A água na indústria de pescados e no segmento de alimentação coletiva: uso da avaliação do ciclo de vida como ferramenta para o desenvolvimento sustentável

Abstract

The food production chain, from primary production, such as aquaculture, to the preparation and consumption of food depends on the use of natural resources and involves some form of environmental impacts. The methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), this perspective can be a tool, in that it provides a critical analysis of industry activities and environmental aspects associated. The LCA stands out both as a technique and a “model of thinking” to integrating information about fluxes of energy and matter and evaluated the impacts along the supply chain, since the extraction of raw materials of nature to the final disposal of products or processes of interest, process that demands intense interdisciplinary in the representations of the phenomena studied in multiple dimensions of analysis. The aim of this study was to analyze the fishery production chain in a broader sense, in other words, the production process of Aquaculture and Seafood Industries Portuguese, as well as the production process of fish meals in the Food Service Segment in Brazil and Portugal, addressing water use and effluent generation through the LCA. The methodology was qualitative, quantitative, descriptive and exploratory in the segments studied in Brazil and Portugal. Analyzes carried out physical-chemical and microbiological for identification of water quality and type of effluents generated in the processes studied. The results show that in all processes, water management is not integral part of environmental management, only in the Food Service Segment in Brazil presents control water by hydrometers and one of the Seafood Industry in Portugal is carried out effluent treatment. The measurement of the water quantity in the steps of Aquaculture, Seafood Industry and Food Service Segment contemplates water footprint in the process, with the measurement, it is necessary to reflect on the procedures adopted and control of water consumption, as also the generation of effluents originating from the process. With regard to analysis, the effluents generated in some steps of the processes showed high levels of organic matter and total solids, and appreciable levels of fecal coliform, total coliform as well as heterotrophic bacteria were found. It is concluded that this analysis points to the need to introduce strategies in order to monitor and manage the use of water in the segments studied and to base more extensive reflections on the consumption of water resources and potential environmental impacts from the perspective of the life cycle of the product.