What is the AGRIBALYSE database?

Since 2010, the AGRIBALYSE® program has produced methodologies and reference data on the environmental assessment of agricultural and food products.

Climate change, ecological crisis: an agricultural and food transition is necessary.

In the service of sustainable food, the AGRIBALYSE® program offers methodologies and a panel of robust data on the environmental impact of agricultural and food products, to improve practices, from field to plate.

Do you have a question about Agribalyse data? Check to see if the information is available on this website, consult the Frequently Asked Questions, and if not, send us a message at [email protected].

AGRIBALYSE® is the most comprehensive French public database of environmental indicators for agricultural and food products based on Life Cycle Assessment.

It provides indicators of the environmental impact of :

• The main agricultural products produced in France,

• the main food products consumed in France.

The database contains data on over 200 agricultural products and over 2,500 ready-to-eat foods. It covers both agricultural products (an apple) and processed products (applesauce, muffins, etc.). It covers also all product categories in the main sectors consumed in France. It includes food products produced abroad and imported (coffee, chocolate, etc.).

Life cycle stages of a food product

The indicators in the database are derived from Life Cycle Analyses. This is a :

• multi-stage, taking into account all phases of the product life cycle,

• multi-criteria, covering the different environmental issues associated with products.

At each stage of the chain, material, energy and pollutant emission balances are drawn up and aggregated in the form of a set of environmental indicators: 16 indicators are provided for each product. These are the indicators recommended by the European Commission (Product Environmental Footprint project).

On average, 50-80% of the environmental impact of a food product occurs during the agricultural production phase. So, for the majority of products (excluding special cases), processing, transport and packaging are less significant than the agricultural production phase. But there is also a great deal of variability at this stage of agricultural production, with a wide variety of production methods and contexts.

It should be noted that all the environmental indicators are calculated for the manufacture of 1 kg of food product.

A single score is also proposed: this is the ‘EF single score’ recommended by the European Commission, calculated with weighting factors for each of the indicators mentioned opposite. The weighting takes into account both the relative robustness of each of these indicators and the environmental issues at stake. This score is an average score, which includes a certain arbitrariness concerning the weighting between the different indicators.

Agribalyse data are based on research and a network of experts

AGRIBALYSE®, this is :

🥕 an open source public database including data for 2500 food products consumed in France, and 200 agricultural raw materials produced in France

🌾 reference methodology for environmental analysis of agricultural and food products

🐔 research works to improve methodologies and data

🐄 a network of experts who supports you in understanding and disseminating the work (documentation, training, technical days)

🌱a dynamic of continuous improvement: the constantly evolving database follows advances in science; it is enriched and updated regularly, and validated within the framework of a partnership ensuring their quality and transparency.

A public database for many uses

All the indicators of the environmental impact of agricultural and food products provided as part of AGRIBALYSE® are published and regularly updated with a view to their widespread use.

The main uses are:

• eco-design by professionals in the agricultural and agri-food sectors (farming profession, agri-food industry, mass distribution, etc.),

• information for consumers and players in the food chain,

• research and education

To find out more about the uses to which the data can be put, visit the dedicated sections:

Eco-design | AGRIBALYSE® documentation (EN)doc.agribalyse.fr

Consumer information | AGRIBALYSE® documentation (EN)doc.agribalyse.fr

From agriculture to food

The gradual construction of the database has involved around a hundred French and international experts in the agricultural, agri-food and environmental sectors. The methodologies and data were developed as part of a partnership to ensure their quality and transparency.

The first version of the database, published in 2014, focused on impacts linked to agricultural production. It was then gradually expanded to include all the sectors and stages in the food chain: processing (ACYVIA project), logistics (storage, transport, distribution), and the culinary preparation of dishes (cooking, defrosting).

Data from other international initiatives (Ecoinvent, World Food Database, Product Environmental Footprint) was also used, particularly for imported products.

For the current version, the main developments were shared between INRAE for the agricultural section and leading Life Cycle Assessment consultancies for the food section (Gingko 21, Sayari, Blonk consultants, P.Koch).

The work is continuing: methodological improvements and the development of new data are expected in the coming years.

Connecting environment and nutrition

To facilitate a cross-disciplinary approach, the food products available in the Agribalyse® database are the same as those in the Ciqual nutritional composition table, published by Anses. The same ingredients and foods are available in Agribalyse® as in the Ciqual nutritional composition table, managed by Anses. Users can therefore carry out cross-analyses on environmental and nutritional issues (comparison by dish, menu or recipe). For the same product, users can find its nutritional composition in the Ciqual table, and its environmental footprint in the Agribalyse® database.

The Ciqual food nutritional composition table is a dataset produced by the French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES). It contains data on the nutritional composition (protein, carbohydrate, lipid, vitamin, mineral content, etc.) of more than 2,800 foods (soon to be 3,000). In the Ciqual table, as in Agribalyse®, we are talking about foods and not product references from a particular brand. For example, we will find plain yoghurt, representative of the overall market offer, and not yoghurt of brand X or Y.