The following participated in the survey on the relationship between the food industry and sustainability: Acetificio Carandini, Acetifici Italiani Modena, Acetum, Alcass, Alce Nero & Mielizia, Amadori, Barilla, Birra Peroni, Bolton Alimentari, Centrale del latte di Vicenza, Consorzio Latterie Virgilio, Crastan, Curtiriso, Ekaf, Ferrero, Generale Conserve, Igor, Illycaffè, Industrie Alimentari Rolli, Jolly Sgambaro, La ttebusche, Montello Dairy, Merano Cooperative Dairy, Mareblu, Mec, Meggle Italia, Menz & Gasser, Monari Federzoni, Mutti, Nestlè Waters Italia, Pizzoli, Principi di Porcia and Brugnera, Salcheto Agricultural Society, Trentofrutta, Unipeg, Valledoro.
During the greeting, the President of CSQA Luigino Draws underlined that " the European and Italian agri-food sector cannot afford to lose the challenge of sustainability, especially in this period in which our products are spreading in markets that are increasingly attentive to this issue ".
The results of the survey were presented by Francesca Zecca of GreenBusiness and Michele Crivellaro of CSQA Certificazioni. The survey, carried out between December 2012 and April 2013 on a sample of 36 companies, heterogeneous by sector and size, highlighted a widespread interest in corporate sustainability issues but above all in products throughout their life cycle. 58% of respondents said being sustainable stimulates innovation and 56% said they use green claims on products or intend to do so soon.
For 94% of the companies interviewed, interest in sustainability issues is a growing demand from consumers. In the environmental field, there is strong attention to LCA (life cycle), Carbon Footprint and Waterfootprint, while in the social field, the issue of health and safety in the workplace and the health and nutrition issues of specific consumer segments prevail (e.g. gluten-free, etc.).
The General Manager of CSQA Certificazioni, Pietro Bonato, underlined how "for companies operating in contexts such as the European one, which cannot rely on privileged or low-cost access to production factors such as energy, labor and raw materials, the competition is played out in the field of innovation".
Sustainability is also the subject of attention at the level of international standardization (ISO). In fact, two important certifiable standards are being defined: ISO 14067 on product carbon footprint and ISO 14046 on water footprint . Therefore, sustainability is an opportunity that can find in product certification a guarantee tool both at company and product level.
The conference ended with a round table attended by Alessandro Irico (Quality Assurance Manager of Curtiriso), Pierantonio Sgambaro (General Manager of Jolly Sgambaro), Fabrizio Guidetti (President of Unipeg), Guido Bragadini (Commercial Manager of Industrie Rolli Alimentari-Paren) and Silvia Lazzarin (Marketing & Communication Manager of Latteria Montello).
The experiences presented confirmed two important aspects: sustainability must be an integral part of the overall corporate strategy and environmental product certification is a fundamental element for making external communication more transparent and credible.
Subsequently, in the Jolly Sgambaro stand, the President L. Disegno officially delivered the EPD environmental product certificate to Pierantonio Sgambaro, who celebrated this new and important milestone and 10 years of "Italian Durum Wheat" product certification .