Experimental implementation of the Made Green in Italy Scheme. The hard sheep milk cheese case study

Made Green in Italy scheme (MGI) is an initiative based on the PEF method, aimed to make Made in Italy products to be recognizable on green markets. A screening study was conducted on 4 Sardinian dairy plan- ts to develop an experimental MGI application to Pecorino Romano PDO cheese supply chain. Sheep milk phase resulted the main contributor for all relevant impact categories (over 94%). Benchmark score (1.33E-05 Pt) was calculated adding the normalized and weighted values of the 3 main relevant impact categories (Climate Change, Land Use and Water Scarcity). Three performance classes were defined considering the best and the worst values of life cycle processes: upper threshold was equal to 1.62E-05 Pt and lower threshold was equal to 1.17E-05 Pt. The relevant sheep milk contribution hi- ghlighted the crucial role of sheep farmers for improving the environmental footprint of the Pecorino Romano.