Sustainability and Food Waste: Firm Strategies and Consumer Behaviour

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability of agricultural systems whose ability to produce agricultural raw materials is necessary for human sustenance and has been examined using multiple related approaches. Nowadays, agriculture has been asked to satisfy the increasing food demand in emerging economies while also satisfying the demand for environmentally sustainable products in countries with the most advanced economies. Production systems are required to adopt sustainable approaches in the process of combining production factors.

The concept of sustainability takes on particular importance not only in the context of the production of raw materials—from fresh food processing to food consumption (i.e., from farm to fork)—but is also relevant in the management of waste and byproducts derived from primary production activities. This issue, as linked to the sustainability of agricultural production systems, is fundamental since such waste is often considered useless and, as such, discarded. The accumulation of agricultural waste can result in negative effects for human health and safety as well as for the environment as a whole.

Sustainable management of this waste and the byproducts can become a resource for agriculture in terms of improving the economic conditions of rural and urban areas as well as in improving the environmental balances related to agricultural production processes. In addition, the study of consumer behaviour related to food waste and the acceptance of food products resulting from the recovery of industrial byproducts could contribute to more efficient waste management, thus allowing for a reduction in anthropic impacts and pressure on the environment.

Main Topics

• The management of food waste as differentiation tool in food industry;
• Factors and drivers influencing companies’ willingness to reduce food waste;
• Willingness to accept the re-use of industrial byproducts by food companies;
• Novel approaches to sustainable consumer behaviour;
• Sustainable foods and social media marketing;
• The consumer acceptance of waste-based food products.

Dr. Gaetano Chinnici
Dr. Giuseppe Antonio Di Vita
Guest Editors

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