Co-products from meat processing: the allocation issue

Allocation of the environmental burdens to the co-products generated in the meat processing sector is a methodological issue. A study was undertaken on six animal species (beef, veal, lamb, kid goat, pork, broiler) to identify the co-products generated at slaughtering and cutting stages. The status (waste or co-product) and destination of each co-product were defined. Their masses as well as their physical composition (dry matter, protein, fat and energy contents) were quantified. A sensitivity analysis was performed on seven kinds of allocation rules in order to propose the most appropriate for the meat sector: mass, dry matter content, energy, protein, fat content, a combination of the fat and protein contents, and the economic value. This led us to propose the allocation on the basis of dry matter, which corresponds to the content in fat and protein, and consequently is appropriate to reflect all the co-products functions.