Carbon footprint of Fuji apples from Italy as a tool to improve foodservice sustainability

In the European Union (EU), the foodservice sector has been identified as one of the 10 sectors most suitable for the implementation of Green Public Procurement (GPP). GPP is a voluntary policy tool that aims to promote the development of a market for products and services with reduced environmental impact through public demand. In Italy, the implementation mechanisms for operationalizing GPP are Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC), which cover school meals, healthcare facilities, and institutional canteens and introduce stringent criteria relating to environmental performance, agricultural practices, waste management, and logistics. Although current EU policies are focused on reducing greenhouse gases, as set out in the Green Deal, GPP makes only limited use of this criterion, while MEC show greater attention. In this light, this manuscript investigates the role of the carbon footprint (CF) to estimate the environmental sustainability of one of the most versatile commodities used in foodservice applications, namely Fuji apples (Malus domestica Borkh cv. Fuji). The purpose of this research is to provide guidance on which aspects to consider if CF were to be introduced as part of the minimum environmental criteria for public collective catering services. The CF calculation was performed in accordance with the international standard ISO 14067:2018 and considered 1 kg of apples grown with integrated methods as a functional unit. Findings reveal that CO2eq emissions associated with producing 1 kg of Fuji apples amount to 0.099 kgCO2eq. Specifically, the majority of GHG emissions are associated with fertilization and irrigation activities. If the harvested apples are then stored in cold rooms for 15 days, the CO2eq value per kg of apples increases to 0.179 kgCO2eq. From a policy perspective, the GPP should not consider only the distance between the place of production and the place of consumption in the assessment of the GHG emissions of a food product but the entire production cycle, particularly its agricultural phase.