How much energy to process one pound of meat? A comparison of energy use and specific energy consumption in the meat industry of four European countries

C. A. Ramírez*, M. Patel, K. Blok

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we have used energy and physical production data to develop energy efficiency indicators for the meat industry of four European countries for the last 15 years. Our results show a significant increase in the energy use per tonne of product in all countries (between 14% and 48%). In order to understand the drivers behind the trends, factors such as the share of frozen products, the share of cut-up products and increasing food hygiene measures are analysed. We find that strong hygiene regulations can explain between one and two-thirds of the increase while the role of increasing shares of frozen and cut fresh meat it is found to be of no significance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2047-2063
Number of pages17
JournalEnergy
Volume31
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Energy efficiency
  • Meat sector
  • Specific energy consumption

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