Ashley Green

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Green

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Ashley

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0000-0003-4838-064X

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Publications 1 - 10 of 16

Using nutrient profiling algorithms to compare nutritionally-invested environmental impacts of cow ’s milk and plant-based beverages
Green, Ashley; Nemecek, Thomas; Mathys, Alexander (2022)
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food (LCA Foods 2022)
Recent findings on environmental sustainability and conversion efficiency of waste-to-protein pathways
Siegrist, Armin; Green, Ashley; Gold, Moritz; et al. (2023)
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Research on the environmental sustainability and nutrient conversion efficiency of bioconversion technologies applied in waste-to-protein pathways is relevant from an early development stage on to identify optimal applications. This review summarizes the recent advances and remaining issues in this emerging research field. While black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) have been intensively studied, various other technologies such as other insect species, bacteria, fungi, microalgae, and worms, are currently underrepresented. Regarding environmental sustainability, which is mainly studied through life cycle assessment, the choice of functional unit is highly relevant for overall outcomes and comparability. Additionally, decisions on the burden of input materials and process substitution strongly influence the overall results. Substrates composed of different residual biomass streams strongly influence the process efficiency of BSFL, which is commonly expressed in feed conversion and protein efficiency rates. In contrast, residual biomass type, protein content, and amino acid profile are of minor importance for the protein composition of BSFL. Overall, the large variability of residual biomass types and bioconversion technologies necessitates better methodological alignment to produce comparable results across studies that collectively support decision-making.
A proposed framework to guide the use of nutrient indices in environmental life cycle assessments
Green, Ashley; Nemecek, Thomas; Mathys, Alexander (2022)
Planetary Health Annual Meeting: Research, Project, & Lighting Talk Abstracts 2022
A framework to guide method advancement in nutrient profiling algorithms for application in holistic life cycle assessment
Green, Ashley; Nemecek, Thomas; Mathys, Alexander (2023)
Valorization of cocoa pod side streams improves nutritional and sustainability aspects of chocolate
Mishra, Kim; Green, Ashley; Burkard, Johannes; et al. (2024)
Nature Food
Chocolate production faces nutritional, environmental and socio-economic challenges present in the conventional cocoa value chain. Here we developed an approach that addresses these challenges by repurposing the often-discarded pectin-rich cocoa pod endocarp and converting it into a gel. This is done using cocoa pulp juice concentrate to replace traditional sugar from sugar beets. Although swelling of fibres, proteins and starches can limit gel incorporation, our proposed chocolate formulation contains up to 20 wt% gel. It also has comparable sweet taste as traditional chocolate while offering improved nutritional value with higher fibre and reduced saturated fatty acid content. A cradle-to-factory life cycle assessment shows that large-scale production of this chocolate could reduce land use and global warming potential compared with average European dark chocolate production. The process also provides opportunities for diversification of farmers’ income and technology transfer, offering potential socio-economic benefits for cocoa-producing regions.
The price and nutritional value of meat and milk substitutes on the European market
Siegrist, Armin; Green, Ashley; Michel, Fabienne; et al. (2024)
Overconsumption of animal-sourced foods contributes to environmental and health problems, making a dietary shift essential. One approach is producing substitutes from alternative proteins. However, substitute products should match the nutritional value of animal-sourced foods while being price competitive. This study presents a dataset containing the prices, ingredients, and nutritional composition of almost 2600 substitute products and prices of approximately 7500 conventional products from European supermarket chains. Meat substitutes generally contain more dietary fiber and less saturated fats compared to conventional meat while having lower protein quality and excess salt and sugar. Further, only soy-based milk substitutes have favorable nutritional profiles. Fortification rates among all substitute types should be increased to ensure sufficient micronutrient supply. On average, meat substitutes are 24 to 115 percent more expensive compared to conventional meat, except in Germany, where they are equally priced. Milk substitutes cost on average 35 to 58 percent more than cow’s milk.
Guidelines for environmental life cycle assessment of cultivated meat
Blackstone, Nicole Tichenor; Pavlova, Anisiya; Trinidad, Kirsten R.; et al. (2025)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Purpose Cultivated meat is produced by growing animal cells in vitro without using, or reducing the use of, animals for meat, poultry, or seafood production. Responsibly and consistently investigating the environmental impacts of cultivated meat is essential to provide reliable performance benchmarks and realistic comparisons with animal-based production systems. In this contribution, we provide technical, actionable guidelines for conducting life cycle assessments (LCAs) of cultivated meat and highlight further research needs for the field. Methods We assembled a global team of recognized and active scientists in cultivated meat LCA, livestock systems LCA, and ISO LCA standards to develop this set of guidelines using a workshop (in person and online) and online meetings, as well as asynchronous feedback, to reach consensus. Results and discussion These guidelines provide specifications throughout the four phases of LCA, from goal definition to the interpretation of LCA results. Data gaps, including the availability and quality of feed or food-grade culture media component inventories, are among the areas highlighted for further exploration. Conclusion We invite LCA practitioners to apply these guidelines when investigating cultivated meat systems to increase the consistency and reliability of environmental impact evaluations for these emerging products.
Optimization models for sustainable insect production chains
Mouhrim, Nisrine; Peguero, Daniela A.; Green, Ashley; et al. (2023)
Journal of Insects as Food and Feed
Insect value chains are a complex system with non-linear links between many economic, environmental, and social variables. Multi-objective optimization (MOO) algorithms for finding optimal options for complex system functioning can provide a valuable insight in the development of sustainable insect chains. This review proposes a framework for MOO application that is based on gradual implementation, beginning with factors that have an immediate impact on insect production (feed qualities, resource utilization, yield), and progressing to integrated units (environmental, social, and economic impacts). The review introduces the key hotspots of insect production chains, which have been developed in suitable MOO objectives. They represent aspects of resource use, feed quality and its conversion by insects, labor safety and wage fairness, as well as environmental impacts. The capacity of the suggested MOO framework to describe all facets of sustainability may have certain limits. To determine the framework’s applicability and the specific MOO algorithms that can perform the function, modeling and further testing on real insect production chains would be necessary for the intended objectives.
Comparing the nutritional value and prices of meat and milk substitutes with their animal-based benchmarks across six European countries
Siegrist, Armin; Green, Ashley; Michel, Fabienne; et al. (2024)
Food Research International
Since overconsumption of animal-sourced foods is directly linked to multiple environmental and health issues, a dietary shift is imperative. One approach to facilitate this change is the production of substitutes for animal-sourced foods based on plant-based or novel ingredients. However, to be a valid alternative, substitute products must match animal-sourced foods regarding their nutritional value while being price competitive. To understand where substitutes currently stand in that regard, this study presents a novel dataset containing the prices, main ingredients, and nutritional composition of almost 2600 substitute products as well as prices of approximately 7500 conventional products sold in major supermarket chains in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Although comparative analyses (non-parametric two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum tests at a 5 % significance level) of the results indicate that the meat substitutes generally contain a higher level of dietary fiber with lower saturated fats, these meat substitutes often also have lower protein quality and higher salt and sugar levels than the conventional products. On average, meat substitutes were found to be 24 to 115 % more expensive compared to conventional meat, except for the German samples where price parity has been reached. Among milk substitutes, only soy-based products have favorable macronutrient profiles. The average price premium charged for milk substitutes compared to cows’ milk is 35 to 58 %. In general, fortification rates of substitutes should be increased to ensure sufficient supplies of micronutrients, particularly among meat substitutes where fortification rates are below 20% except for the Netherlands. Following these results, certain individual products already provide high nutritional value at low costs. However, further improvements are required for substitutes to become a compelling alternative at each scale.
A proposed framework to develop nutrient profiling algorithms for assessments of sustainable food: the metrics and their assumptions matter
Green, Ashley; Nemecek, Thomas; Mathys, Alexander (2023)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Purpose To holistically assess the sustainability of our global and local food systems, we need methods that combine environmental and nutritional/health dimensions. One option is nutritional life cycle assessment in which a nutrient or health metric is incorporated into standard environmental life cycle assessment. Measuring nutritional and environmental outcomes in tandem can help elucidate new results that can aid farmers, policymakers, industry, and consumers in transitioning to a food system that is more beneficial for our planet and our health. However, the development of nutrient profiling metrics is still ongoing; thus, we develop and test, with case studies, the “points of differentiation” framework to guide the use of these algorithms in sustainability analyses. Methods For each of these “points” in the framework, we provide the current state-of-the-art based on the literature and then offer new insights and recommendations for their use; we do this for different food levels (i.e., production systems, food items, and diets/food supply). We provide an explicit framework for nutrient adequacy metrics, while discussing the framework’s relevance to nutrient diversity and quality metrics. We also test the “points” in this framework using case studies that examine select foods representative of a diet. Results Based on our review, the “points” in this framework to consider include capping, weighting, energy standardization, across-the-board versus group-specific, dietary- and/or context-specific, validation, disqualifying nutrients (e.g., saturated fat), reference amount, processing quality, selection of nutrients/ingredients, interpretation, and data quality. Based on changes in nutrient density scores and rankings, Spearman rank correlations, and Wilcoxon signed rank p-values, the “points” that have the largest effect are energy standardization, dietary specificities when assessing nutrient indices in isolation, as well as capping and disqualifying nutrients, depending on how these are applied. We hope our proposed “points of differentiation” framework can provide new insights into this quickly evolving space by offering structure to improve standardization and transparency. Conclusion The framework provides recommendations for select “points;” nevertheless, there are still many open areas in nutritional life cycle assessment, including food functionality (e.g., processing effects, interaction factors, and bioavailability) and methodological questions related to the use of disqualifying nutrients and interpretation. Moreover, future work should focus on the role of “points” with respect to validation and differences within food groups.

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