Post-harvest

Processing

A number of studies have been conducted to quantify the energy costs of processing animals for meat and other products, and to identify potential areas for energy savings. The variability among plants is extreme, so that once again it is difficult to generalize. For example, Ward et al. (1977) reported costs of beef processing in Colorado ranging from 0.84 to 5.02 MJ/kg live weight, a six-fold range! For this work, default values for the costs of processing are given in Table 4.

Table 4. Default values for processing costs

Product | Fossil Energy Cost | Units | Source
Poultry | 2.59 | MJ.kg-1 live wt | Whitehead & Shupe 1979
Eggs | 6.12 | MJ.dozen-1 | OECD, 1982
Pork-fresh | 3.76 | MJ.kg-1carcass | Singh, 1986
" -procesed meats | 6.30 | MJ.kg-1meat | "
Sheep meat | 10.4 | MJ.kg-1carcass | McChesney et al., 1982
Frozen | 0.432 | MJ.kg-1meat | Unklesbay & Unklesbay, 1982
Beef | 4.37 | MJ.kg-1carcass | Poulsten, 1986
Frozen | 0.432 | MJ.kg-1meat | Unklesbay & Unklesbay, 1982
Milk | 1.12 | MJ.kg-1 | Miller, 1986
Cheese, butter, whey powder | 1.49 | MJ.kg-1 |
Milk powder, butter | 2.62 | MJ.kg-1 |

Distribution, storage and preparation

Transportation costs vary according to mode (e.g., truck, rail, or water), and size of conveyance. Generally, road transport is the most expensive, and varies inversely with the size of the truck. Default values for transport costs are 1.82, 0.40, and 0.48 MJ&middot;kg-1&middot;km-1 for truck, rail and water transport, respectively (OECD, 1982). Costs of refrigeration are taken to be 0.0272 MJ&middot;kg-1&middot;day-1, and for frozen storage the value is 0.0404 MJ&middot;kg-1&middot;day-1 (Poulsen, 1986). The fossil energy required for cooking was assumed to be 3.45 MJ&middot;kg-1 for all meat products, and 12.5 MJ&middot;kg-1 for eggs (Unklesbay & Unklesbay, 1982). It is assumed that dairy products are consumed uncooked. There is a provision for the user to define fossil or non-fossil fuel used in cooking, so that the appropriate factor is used depending on local conditions.

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