Environmental sustainability in dairy production: A comparative life cycle assessment of conventional and ozone-based ripening for ‘Toma Piemontese’ raw milk cheese
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Type
article
Volume
13
Issue
5
Abstract
Ozone technology enhances cheese ripening, thereby improving shelf life, food safety, and reducing waste.
Traditional methods, such as manual brushing for controlling microbial growth, are time-consuming and less
effective than modern techniques such as gaseous ozone treatment. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was
applied to compare the environmental impacts of a conventional and an innovative ozone system for Toma
Piemontese cheese ripening. Our analysis includes three functional units (FU). Results show small differences in
the ecological footprints of the compared systems for 1 kg of ripened cheese, with slight increases in impacts for
the innovative system in non-carcinogenic toxicity (+4.0 %) and fine particulate matter formation (+2.0 %).
Ozone treatment extends the shelf life of cheese by 21 days, leading to about a 25 % reduction in overall impact
per lifespan unit compared to the conventional system. Despite a 32.1 % increase in technology investment,
automation leads to notable operational savings, improving environmental and economic performance.
Accordingly, the innovative system reduces supply costs and improves energy efficiency, improving its impacts
per economic unit by 8.2 % compared to those of the conventional system. In general, findings reveal that energy
for thermal conditioning remains a major contributor to the ecological footprints of both systems. We argue that
the innovative system offers clear ecological, economic, and social benefits, positioning ozone technology as a
viable solution for sustainable production, especially for raw milk cheeses. However, future research should
explore consumer acceptance of ozone technology and the integration of renewable energy sources to further
improve sustainability.
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Environmental sustainability in dairy production A comparative life cycle.pdf
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