Sustainable diets and biodiversity

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Abstract

Food and drink products play a central and funda-

mental role in daily life. Every day, some 4 80 million

EU citizens rely on high quality food for their nutrition,

health and well-being. The food and drink industry

is the largest manufacturing sector in Europe with

an annual turnover of€954 billion^1 and a leading

manufacturing sector in Italy: with a turnover of

€ 1 24 billion it is, along with agriculture, induced

activity and distribution, the central element of the

first economic sector of the country.^2

There is an increasing societal awareness of the

opportunities to improve the quality of life through

healthy eating and of the contribution that sustain-

able production can make to improvement of the

overall environment. The preferences of consumers

for quality, convenience, diversity and health, and

their justifiable expectations of safety, ethics and

sustainable food production serve to highlight the

opportunities for innovation.

As a response to these requirements Federali-

mentare, while already involved in the coordination

of the European Technological Platform “Food for

Life”, has started up, together with the University of

Bologna, ENEA, INRAN, the National Technology

Platform “Italian Food for Life”.

1. The food and drink industry^3
   The food and drink industry is the largest manufac-
   turing sector in Europe with an annual turnover of
   €954 billion, half of which is generated by SMEs. The
   sector employs some 4.2 million people and is highly
   fragmented comprising some 310 000 companies,
   99.1 percent of which are SMEs having less than 5 0
   employees.
   The Italian food and drink industry is one of the
   pillars of our national economy, representing the
   second manufacturing industry of our country with
   a turnover of 124 billion euros (of which 21 in export)
   and 32 300 companies – of which 6 500 with more
   than 9 employees and 2 600 with more than 1 9

employees – with over 41 0 000 employees.

Along with agriculture, induced activity and distribution,

the food and drink industry is the central element of

the first economic sector of the country. Industry buys

and processes 70 percent of the national agricultural

raw materials and is generally recognized as the

ambassador of Made in Italy in the world considering

that almost 80 percent of the Italian agrofood export

is represented by high quality industry brands.

Table 1.The Italian food and drink industry.

(Data and estimates Federalimentare, 2010)

The sector can claim several important factors and

its image is a heritage extremely appreciated in

Europe and in the world, divided in an enviable range

of high-quality products and on a wide series of

products of protected or controlled designation of

origin which are leading in the international markets.

It is a success due to the strict bonds of the Italian

food and drink production with land and with the

cultural heritage of Italy, and due to the safety

standards, along with the ability to mix tradition and

innovation of processes and of products. This is the

reason why the sector is the target of a wide range

of actions of imitation and forgery, especially on rich

and demanding markets, like the American and the

North European ones.

Nevertheless, in spite of these positive figures, the

food and drink industry is penalized by some

structural gaps that hold down its growth and its

capacity to compete. The main factor that penalizes

the growth of the food and drink industry is the

(^1) Source: CIAA data and Trends 2010
(^2) Source: Data and estimates Federalimentare 2010
(^3) Source: Data and estimates Federalimentare 2010.
TURNOVER
EMPLOYMENT
NUMBER OF COMPANIES
EXPORT
IMPORT
TRADE BALANCE
124 bln C
410.000
32.3000 of which
6.500 companies >9 employees
2.600 companies >19 employees
21 bln C
17 bln C
4 bln C
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