From October 12 to 15, 2026, Montréal hosted the 15th International LCA Food Conference, dedicated to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of food systems. Chaired by Professor Anne-Marie Boulay, General Director of CIRAIG, this edition brought together more than 400 participants from 41 countries, with 120 presentations and 182 posters.
Research to better assess the sustainability of food systems
The presentations and discussions highlighted several methodological advances and emerging issues in LCA. Topics included the representativeness of inventory data, improvements in toxicity assessment, and the consideration of soil biodiversity.
For the first time, the research presented also brought packaging and other sources of plastic leakage into the discussion on sustainable food, with a panel dedicated to the topic on the final day. The valorization of unconventional marine resources and the trade-offs between fish destined for human consumption and for animal feed were also addressed, and several discussions underscored the importance of integrating social, nutritional and animal welfare dimensions to assess the sustainability of food systems more broadly.
A collective effort and emerging researchers in the spotlight
The organization of this edition relied on the dedication of the organizing teams, volunteers, committees and partners, whom CIRAIG warmly thanks.
Finally, the Kiyotada Hayashi Awards, named in honour of the LCA Food Scientific Committee member who passed away a few weeks before the conference and sponsored by EarthShift Global, recognized the best student presentations and posters. Nora Schelte, from the Ghent University Doctoral School, and Ionică Drăgan, from INAF – Université Laval, received the first and second presentation prizes, respectively. For the posters, Jonathan Gagnon, from INAF – Université Laval, won first prize, followed by Océane Cailhol, from CIRAIG at Polytechnique Montréal.
The next edition of LCA Food will take place in Helsinki, Finland, from September 3 to 7, 2028.
