Environmental sustainability and extended shelf life: the case of a typical Italian cheese

Typical products are foods for which the place of origin constitutes an essential element of quality. For these products the development of new ideas is scarce and difficult. Main innovations concern brand, certifications, package restyling, but they don’t involve technological processes that are trapped inside of production rules. Shelf life extension can be considered as a permitted technological innovation that could meet needs of consumer having little time for food shopping. This innovation has also positive effects on producers, in terms of more efficient production planning strategies and logistics management. Nevertheless, it’s known that technologies oriented to extend the shelf life of food products negatively impact the environment. On this background, we found relevant to investigate the link between shelf life and environmental sustainability of a product from a micro-economic perspective, by means of consumer preference analysis. In particular, this paper aimed to measure consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for food with prolonged shelf life, compared to environmental sustainability and identify the efficient trade-off value between these two attributes. The study was focused on the “Canestrato di Moliterno”, that is a typical cheese produced in Italy, with a protected geographical indication (PGI). A Choice Model was used for the analysis. The survey was conducted over a sample of 757 consumers living in Italy. Results show a high WTP for a typical cheese with both environmental and PGI certification while the WTP for food with an extended shelf life, even positive, is lower than the above two attributes. The results underline the possibility to develop synergies between environmental and food product quality policies.