Carbon Evidence

Evidence map

Lca food: what the evidence base looks like

14 publications, 0 of them trials and 0 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 4 min read 14 citations

What the evidence on lca food is made of Of 14 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 14 other. 14other (14)
14 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

A reasonable volume of literature, but weighted towards reviews and observational work rather than trials. That is enough to describe a phenomenon and rarely enough to establish that an intervention works.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the lca food literature was published Publication years for the 14 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2023 onwards11 papers2020-20222 papers2015-20191 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2026, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Ex-ante life cycle assessment of commercial-scale cultivated meat production in 2030 — Sinke P, Swartz E, Sanctorum H et al., 2023, journal article
  2. A taste of the new ReCiPe for life cycle assessment: consequences of the updated impact assessment method on food product LCAs — Dekker E, Zijp M, van de Kamp M et al., 2019, journal article
  3. Life cycle assessment of industrial-scale cultivated meat production: case study of real market entry via pet food application — Stieberová B, Žilka M, Bubeníček P et al., 2026, journal article
  4. Edible collagen coatings from chicken skin for longer shelf life of meat and dairy food systems — Krasulya O, Giro T, Tinambunan D, 2026, journal article
  5. Cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment of sustainable packaging for dairy products — Atkare A, Li M, Saha N et al., 2026, journal article
  6. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Aquafaba: Applications in the Food and Cosmetic Sectors and Comparison with Conventional Alternatives — Rossi E, Bassi G, Cespi D et al., 2026, journal article
  7. Life cycle sustainability assessment of an agricultural product in rural areas of Western Nepal—case study of goat meat — Usva K, Bhattarai I, Abdulkareem M et al., 2025, journal article
  8. ISO 14075 and social sustainability: balancing organizational and product approaches in Social Life Cycle Assessment — Tsalidis G, 2025, journal article
  9. Towards an Application of the Life Cycle Assessment Framework for GHG Emissions of the Dairy System: A Literature Review — Baker F, Axon S, 2025, journal article
  10. Decarbonizing Agricultural Buildings: A Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions Assessment of Dairy Barns — Liu H, Wang Z, Du X et al., 2025, journal article
How much research is there on lca food?
14 publications are indexed here, of which 0 are trials and 0 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2026. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Ex-ante life cycle assessment of commercial-scale cultivated meat production in 2030 Sinke P, Swartz E, Sanctorum H, et al. · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · 2023 · Journal article DOI
  2. A taste of the new ReCiPe for life cycle assessment: consequences of the updated impact assessment method on food product LCAs Dekker E, Zijp M, van de Kamp M, et al. · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · 2019 · Journal article DOI
  3. Life cycle assessment of industrial-scale cultivated meat production: case study of real market entry via pet food application Stieberová B, Žilka M, Bubeníček P, et al. · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · 2026 · Journal article DOI
  4. Cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment of sustainable packaging for dairy products Atkare A, Li M, Saha N, et al. · Sustainable Food Technology · 2026 · Journal article DOI
  5. Edible collagen coatings from chicken skin for longer shelf life of meat and dairy food systems Krasulya O, Giro T, Tinambunan D · Foods and Raw Materials · 2026 · Journal article DOI
  6. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Aquafaba: Applications in the Food and Cosmetic Sectors and Comparison with Conventional Alternatives Rossi E, Bassi G, Cespi D, et al. · Environments · 2026 · Journal article DOI
  7. Life cycle sustainability assessment of an agricultural product in rural areas of Western Nepal—case study of goat meat Usva K, Bhattarai I, Abdulkareem M, et al. · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  8. ISO 14075 and social sustainability: balancing organizational and product approaches in Social Life Cycle Assessment Tsalidis G · The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  9. Decarbonizing Agricultural Buildings: A Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions Assessment of Dairy Barns Liu H, Wang Z, Du X, et al. · Agriculture · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  10. Towards an Application of the Life Cycle Assessment Framework for GHG Emissions of the Dairy System: A Literature Review Baker F, Axon S · Land · 2025 · Journal article DOI
  11. Novel animal product substitutes: A new category of plant‐based alternatives to meat, seafood, egg, and dairy products McClements D · Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety · 2024 · Journal article DOI
  12. A comparative nutritional life cycle assessment of processed and unprocessed soy-based meat and milk alternatives including protein quality adjustment Herrmann M, Mehner E, Egger L, et al. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2024 · Journal article DOI
  13. Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Health Effects of Protein-Rich Food as Meat Alternatives: A Review Cellura M, Cusenza M, Longo S, et al. · Sustainability · 2022 · Journal article DOI
  14. Evaluating sustainable product alternatives by combining life cycle assessment with full-cost accounting: A highway guardrail case study Scouse A, Kelley S, Venditti R, et al. · BioResources · 2020 · Journal article DOI