UBC Undergraduate Research

Baseline inventory of the UBC food system : GHG emissions of food products and action plan (meats) Chan, Jocelyn; Chee, Rachel; Chiu, Kit Lan (Garrie); Leung, Jessica; Yang, James

Abstract

We, LFS 450 Group 4, took up the task of examining the GHG emission rates generated by UBC Food Services from their sales of various meat products on campus. A total of nine meat products were isolated from the UBC Food Services’ Velocity Report and selected according to type and yield to date in weight. Standardized GHG emission values for processing, production, packaging and transportation were extrapolated through extensive literature research. We determined that the total GHG emission from the nine items were 117993.63 kg of CO2e with Chicken FLT BRD Crunchy Ruffled FZN ZTF as the most significant contributor. The greatest limitations we faced where the multiple assumptions which had to be made and lack of GHG emissions information available from suppliers. Although our primary source of data, the Velocity Report, was extremely accurate, the values isolated from various scholarly articles did not account for all possible emission factors. This means that our numeric values are underestimated and overly generalized. From our research and calculations, to lower the overall GHG emissions from UBC Food Services, we would recommend reducing travel miles for the products where possible by selecting local food processors. Purchasing less beef products and replacing them with other lower emission intensive items such as chicken as well as selecting less processed food items would improve UBC’s carbon footprint. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada