To source food ingredients produced by best practice, reducing food loss in the processing line and implementation of new technologies are some examples of changes in the management in the food and drink sector that may offer advantages from a sustainability perspective. There are several tools and methods for evaluating sustainability for a food processing technology but often specific methodological knowledge is essential and many companies may not be able to carry out such a study due to time constraints and lack of data. The aim of this paper is to provide a tool with the format of a qualitative sustainability checklist, based on existing Life Cycle Assessment theory. The checklist is devoted to the design and adaptation of processing in the food industry to clarify the potential hot spots in new process design and is focused on environmental sustainability, although other aspects were conferred as well to demonstrate its potential. To identify the potential of this kind of checklist, it was tested by four food companies. The participant feedback was in general positive. The companies highlighted the benefits of creating awareness of sustainability issues within the company and providing a good overview without data collection. From a scientific point of view, the approach can help to overcome several challenges in sustainability assessment in the agri-food sector, especially some modeling issues and spatio-temporal resolution. © 2018 The Authors