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Sustainability
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Sustainable Evaluation and Competitiveness in Food Production
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Sustainable Evaluation and Competitiveness in Food Production

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 11653

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Giuliana Vinci

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Guest Editor
Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: food quality; certification; LCA, ISO 14000; food sustainability; environmental impacts analysis; life-cycle assessment; life-cycle costing; carbon footprint; food safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Roberto Ruggieri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: technological innovation; customer satisfaction; total quality management typicality of Made in Italy food; new technologies of Industry 4.0; eco-innovation and sustainability
Dr. Mattia Rapa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: food quality; food safety; nanoparticles; nanomaterials; analytical chemistry; chemometrics; experimental design; multivariate analysis; sustainability; life cycle assessment; LCA; life cycle costing; LCC
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Cecilia Silvestri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of “Tuscia” of Viterbo, Department of Economics and Management (DEIM), Via del Paradiso, 47, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: quality of goods, products and services; developing studies and research on the quality according to the approaches of “Total Quality Management” and standards “ISO 9000”; relationship between quality and consumers, with particular reference to satisfaction and loyalty; quality, innovation, and technology transfer, with particular attention to the role of technological innovation for sustainability; circular economy and sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to invite you to participate in this Special Issue of Sustainability titled “Sustainable Evaluation and Competitiveness in  Food Production”. The agri-food sector is one of the most impactful worldwide. For this reason, it is necessary that the entire agri-food supply chain begins to be more sustainable throughout the entire production process (from raw material procurement to waste management). There are many tools to assess the sustainability of processes and products. Although the impacts associated with food production can also be assessed using spatial methods or methods based on point of production, life-cycle assessment (LCA) and the tools deriving from it (e.g., life-cycle costing, carbon footprint, water footprint) are widely used to evaluate the sustainability and competitiveness of food production. This Special Issue focuses on reviews, research papers, communications, and short notes regarding all aspects of sustainable food production. The sustainable use and extraction of raw materials, new food production processes, the technical and technological innovation of production processes, Industry 4.0, sustainable packaging, new materials and bio-materials for packaging, waste recovery and valorization, the use of by-products as raw materials for other processes, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, and the sustainability of food distribution (digital transformation, block chain) are all examples of topics that may be included in this Special Issue. However, papers on other aspects of the sustainability and competitiveness of food production are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Giuliana Vinci
Dr. Roberto Ruggieri
Dr. Mattia Rapa
Dr. Cecilia Silvestri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Food sustainability
  • Food production
  • Sustainability evaluation in food production
  • Competitiveness in food production
  • Life-cycle assessment (LCA)
  • Life-cycle costing (LCC)
  • Carbon footprint
  • Water footprint
  • Social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA)
  • Social organization life-cycle assessment (SO-LCA)

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1911 KiB  
Article
Sustainability Assessment of Different Extra Virgin Olive Oil Extraction Methods through a Life Cycle Thinking Approach: Challenges and Opportunities in the Elaio-Technical Sector
by Donatella Restuccia, Sabrina Antonia Prencipe, Marco Ruggeri and Umile Gianfranco Spizzirri
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15674; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315674 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1963
Abstract
Owing to its important nutritional features, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is one of the world’s highest-value products, mostly manufactured in Mediterranean countries. However, its production exerts several negative environmental effects, mainly related to the agricultural phase (and the use of fertilizers, pesticides, [...] Read more.
Owing to its important nutritional features, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is one of the world’s highest-value products, mostly manufactured in Mediterranean countries. However, its production exerts several negative environmental effects, mainly related to the agricultural phase (and the use of fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) and waste management. Olive oil can be extracted from the olive paste using different extraction systems, including pressure, centrifugation, and percolation. In particular, EVOO by-product composition strictly depends on the extraction technologies, and two- or three-phase centrifugal extraction methods are usually employed. Therefore, due to olive oil’s economic value, it might be useful to investigate its environmental impacts, to advise sustainable supply chain models. In this context, a valuable tool for assessing the product’s environmental compatibility is the Life Cycle Assessment, which is part of a broader Life Cycle Thinking philosophy. This research focused on evaluating the EVOO environmental impact by comparing two- and three-phases extraction processes. Additionally, two scenarios, (i.e., composting and bio-gasification), were proposed to assess the best valorisation strategy for the produced pomace. The results showed that the two-step extraction process was more sustainable than the three-step one in nine out of nine considered impact categories. By milling 1000 kg of olives, the first technology approximately produces 212 kg CO2 eq, the latter 396 kg CO2 eq. Finally, pomace valorisation by bio-gasification was found as the best recovery process, able to confer greater environmental benefit than composting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Evaluation and Competitiveness in Food Production)
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16 pages, 2446 KiB  
Article
Environmental Impact Assessment of an Organic Wine Production in Central Italy: Case Study from Lazio
by Giuliana Vinci, Sabrina Antonia Prencipe, Ada Abbafati and Matteo Filippi
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15483; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215483 - 21 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3963
Abstract
Growing awareness of environmental sustainability in the agri-food sector has enhanced the gradual shift toward less-impactful food and organic production systems. In 2021, nearly three million hectolitres of organic wine were produced which accounted for 6% of the whole wine production in Italy [...] Read more.
Growing awareness of environmental sustainability in the agri-food sector has enhanced the gradual shift toward less-impactful food and organic production systems. In 2021, nearly three million hectolitres of organic wine were produced which accounted for 6% of the whole wine production in Italy (50.2 million hectolitres); thus, registering an increase of almost 60% in the last three years. The economic and cultural importance attributed to Italian wine production worldwide represents a key factor to assess and reduce the environmental burdens associated with the activities of this industry. Furthermore, literature studies have highlighted consumer sensitivity for sustainable winemaking processed, and there is even a trend towards eco-friendly wines. In particular, the bottling stage has been identified as an impactful stage for the environmental performance of the wine life cycle. This study examined the environmental impact assessment of organic wine production in the Lazio region, by performing a “cradle-to-gate” approach according to the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. High-quality inventory data for one year of operation was obtained directly from the farming company, “Tenute Filippi” (Cori, Lazio, Italy), and the wine process considered the input from grape cultivation to the winery phases. In these regards, the study also provided an impact assessment for the primary packaging of a 0.75 L wine bottle, with contributions from the different life cycle stages. The results showed a total amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of 1.1 kg CO2 eq, that are responsible for climate change. Referring to the individual production input, the primary packaging phase accounted for 55% of the total GHGs, with 0.86 kg CO2 eq per bottle, followed by agricultural fuel use for grape production and harvesting activities, with 0.30 kg CO2 eq. Building on these results, the study provides recommendations on the selection of the most significant and relevant indicators for the environmental life cycle impact assessment, thus, identifying possible hotspots in the wine sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Evaluation and Competitiveness in Food Production)
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Review

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17 pages, 1163 KiB  
Review
A Review on Life Cycle Assessment of the Olive Oil Production
by Mattia Rapa and Salvatore Ciano
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 654; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020654 - 07 Jan 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4955
Abstract
Olive oil is one of the most globally recognized high-value products, with 4 million hectares cultivated in the Mediterranean area. The production process involves many stages: farming, extraction, packing, and waste treatment. Each one of these stages should present critical points for the [...] Read more.
Olive oil is one of the most globally recognized high-value products, with 4 million hectares cultivated in the Mediterranean area. The production process involves many stages: farming, extraction, packing, and waste treatment. Each one of these stages should present critical points for the environmental impacts, and for this reason, the entire sector is adopting mitigation strategies to begin to be more sustainable. The mitigation actions’ efficiency should be evaluated through environmental indicators or environmental impact assessment by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This review aimed to carry out an overview of recent papers (2011–2021) involving an LCA study in the olive oil supply chain by giving a framework of what is included in LCA studies and highlighting the main contributors to environmental impacts. The main scholarly literature databases have been exploited, highlighting a great increase in publications, especially from the producer countries. The review results reflect the heterogeneity of the production process. However, the use of pesticides, fertilizers, water, and fuel for machinery heavily weigh on the farming stage’s environmental impact. Finally, special focus was given to key elements of LCA studies in the olive oil supply chain, such as functional unit, system boundaries, impact categories, calculation method, and software widely used. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Evaluation and Competitiveness in Food Production)
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