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Citation

Napolitano R, Martini A, Martinoli M, Newton R, Pulcini D, Tonachella N & Capoccioni F (2025) Environmental performance of sturgeon caviar production. An LCA study on luxury food. Aquaculture, 608, Art. No.: 742766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2025.742766

Abstract
Concerns about environmental pressures associated with food production also affect luxury products. This study investigated for the first time the environmental performance of caviar production, an aquaculture luxury food, using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and scenario analysis. The case study analysed is representative of the Italian caviar production chain and encompasses four different farmed sturgeon species (Huso huso, Acipenser transmontanus, A. gueldenstaedtii, A. baerii). LCA results showed high variability depending on the species, e.g., the Global Warming (GW) potential ranged between 53.4 and 82.9?kg CO2 eq/kg of caviar. In all cases, feed and energy represented the inputs contributing most to the impacts. The scenario analysis showed that: i) an early genetic sex determination allows a significant reduction in the feed used, resulting in a reduction in impacts (up to – 21.7?% of the impacts associated with Marine Eutrophication-ME); ii) increasing the supply of renewable energy at the farm level is effective but to a different extent depending on the species considered (from – 3.7?% to ?13.9?% of GHG emissions); iii) improving the economic value of the meat co-product allows to redistribute impacts between meat and caviar, whose GW-related impacts would decrease by ?6?% to ?14?% depending on the species.

Keywords
Environmental impact; Co-product; Sustainability; Aquaculture; Life cycle assessment

Journal
Aquaculture: Volume 608