Sustainability is the current focus of the scientific community, governments, and companies in various market segments, such as pet food. Pet food production has increased rapidly in recent years, with a trend toward the development of environmentally friendly products and processes. The first step in creating strategies for mitigating environmental impacts is to assess key points in manufacturing processes. Given this, this study aimed to perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the environmental impacts associated with the formulation, production, and distribution phases of an extruded dog food produced in Brazil. System boundaries were from cradle-to-gate, encompassing extraction of raw materials, transportation, processing, production, packaging, and distribution. Estimates were based on the amount of food required to meet the energy requirements for maintenance of a 10 kg dog (functional unit = 2.59 MJ day, reference flow = 177.3 g day). Environmental impacts were calculated by the environmental footprint method (EF 3.0 v. 1.00) using SimaPro software (v. 9.1.1.1). Product ingredients and packaging materials were modeled under Brazilian conditions using ecoinvent 3.7.1 and Agri-footprint 5.0 databases. Data regarding transportation, processing, distribution, electric and thermal power generation, water usage, and waste generation were obtained from the company's records (2019–2020). In this study, as expected, formulation was the most relevant factor, accounting for 70%–90% of the total environmental impacts. The main impact categories were terrestrial and marine eutrophication, acidification, particulate matter, and climate change (80% of total impacts). Production of the evaluated dog food was associated with the emission of 88.73 kg CO eq year or 1.37 kg CO eq kg distributed food. The use of animal meals (poultry by-product meal and meat and bone meal) and vegetable by-products (wheat bran and rice bran) contributed to reducing environmental impacts. Therefore, in this study, ingredient selection was considered the most important factor in mitigating the environmental impacts of pet foods. As the overall impact of the formulation depends on data on the use stage, such as nutrient excretion after consumption, future studies should adopt a cradle-to-grave approach for a better comprehension of the feasibility of applying animal and vegetable by-products in the eco-design of pet food products.

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巴西挤压狗粮生产的生命周期评估

可持续发展是科学界、政府和各个细分市场（例如宠物食品）公司当前关注的焦点。近年来宠物食品产量快速增长，并有向环保产品和工艺发展的趋势。制定减轻环境影响策略的第一步是评估制造过程中的关键点。鉴于此，本研究旨在进行生命周期评估 (LCA)，以评估与巴西生产的挤压狗粮的配方、生产和分销阶段相关的环境影响。系统边界从摇篮到大门，包括原材料的提取、运输、加工、生产、包装和分销。估算是基于满足维持一只 10 公斤重的狗的能量需求所需的食物量（功能单位 = 2.59 兆焦/天，参考流量 = 177.3 克/天）。使用 SimaPro 软件 (v. 9.1.1.1) 通过环境足迹法 (EF 3.0 v. 1.00) 计算环境影响。使用 Ecoinvent 3.7.1 和 Agri-footprint 5.0 数据库在巴西条件下对产品成分和包装材料进行建模。有关运输、加工、分销、电力和热力发电、用水量和废物产生的数据均来自公司记录（2019-2020 年）。在这项研究中，正如预期的那样，配方是最相关的因素，占总环境影响的 70%–90%。主要影响类别是陆地和海洋富营养化、酸化、颗粒物和气候变化（占总影响的80%）。所评估的狗粮生产与每年 88.73 千克二氧化碳当量排放量或 1.37 千克二氧化碳当量千克分配食品排放量相关。使用动物粉（家禽副产品粉和肉骨粉）和蔬菜副产品（麦麸和米糠）有助于减少对环境的影响。因此，在这项研究中，成分选择被认为是减轻宠物食品对环境影响的最重要因素。由于配方的整体影响取决于使用阶段的数据，例如食用后的营养物质排泄，未来的研究应采用从摇篮到坟墓的方法，以更好地理解动植物副产品在食品中应用的可行性。宠物食品的生态设计。