Development of a low-carbon, healthy and innovative value-added riceberry rice product through life cycle design

Life cycle assessment was applied to a riceberry rice product to support decisions on the development of an innovative, healthy, and low-carbon product to move toward a low-carbon society. The cultivation and processing stages were identified as the key activities generating substantial greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, several strategies were proposed at the cultivation stage: (1) converting from nonorganic to organic rice farming systems, (2) using a seeding machine instead of manual seeding, and (3) employing a drone for spraying pesticides/herbicides to replace ground-based. Other reduction strategies were: (4) using a low-fat and low-sodium formula seasoning, (5) re-designing the packaging, (6) changing the material of the corrugated box, and (7) recycling the corrugated boxes. The results showed that the carbon footprint values could be reduced from 260 to 233 g CO₂e per pack of 50 g net weight. These strategies could also reduce the impacts on water scarcity by 84%, freshwater eutrophication by 57%, cancer human health effects by at least 30%, and land use by 3%. The results confirmed that the life cycle design minimizing the carbon footprint value did not shift the impact from global warming to other environmental concerns.