IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i10p1817-d114406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Second Life of Food: An Assessment of the Social Impact of Food Redistribution Activities in Emilia Romagna, Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Matteo Vittuari

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Fabio De Menna

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Silvia Gaiani

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Luca Falasconi

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Alessandro Politano

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Jana Dietershagen

    (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), 6708 PW Wageningen, The Netherlands)

  • Andrea Segrè

    (Department of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

The increased relative poverty and migration crisis in Europe are determining a raise of food insecurity levels. Cities and regions are experiencing—and to some extent stimulating—a growth of food recovery initiatives. Food redistribution activities (FRAs) are acknowledged as a tool for addressing food insecurity and preventing food surplus wastage ensuring economic, environmental, and social benefits. This paper aimed to identify the characteristics of FRAs and their social impact in the context of the Emilia Romagna region (Italy). A literature review and two experts’ consultations were carried out to inventory and categorize relevant social impacts. A questionnaire was then drafted and submitted to a sample of FRAs operating in the region. Results provided a profile of the surveyed food redistribution activities in terms of type of food redistributed, service provided, and workforce. In addition, the qualitative investigation allowed the identification of hotspots in terms of social, economic, psychological, health, and political impacts as perceived by engaged stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Matteo Vittuari & Fabio De Menna & Silvia Gaiani & Luca Falasconi & Alessandro Politano & Jana Dietershagen & Andrea Segrè, 2017. "The Second Life of Food: An Assessment of the Social Impact of Food Redistribution Activities in Emilia Romagna, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1817-:d:114406
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1817/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1817/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jorge Coque & Pilar L. González-Torre, 2017. "Adapting Nonprofit Resources to New Social Demands: The Food Banks in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Hamelin, Anne-Marie & Beaudry, Micheline & Habicht, Jean-Pierre, 2002. "Characterization of household food insecurity in Québec: food and feelings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 119-132, January.
    3. Jan Poppendieck, 1994. "Dilemmas of emergency food: A guide for the perplexed," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(4), pages 69-76, September.
    4. Christian John Reynolds & Julia Piantadosi & John Boland, 2015. "Rescuing Food from the Organics Waste Stream to Feed the Food Insecure: An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Australian Food Rescue Operations Using Environmentally Extended Waste Input-Output ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Massimo Canali & Pegah Amani & Lusine Aramyan & Manuela Gheoldus & Graham Moates & Karin Östergren & Kirsi Silvennoinen & Keith Waldron & Matteo Vittuari, 2016. "Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-33, December.
    6. Tarasuk, Valerie & Eakin, Joan M., 2003. "Charitable food assistance as symbolic gesture: an ethnographic study of food banks in Ontario," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1505-1515, April.
    7. Cicatiello, Clara & Franco, Silvio & Pancino, Barbara & Blasi, Emanuele, 2016. "The value of food waste: An exploratory study on retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 96-104.
    8. Pilar L. González-Torre & Jorge Coque, 2016. "From Food Waste to Donations: The Case of Marketplaces in Northern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-21, June.
    9. repec:mpr:mprres:6520 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Luca Falasconi & Matteo Vittuari & Alessandro Politano & Andrea Segrè, 2015. "Food Waste in School Catering: An Italian Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-16, November.
    11. James Mabli & Rhoda Cohen & Frank Potter & Zhanyun Zhao, "undated". "Hunger in America 2010 National Report Prepared for Feeding America," Mathematica Policy Research Reports b2c52ed1a1ca45d0952012dc1, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Gianluca Brunori & Francesco Di Iacovo, 2014. "Urban Food Security and Landscape Change: A Demand-side Approach," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 141-157, April.
    13. repec:mpr:mprres:6497 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Rachel Loopstra & Valerie Tarasuk, 2012. "The Relationship between Food Banks and Household Food Insecurity among Low-Income Toronto Families," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 38(4), pages 497-514, December.
    15. Xu, Wanying & Zhou, Chuanbin & Cao, Aixin & Luo, Min, 2016. "Understanding the mechanism of food waste management by using stakeholder analysis and social network model: An industrial ecology perspective," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 337(C), pages 63-72.
    16. Pilar González-Torre & Jorge Coque, 2016. "How is a food bank managed? Different profiles in Spain," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 89-100, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ingrid C. Fideles & Rita de Cassia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu & Priscila R. F. Costa & Jamacy Costa-Souza & Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho & Renata Puppin Zandonadi, 2020. "Brazilian Community Restaurants’ Low-Income Food Handlers: Association between the Nutritional Status and the Presence of Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Anne Nogueira & Fátima Alves & Paula Vaz-Fernandes, 2021. "The Contribution of Up-Cycled Food Waste to a Balanced Diet of Low-Income Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Mariarosaria Lombardi & Marco Costantino, 2020. "A Social Innovation Model for Reducing Food Waste: The Case Study of an Italian Non-Profit Organization," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Danilo Bertoni & Daniele Cavicchioli & Franco Donzelli & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Dario G. Frisio & Roberto Pretolani & Elena Claire Ricci & Vera Ventura, 2018. "Recent Contributions of Agricultural Economics Research in the Field of Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo & Mariantonietta Fiore & Antonino Galati, 2020. "How the Covid-19 Pandemic Is Changing Online Food Shopping Human Behaviour in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Marta Castrica & Doriana E. A. Tedesco & Sara Panseri & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Vera Ventura & Dario G. Frisio & Claudia M. Balzaretti, 2018. "Pet Food as the Most Concrete Strategy for Using Food Waste as Feedstuff within the European Context: A Feasibility Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-10, June.
    7. Benedetta Esposito & Maria Rosaria Sessa & Daniela Sica & Ornella Malandrino, 2020. "Towards Circular Economy in the Agri-Food Sector. A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Alaimo, Leonardo Salvatore & Fiore, Mariantonietta & Galati, Antonino, 2022. "Measuring consumers’ level of satisfaction for online food shopping during COVID-19 in Italy using POSETs," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    9. Mariarosaria Lombardi & Marco Costantino, 2021. "A Hierarchical Pyramid for Food Waste Based on a Social Innovation Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, April.
    10. Amelie A. Hecht & Roni A. Neff, 2019. "Food Rescue Intervention Evaluations: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-22, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Federico Roncarolo & Sherri Bisset & Louise Potvin, 2016. "Short-Term Effects of Traditional and Alternative Community Interventions to Address Food Insecurity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Cicatiello, Clara & Franco, Silvio & Pancino, Barbara & Blasi, Emanuele & Falasconi, Luca, 2017. "The dark side of retail food waste: Evidences from in-store data," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 273-281.
    3. Rombach, Meike & Bitsch, Vera, 2018. "Sector blending: evidence from the German Food Bank," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 21(2), March.
    4. Valerie Tarasuk & Joan Eakin, 2005. "Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(2), pages 177-186, June.
    5. Lesia Kinach & Kate Parizeau & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2020. "Do food donation tax credits for farmers address food loss/waste and food insecurity? A case study from Ontario," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 383-396, June.
    6. Rogério João Lunkes & Fabricia Silva da Rosa & Pamela Lattanzi, 2020. "The Effect of the Perceived Utility of a Management Control System with a Broad Scope on the Use of Food Waste Information and on Financial and Non-Financial Performances in Restaurants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Holmes, Eleanor & Black, Jennifer L. & Heckelman, Amber & Lear, Scott A. & Seto, Darlene & Fowokan, Adeleke & Wittman, Hannah, 2018. "“Nothing is going to change three months from now”: A mixed methods characterization of food bank use in Greater Vancouver," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 129-136.
    8. Francesca Galli & Aniek Hebinck & Brídín Carroll, 2018. "Addressing food poverty in systems: governance of food assistance in three European countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1353-1370, December.
    9. Pilar L. González-Torre & Jorge Coque, 2016. "From Food Waste to Donations: The Case of Marketplaces in Northern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-21, June.
    10. Raquel Diaz-Ruiz & Montserrat Costa-Font & Feliu López-i-Gelats & José M. Gil, 2018. "A Sum of Incidentals or a Structural Problem? The True Nature of Food Waste in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    11. Meike Rombach & Eunkyung Kang & Vera Bitsch, 2018. "Good deeds revisited: motivation and boundary spanning in formal volunteering," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(1), pages 105-126, March.
    12. Destiny Treloar & Dorceta E. Taylor & Ashley Bell, 2024. "Understanding Food Insecurity and Participation in Food Assistance Programs among Hispanic/Latino Residents of Hialeah, Florida, before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-52, September.
    13. Sue Booth & Christina Pollard & John Coveney & Ian Goodwin-Smith, 2018. "‘Sustainable’ Rather Than ‘Subsistence’ Food Assistance Solutions to Food Insecurity: South Australian Recipients’ Perspectives on Traditional and Social Enterprise Models," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, September.
    14. Luca Falasconi & Clara Cicatiello & Silvio Franco & Andrea Segrè & Marco Setti & Matteo Vittuari, 2019. "Such a Shame! A Study on Self-Perception of Household Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, January.
    15. Elisha Vlaholias & Kirrilly Thompson & Danielle Every & Drew Dawson, 2015. "Charity Starts … at Work? Conceptual Foundations for Research with Businesses that Donate to Food Redistribution Organisations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-25, June.
    16. C. Rita Chen & Rachel J. C. Chen, 2018. "Using Two Government Food Waste Recognition Programs to Understand Current Reducing Food Loss and Waste Activities in the U.S," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-23, August.
    17. Mossenson, Sharonna & Giglia, Roslyn & Pulker, Claire E. & Chester, Miranda & McStay, Catrina & Pollard, Christina M, 2024. "Evidence for initiating food safety policy: An assessment of the quality and safety of donated food at an Australian food bank," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    18. Amelie A. Hecht & Roni A. Neff, 2019. "Food Rescue Intervention Evaluations: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-22, November.
    19. Paulien Dekkinga & Hilje Horst & Thirza Andriessen, 2022. "“Too big to fail”: the resilience and entrenchment of food aid through food banks in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(3), pages 781-789, June.
    20. Christopher M. Bacon & Gregory A. Baker, 2017. "The rise of food banks and the challenge of matching food assistance with potential need: towards a spatially specific, rapid assessment approach," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 899-919, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1817-:d:114406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.