Cradle-to-Gate Water-Related Impacts on Production of Traditional Food Products in Malaysia

Modern technology and life-style advancements have increased the demand for clean water. Based on this trend it is expected that our water resources will be under stress leading to a high probability of scarcity. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of selected traditional food manufacturing products namely: tempe, lemang, noodle laksam, fish crackers and salted fish in Malaysia. The cradle-to-gate approach on water footprint assessment (WFA) of these selected traditional food products was carried out using Water Footprint Network (WFN) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Freshwater eutrophication (FEP), marine eutrophication (MEP), freshwater ecotoxicity (FETP), marine ecotoxicity (METP) and water consumption (WCP), LCA were investigated using ReCiPe 2016 methodology. Water footprint accounting of blue water footprint (WFblue), green water footprint (WFgreen) and grey water footprint (WFgrey) were established in this study. It was found that total water footprint for lemang production was highest at 3862.13 m3/ton. The lowest total water footprint was found to be fish cracker production at 135.88 m3/ton. Blue water scarcity (WSblue) and water pollution level (WPL) of these selected food products were also determined to identify the environmental hotspots. Results in this study showed that the WSblue and WPL of these selected food products did not exceed 1%, which is considered sustainable. Based on midpoint approach adopted in this study, the characterization factors for FEP, MEP, FETP, METP and WCP on these selected food products were evaluated. It is recommended that alternative ingredients or product processes be designed in order to produce more sustainable lemang.