Dataset on the Life Cycle Assessment of 44 artisanally produced French Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses

We used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of 44 French cheeses that benefit from Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) certification. Our assessments took into account all steps from milk production to the end of the ripening period and the functional unit used was 1 kg of fully ripened cheese. For each cheese, data were collected on all aspects of the process using PDO specifications, technical datasheets, scientific literature, and three expert opinions. Inventories for milk production were obtained from AGRIBALYSE 3.0 and background inventories (electricity mix, gas production, materials, transport, water, cleaning products) were obtained from the Ecoinvent 3.6 database. Simapro software was used to perform all LCAs, using the characterization method "EF 3.0 Method (adapted) V1.00 / EF 3.0 normalisation and weighting set". Our final dataset contains details on products, life cycle inventories (LCI), and LCIA results.