In the food sector, new configurations of supply chains, as opposed to global conventional ones, are drawing the attention of researchers and institutions all over the world. These are presented as a panacea for the recovery of rural economies and, in general, of food system sustainability. In this context the short food supply chains (SFSCs) become relevant, as happens in Europe, where strategies and regulations designed on their implementation were adopted. Recognising that scientific research always plays an important role in guiding institutions’ choices in many fields, it seems important to focus on how SFSCs are considered in the European academic panorama. Therefore, this contribution presents a study performed on a sample of 108 papers published in journals during the last decade. The findings concerning the investigated issues and the approaches to analysing SFSC development and effects are reported from both the producer and consumer perspective. The review strongly emphasizes the factors affecting participation in SFSCs. Moreover, it highlights that the positive perception of SFSC sustainability is not based on scientific evidence. The analysis outlines current research directions and identifies challenges that are still open in order to offer researchers food for thought with a view to developing further future insights.

Purpose: Environmental impact evaluation in the food sector is a key topic, due to both stricter legislations and higher consumer awareness towards sustainable choices. The case of chocolate is a remarkable example, owing to the increasing demand and the complex production process from cocoa beans to final bars. The present study aims at assessing the environmental impacts related to three chocolate types (dark, milk and white) through life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Methods: Consistent with food Product Category Rules (PCRs) and previous LCA literature, the study follows a cradle to grave approach. Among different raw material productions, it focuses above all on cocoa farming assuming three possible producer countries (i.e. Ghana, Ecuador and Indonesia), so that the influence of specific weather conditions and soil properties is underlined. Since the manufacturing step is supposed in the North Italian factory, different transport distances are also taken into account. Moreover, the work focuses on the possible use of several packaging materials and following disposal issues. In view of the open discussion about the most suitable functional unit in food sector, mass and energy amount approaches are compared. Results and discussion: Along chocolate supply chain, different phases are evaluated according to LCA methodology. Among analyzed producer countries: Indonesia monoculture case results to be the most impacting situation, due to an intensive use of agrochemicals; pesticides give a wide contribution in Ecuador, whereas Ghana is penalized by the highest water consumption. The transport of beans to manufacturing plant influences mostly the GWP, owing to long travelled distances. Considering the whole production process, cocoa derivatives and milk powder are the main contributors to every impact category. From packaging point of view, the best solution is the use of a single polypropylene layer. A sensitivity analysis is performed to check the validity of different allocation procedures: both mass and energy content allocations lead to similar results. Conclusions: Through LCA methodology, the life cycle of dark, milk and white chocolate is compared. The study assesses different potential environmental impacts, assuming mass and energy content as possible functional units and references for allocation procedures. For all combinations of functional units and allocation rules, dark chocolate globally presents the best environmental performance, whereas the other two types have similar environmental impacts.

Quality is a multidimensional and transversal concept also in the field of higher education. This and other considerations revealed some problems during application of quality principles to study programmes, emerged from the first accreditation experience in Italy. The objective of this article is to provide a simple self-assessment tool for professors who have to implement study programme quality, in order to understand their position with respect to accreditation requirements. To do this, a general procedure to create the self-evaluation questionnaire is explained. It is composed of six points: (1) studying literature or indications about the objective; (2) creating a schema of categories and sub-categories, (3) weighting the sub-categories, (4) creating a questionnaire, (5) creating a formula in order to synthesise the questionnaire in a graduation scale and finally (6) robustness analysis. A full example, based on Italian experience, is therefore developed in detail.

This chapter deals with the development of a management system, which integrates the use of IoT in natural risk detection, revention, and management with economic evaluation of each stage. In the introductory part, recent data are presented that document the importance that natural disasters have for the environment and for the Italian economy. Section 2 presents the Inte.Ri.M. project—the Internet of Things for Natural Risk Management—its purpose, activity plan, and bodies involved. Technical aspects are treated in Section 3 with the choice of hardware and software components and the solutions for collecting and transmitting data. Section 4 is about the economic aspects considering the stages of prevention, intervention, and restoration and the relation between the intensity of human activity and environment to define a range of situations. These scenarios call for different economic methodologies useful to estimate economic implications of each stage in the short, medium, and long term. Section 5 describes the structure of the Inte.Ri.M. management system and the foreseen functionalities. In the conclusion, the critical points are discussed, and the steps for the transposition of the work carried out on the territory are outlined, according to the provisions of the work program.

Quartz and feldspar are critical minerals for industries such as glass, ceramics, and photovoltaic cell production. The European Union classifies feldspar as a Critical Raw Material (CRM), while quartz is the main precursor for silicon metal production, also listed as a CRM. Conventionally, their separation relies on flotation with hydrofluoric acid (HF) under strongly acidic conditions (pH 2-3) to enhance the electronegativity and hydrophobicity of feldspar towards the quartz recovery. However, the use of HF poses severe environmental and safety risks and increases operational costs due to its high corrosivity, toxicity, and environmental restrictions posed by EU member states’ legislations. This study aims to improve the efficiency and sustainability of acid flotation for the separation of quartz and feldspar from Minerali Industriali’s extractive waste streams by minimizing or potentially eliminating HF consumption. This is pursued through the fine-tuning of key flotation parameters and the introduction of alternative reagents, such as sodium fluoride (NaF), sulphuric acid (H2SO4), organic acids and innovative chemical compounds, while preserving selectivity and high separation efficiency. In parallel, a sustainable wastewater treatment strategy is being developed to further reduce the environmental footprint of the process, including water recirculation, neutralization, and purification. A preliminary laboratory-scale protocol is currently under development and involves multiple conditioning and flotation stages using water, HF, and cationic collectors (e.g., CustAmine® by Arkema) to recover a high-purity feldspar concentrate from a pre-treated feldspathic sand in the 100-600 µm grain size range. The experimental study is being supported by a Design of Experiments (DoE) integrated with chemical and mineralogical characterization of the feed material and flotation products – both concentrates and tailings - to enable systematic process optimization. Semi-industrial testing through a pilot plant will validate the proposed solutions under real operating conditions. Environmental and economic aspects will be evaluated by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), comparing conventional and innovative processing routes. Overall, this approach promotes circular economy strategies through by-product reuse, and contributes to safer and more sustainable mineral processing practices supporting the transition towards environmentally responsible industrial operations, while providing deeper insights into the flotation behaviour of quartz and feldspar under both conventional and innovative reagent schemes. The project is partially funded by the Italian Ministry of the Environment MASE (Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica), and involves Minerali Industriali – R&D&I+QCLab Department - as the industrial partner and three different departments of the Università degli Studi di Torino – namely Department of Chemistry, Department of Earth Sciences, and Department of Management "Valter Cantino".