EAPA is the European Animal Protein Association, founded in 1988 to represent companies that specialize in the production and supply of high quality natural animal proteins.
They reached out to us to align their environmental impact data of Plasma and Hemoglobin powder to the Agri-footprint database.
These datasets were previously published in the GFLI database as representative for the European animal protein sector. The datasets are now publicly available.
The ingredients in scope consist of fractionated and spray-dried proteins derived from animal blood. Within the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, these products represent a critical category of circular resource recovery, where high-value biological co-products are reclaimed from the meat processing chain to provide functional nutrition in feed applications.
The blood raw material is separated into two primary functional fractions, each with distinct nutritional and environmental profiles:
Plasma Protein: A highly functional fraction rich in proteins and health properties. It is characterized by its superior gelation and is also often used as a high-quality protein source for young animals (e.g., piglets) due to its high digestibility and immunological support.
Hemoglobin: It serves as a highly concentrated protein source (typically > 90% protein) with an excellent amino acid profile.
From a sustainability perspective, blood-derived products are modelled as co-products of the meat industry, categorized as Cat.3 material appropriate for feed. Their environmental impact is determined by specific allocation rules; mass, economic, and energy – all modelled for Agri-footprint integration. When economic allocation is applied (a widely accepted allocation method in feed LCA), no value is considered at the point of production, entailing that no environmental burden is carried by upstream life cycle stages, such as feed production and animal farming.
The transition from liquid blood to a stable, dehydrated powder provides substantial sustainability and longevity benefits in the downstream supply chain:
Concentration Factor: Liquid blood consists of approximately 80% water. The spray-drying process removes this weight, allowing for a significant increase in transport efficiency.
Shelf Stability: Unlike raw animal co-products, the resulting powders are shelf-stable at ambient temperatures, eliminating the high energy footprint of the cold chain (refrigerated or frozen transport and storage).
The environmental footprint data of EAPA Plasma & Hemoglobin are now publicly available as Agri-footprint 7 aligned dataset.
The life cycle inventory (LCI) is available as .csv file, which can be imported into the SimaPro LCA software.
Do you have questions about the datasets? Or interested in Agri-footprint aligned datasets for your products? Get in touch with Elena.