The 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management in Gothenburg 2013 FOOD LOSSES IN THE LIFE CYCLE OF LASAGNE BOLOGNESE: READY-TO-SERVE VS. HOME-MADE Karin Flury 1 *, Niels Jungbluth 1 , Graham Houlder 2 1 ESU-services Ltd., Zurich; 2 EAFA – European Aluminium Foil Association e.V., Düsseldorf. *Margrit Rainer-Str. 11c, CH-8050 Zurich, flury@esu-services.ch Keywords: food waste; LCA; Lasagne Bolognese; ready-made; home-made ABSTRACT A considerable amount of food waste is caused in households due to bad storage, poor planning and consumer’s preference for fresh food. Food waste due to bad handling in industrial processes on the other hand is minimal. This leads to the question whether overall food losses of a ready- made meal are lower than for a meal freshly prepared at home. This question was investigated in an LCA study comparing ready-made and home-made lasagne Bolognese. The aim of the study was to examine what possible differences in the food losses imply for the environmental impacts of equivalent lasagnes. The data needed were derived from literature, own measurements and supplemented by data from the food industry. Contrary to the expectations, the amount of total food waste was estimated to be about the same for both products. The losses occurring in the production chain of the ready-made lasagne are driven by losses in the food industry and returned products reaching the expiry at the point of sale. In case of the home-made lasagne, the major losses are caused at the household. The environmental impacts of the two types of lasagne are comparable. In both cases, the major contribution to the impacts derives from the food ingredients. INTRODUCTION Ready-made meals are sold and consumed in most European markets. Consumers tend to buy them primarily for their convenience and with little thought as to how their environmental performance compares to home preparation using fresh ingredients. Differing factors could be the handling of food wastes at different stages in the life cycle or different energy consumption rates due to the preparation at scale and the efficient preservation of ready-meals under chilled conditions. To examine possible differences and the consequences for the environmental performance, an LCA case study has been conducted (Flury et al. 2013). The study investigates and compares the environmental impacts of the preparation of a ready- made lasagne Bolognese and a home-made lasagne Bolognese over the full life-cycle. The food losses and the energy consumption for the processing and preparation are examined in more detail.