Life cycle assessment of importing canned tuna into Aruba through different supply chains, in varying can sizes and in oils, brine or tomato sauce

About 82% of the seafood consumed in Aruba is imported. Among canned fish products, tuna is consumed mostly. The purpose of this research was to compare the environmental impact of different types of canned tuna, and to identify environmental hotspots within the supply chains. Three comparisons were made: between three different supply chains (brands) of canned tuna, between six different accompanying liquids (oils, brine, and tomato sauce), and between small and large cans.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the environmental impact of “1 kg edible tuna at the distribution center in Aruba, including packaging,” from the fishing stage until the distribution center in Aruba. An Agribalyse tuna model was selected as the basis of the models and was adjusted in SimaPro. Adjusted processes were tuna species consumption mix, electricity mix during canning, size of cans, packaging, sea, and truck transport, accompanying liquids, and storage. Added processes were transport in country of origin, and use of frozen loins (for one supply chain).

Generally speaking, the observed differences in environmental impact in the three different comparisons were quite small. After normalization, seven environmental impact indicators were selected as most relevant. Environmental hotspots were usually related to diesel combustion on the fishing vessel, or to steel production in the canning stage. Although packaging was modelled with attention to detail, and sea transport was modelled with attention to detail for the used vessels and vessel characteristics, these were not one of the environmental hotspots.

Although differences in environmental impact were quite small, most outstanding were that canned tuna that had the longest and partly frozen sea transport supply chain had the highest environmental impact. Preference should be given to local canning activities instead of shipping frozen tuna over long distances before canning. Furthermore, large cans always had a lower environmental impact compared to small cans. From a hospitality or consumer point of view, it can be recommended to select larger can sizes where practically possible. The choice of tuna canned in tomato sauce, oil, or brine would necessitate an analysis including the subsequent steps, for example, tuna canned in tomato sauce may be part of a meal as such, while tuna canned in brine may be prepared, after opening the can, with another warm or cold sauce, which would lead to additional separate impacts for these sauces.