The sustainability of Novel foods in the transition phase to the circular economy; the trade “Algae fit for human consumption” in European Union

Zarbà Carla; La Via Giovanni; Pappalardo Gioacchino; Hamam Manal Samir Mustafa; Zarbà Carla; La Via Giovanni; Pappalardo Gioacchino; Hamam Manal Samir Mustafa

doi:10.3934/agrfood.2020.1.54

AIMS Agriculture and Food

2020, Volume 5, Issue 1: 54-75. doi: 10.3934/agrfood.2020.1.54

Previous Article Next Article

Research article Special Issues

The sustainability of Novel foods in the transition phase to the circular economy; the trade “Algae fit for human consumption” in European Union

Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A) of the University of Catania

Received: 20 September 2019 Accepted: 12 December 2019 Published: 12 February 2020

The European Parliament Resolution of 2012 on the Resource Efficient Europe 2020 Programmed has stimulated the analysis proposed in this document. In particular, the paper takes its cue from the planned initiatives regarding the circular transition of the economy, i.e. the minimization of waste and environmental impacts generated by the use of materials and resources. The analysis takes as a reference the algae for human consumption that the EU includes among the first products recognized as “Novel food” within the food or ingredients of non-EU origin consumed in a non-significant way before 1997 (Regulation (EC) 258/1997) [1]. Assuming the sustainability of human consumption of algae, our paper aims to identify elements of physical and economic measurement of circularity in the supply phase of the initial production cycle. The prevalent extraEuropean origin of the algal virgin matter suggested to determine such as indicator the “balance of the resource” from the trade quotas extra EU of algae (Primary raw materials) and of the relative first food derivatives, i.e. agar agar and carrageenan (Secondary raw materials). This is in view of the fact that the European Commission considers the trade quotas as information of the measurability of the circularity of resources at the macro level (country system). The results obtained in our analysis, through the indices of sectoral specialization, show-interesting levels of sustainability of algae by member country. While by positive results of recent years of the material trade balance and the economic trade balance, emerge appropriate elements of the measurability of the circularity of the food sector under examination. These results confirm that business around the algae sector in the European Union shows virtuous processes regarding economic, social and environmental sustainability. These data are also preparatory to the launch of further analyses of different structural levels of the sector itself. In fact, the measurability of the circularity that the document proposes consists of an approach that combine with other tools for assessing the country system. Tools whit, as a whole, however must have a point of convergence with the evaluation of the economic and environmental sustainability of the micro reference systems (algae chains systems), with their own balance of circularity and from the perspective of governance processes of circularity of resources.
- novel food,
- algae fit for human consumption,
- circular economy,
- trade
Citation: Zarbà Carla, La Via Giovanni, Pappalardo Gioacchino, Hamam Manal Samir Mustafa. The sustainability of Novel foods in the transition phase to the circular economy; the trade “Algae fit for human consumption” in European Union[J]. AIMS Agriculture and Food, 2020, 5(1): 54-75. doi: 10.3934/agrfood.2020.1.54

Related Papers:

Abstract

The European Parliament Resolution of 2012 on the Resource Efficient Europe 2020 Programmed has stimulated the analysis proposed in this document. In particular, the paper takes its cue from the planned initiatives regarding the circular transition of the economy, i.e. the minimization of waste and environmental impacts generated by the use of materials and resources. The analysis takes as a reference the algae for human consumption that the EU includes among the first products recognized as “Novel food” within the food or ingredients of non-EU origin consumed in a non-significant way before 1997 (Regulation (EC) 258/1997) [1]. Assuming the sustainability of human consumption of algae, our paper aims to identify elements of physical and economic measurement of circularity in the supply phase of the initial production cycle. The prevalent extraEuropean origin of the algal virgin matter suggested to determine such as indicator the “balance of the resource” from the trade quotas extra EU of algae (Primary raw materials) and of the relative first food derivatives, i.e. agar agar and carrageenan (Secondary raw materials). This is in view of the fact that the European Commission considers the trade quotas as information of the measurability of the circularity of resources at the macro level (country system). The results obtained in our analysis, through the indices of sectoral specialization, show-interesting levels of sustainability of algae by member country. While by positive results of recent years of the material trade balance and the economic trade balance, emerge appropriate elements of the measurability of the circularity of the food sector under examination. These results confirm that business around the algae sector in the European Union shows virtuous processes regarding economic, social and environmental sustainability. These data are also preparatory to the launch of further analyses of different structural levels of the sector itself. In fact, the measurability of the circularity that the document proposes consists of an approach that combine with other tools for assessing the country system. Tools whit, as a whole, however must have a point of convergence with the evaluation of the economic and environmental sustainability of the micro reference systems (algae chains systems), with their own balance of circularity and from the perspective of governance processes of circularity of resources.

References

[1]	Zarbà C, Chinnici G, D'Amico M (2020) Novel Food: The impact of innovation on the paths of the traditional food chain. Sustainability 12: 555. doi: 10.3390/su12020555
[2]	EUR-Lex-52014SC0206R(01)-EN-Europa EU. Available from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu.
[3]	Pappalardo G, Allegra V, Zarbà AS (2014) The effects of the BSEC on regional trade flows of agri-food products, SGEM, International multidisciplinary scientific conferences on social sciences & arts, 3-9.
[4]	Materia VC, Cavallo C (2015) Insetti per l'alimentazione umana: barriere e drivers per l'accettazione da parte dei consumatori. Rivista di Economia Agraria 2: 139-161.
[5]	Perrella C, Visser (2018) Novel food, la palla passa a Bruxelles. Terra e vita.
[6]	Volpato A (2015) La riforma del regolamento sui Novel Food: alla ricerca di un impossibile equilibrio? Rivista di diritto alimentare 4.
[7]	Ellen Macarthur Foundation (2015) Towards the circular economy. Economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition.
[8]	Chinnici G, Zarbà C, Hamam M, et al. (2019) A model of circular economy of citrus industry. 19th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference SGEM 2019 19: 9-26.
[9]	Zarba C, Chinnici G, Pecorino B, et al. (2019) Paradigm of the circular economy in agriculture: The case of vegetable seedlings for transplantation in nursery farms. 19th International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference SGEM 2019 19: 113-120.
[10]	Vadalà M, Palmieri B (2015) Dalle alghe ai "functional foods". Clin Ter 166: 281-300.
[11]	Salonecibosicuro (2016) Alghe commestibili. Available from: https://www.salonecibosicuro.it/alghe-commestibili/.
[12]	Gill C (2018) Marine bio-actives and health: Functional foods. Promac conference alesund.
[13]	Trevisani C (2019) Le alghe: molto più che un alimento. Available from: https://www.terranuova.it.
[14]	Sudhakar MP, Kumar RB, Mathimani T, et al. (2019) A review on bioenergy and bioactive compounds from microalgae and macroalgae-sustainable energy perspective. J Cleaner Prod 228: 1320-1333. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.287
[15]	Lerat Y, Cornish ML, Critchley AT (2018) Applications of algal biomass in global food and feed markets: From traditional usage to the potential for functional products. Blue biotechnology: Production and use of marine molecules, 143-189.
[16]	Di Vita G, Chinnici G, Pappalardo G, et al. (2014) Standard output versus standard gross margin, a new paradigm in the EU farm economic typology: What are the implications for wine-grape growers? J Wine Res 25: 229-242. doi: 10.1080/09571264.2014.959660
[17]	Mc-Hugh DJ (2003) A guide to the seaweed industry. FAO. Available from: www.fao.org.
[18]	Gill C (2018) Marine bio actives and health: Functional foods. Ulster University. Available from: http://promac.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1.
[19]	UN Comtrade (2017) Available from: https://comtrade.un.org/db/mr/rfCommoditiesList.
[20]	Allegra V, Zarbà C, La Via G, et al. (2019) Why the new orange juice consumption model favors global trade and growth in orange production. Br Food J 121: 1954-1968. doi: 10.1108/BFJ-05-2019-0316
[21]	Zarbà C, Allegra V, Zarbà AS, et al. (2019)Wild leafy plants market survey in Sicily: From local culture to food sustainability. AIMS Agric Food 4: 534-546.
[22]	Allegra V, Zarbà AS, Zarbà C (2019) Recent overview of the agri-food commercial economy of Italy with the rest of the world. Connections with the national economic system. Quality-Access to Success.
[23]	ICESP (Italian circular economy stakeholder platform) (2018) Strumenti per la misurazione dell'economia circolare. Available from: https://www.icesp.it/.
[24]	MISE (Ministero dell'ambiente e della tutela del territorio e del mare) (2018) Economia circolare ed uso efficiente delle risorse. Indicatori per la misurazione dell'economia circolare. Available from: https://www.minambiente.it/.
[25]	Van den Burg S, Dagevos H, Helmes R (2018) Sustainable seaweed value-chains Economics, consumer attitudes and environmental impacts. Wageningen Economic Research.
[26]	Gokoglu N (2019) Novel natural food preservatives and applications in seafood preservation: A review. J Sci Food Agric: 99. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jsfa.9416.
[27]	Allegra V, Zarbà AS, Chinnici G, et al (2016) Empirical survey on the consumption blue fish in Sicily. International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference. SGEM.

Reader Comments

Your name:*

Email:*
© 2020 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)