practices.