2.2. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)

The MD input data were processed based on the LARN (2018) [17], respecting the portions and the weekly consumption frequency for each product belonging to the different food groups. As for the national consumption, the quantity in g/per capita/week was obtained from the consumption data of kg/per capita/year [23], giving 10,230 g of food per week/per capita, divided as in Figure 2. The values obtained were then normalized to the functional unit of 14,000 kcal and used as input to compare the MD and Italian consumption (Regarding random foods, even if an occasional consumption is recommended, as 1–2 times a month, they have been considered in the weekly calculation of calories to represent the average better). Table 1 shows the input and output data for the Mediterranean nutritional model and the 2019 CIFP. Generic input processes and flow were obtained from Agribalyse v3.0.1 [30], Ecoinvent v3.8 [31], and World Food LCA Database (WFLDB) v3.5 [32] datasets.

Weekly distribution of foods consumed in Italy (2019) by food groups (ISTAT, 2021).

Life cycle inventory of Mediterranean diet (MD) and current Italian food patterns (CIFP) in 2019.