Assessing energy requirements in the European (EU-28) food sector

Food products need to be farmed, harvested, transported, processed, distributed, and cooked. Each of these steps causes environmental emissions and requires a certain amount of energy. Eurostat data highlight that agriculture/farming and processing are the most energy-intensive stages along food supply chains (FSC). Further, energy consumption is strongly affected by the type of food product, e.g., meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables, etc. Starting from this background, this chapter aims to collect, analyze, and compare food and energy consumption data in the context of the European Union (EU-28) related to 2010 and 2019, categorizing them by product food type and by stage along the FSC, i.e., agriculture, processing, logistics, packaging, use, and end-of-life. Considering the EU-28 data per capita, the analysis proves that the items characterized by a wide increase in consumption from 2010 to 2019 are pig meat (from 41 kg to 109 kg), cheese (from 17 kg to 37 kg), and water (from 106 L to 125 L). Furthermore, the study reveals that the most energy-intensive items are coffee (232 MJ/kg) and butter (83 MJ/kg), but in relation to annual consumption, the most energy-intensive process is pig meat (2080 PJ/year) and cheese (1502 PJ/year) processing. Finally, the analysis confirms that agriculture and processing cover 34% and 24% of energy consumption, respectively, followed by use, packaging, logistics, and end-of-life. About the energy sources, despite the use of renewables has constantly increased since 2000, up to 15% in 2019, the main part of EU-28 gross available energy, i.e., about 70% in 2019 is still provided by fossil fuels. This chapter addresses the mapping of the energy situation in FSCs in Europe and, highlights the most energy-intensive stages and food items that aim to support pathways toward sustainable development in the food ecosystems.