Every year, the Italian National Health Service (NHS) provides about 200,000 celiac people (based on 2017 data) living in Italy with financial support of about 250 million euro to cover the cost of their specific dietary constrains. The existence of gluten-free products of high quality and affordable price is very important for the quality of life of celiac people and the sustainability of public support. Over the last decade, the market for gluten-free products has experienced a dramatic surge, with an increasing shelf space dedicated to these products in supermarkets, and a large variety of products both in terms of kind of agricultural inputs and processing and packaging methods. This study aimed at assessing the offer of gluten-free (GF) pasta in Italian supermarkets, with respect to its ability to meet the needs of celiac people in terms of variety, prices and safety. A hedonic price analysis was performed. Results indicated that GF pasta is sold only in 44% of the 212 stores of the sample, with a price equal to more than twice that of conventional pasta. A premium price was found for the following attributes: small packages, brands specialized in GF products, content in fiber and the presence of quinoa as ingredient.

The goal of the study is to answer the question of whether the current processes of technological change and innovation within the agri-food system could help to increase its sustainability. Four strands of literature are used to unveil the nexus between sustainability and innovation: models of technical change and innovation, sustainability definitions, agroecology as a science and political movement, and the conceptualization of food regimes. The results indicate that innovation processes in the system follow two innovation trajectories, leading to two different food regimes, with opposite effects on sustainability. Since market forces push towards the less sustainable regime, adequate interventions are required in order to assure the sustainability of the system.

The paper addresses political issues related to policy interventions for food system sustainability. It presents the results of a literature review, which explores how the concept of power has been used so far by scholars of food system dynamics. Articles numbering 116 were subjected to an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allowed the identification of three main strands of the literature with respect to food and power issues: (1) marketing and industrial organisation literature, dealing with the economic power exercised by economic actors in contexts of noncompetitive market structures; (2) articles addressing the power issue from a political economy perspective and by using an interdisciplinary approach; (3) heterogenous studies. The results of the review witness a growing interest for the analysis of food systems, political issues, and the need of a wider use of analytical tools and concepts offered by social sciences for the study of power in sustainability policy design.

Food Policy Beyond Neo-Liberalism | InTechOpen, Published on: 2012-03-28. Authors: Valeria Sodano

The article provides new insights into the assessment of food system digitalization by analyzing how the entire process is mainly power-driven rather than the outcome of fair competition among alternative technological patterns. It focuses on the power forces that have accelerated the digital revolution in the food system and how this revolution is enabling certain subjects to exercise old and new forms of power in the economic, political, and geopolitical spheres. The analysis begins with a brief review of food digital technologies and how the existing literature has discussed their possible benefits and risks. It then focuses on the role of agenda power in promoting digitalization and on hegemonic power as the most important form of power produced by digitalization. The aim of the study is to offer a new perspective, based on the analysis of shifts from one form of political power to another, to better analyze the political issues raised by food system digitalization. The results suggest that to resist the negative aspects of digitalization, it is necessary to transform covert conflicts into overt ones and to understand the mechanisms through which the exercise of power blocks the transition from awareness of conflicts to political action.

The paper investigates the causes of the delay in the regulatory process concerning agri-food nanotechnologies. The objective of the paper is to unveil the main forces which are making nanofoods enter the market in a weak regulatory framework, despite their unpredictable effects on health and the environment.