RIMINI, Italy – The first manufacturing sector in Europe, agri-food, has a value – from Lisbon to Warsaw – of 1.2 trillion euros. Nevertheless, there´s still a long way to go to acquire greater environmental and social sustainability. From the role played by cities to the new awareness of consumers, Italian Exhibition Group´s Sigep – The Dolce World Expo, being held at Rimini expo centre until 16th March, hosted in the Vision Plaza dedicated to the development scenarios of the foodservice sector a talk dedicated to sustainability as the driver for out-of-home growth.
Discussions were between Fabio Fava, Director of the Interdepartmental Centre Alma Mater Institute on Healthy Planet of the University of Bologna, Daniele Fattibene, researcher with the Istituto Affari Internazionali, and Cecilia Manget, Head of Foodservice Europe with market research company The NPD Group.
At the opening talk of the 43rd edition of Sigep, it was the pandemic that gave the interpretation of a breakthrough that has remained incomplete. Manget states, ´If 69% of consumers believe that foodservice must dedicate greater commitment to sustainability, the principles expressed in words are not matched by individual behaviour.
The use of individual portions and disposable packaging has returned to plastic. To eliminate the effects of this, it is necessary to re-think menus and products, communication and packaging to achieve sustainable deliveries.´
And, as Italian Exhibition Group CEO Corrado Peraboni reminded attendees, it is an expo like Sigep that represents ´the meeting point between supply and demand, decisive for the entire dolce foodservice chain, informed on the trends to apply noble principles such as that of sustainability, in day to day work.´ And just as consumers´ awareness has to reckon with the necessities imposed by the pandemic, cities also play a decisive role.
Daniele Fattibene, researcher with the Istituto Affari Internazionali reminded that ´It is necessary to feed a growing population, particularly in cities. More than half the world´s population lives there and over 70% of the food produced is consumed there.
Access to healthy nourishing food is not the same all over the world. Our task is to avoid leaving anybody behind.´ Inequality is thus a question of places on the planet, cities pollute but it is from cities that the impact of a different approach on behalf of consumers becomes incisive.
Fabio Fava suggests, ´Let´s imagine the planet like a spaceship and think that it currently carries 7.7 billion passengers, who could reach 10 billion in 2050. This means much raw material and energy used and much waste produced. Agri-food is responsible for a third of climate changing emissions and the loss of biodiversity. Europe´s ´Farm to Fork´ strategy has the aim of inverting this trend and the Italian Agri-food Cluster is moving in the same direction.´
