CONSUMER PROTECTION AND EU FOOD QUALITY LABELS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ITALIAN SMEs

This thesis aims to answer several research questions. First, understanding the value Swedish and Italian consumers associate to a specific Geographical Indication’s (GI) label, namely the PGI Maccheroncini di Campofilone. Second, determining which attributes consumers consider more important when buying foodstuff. Lastly, identifying elements affecting the efficiency of fines, penalties and restricting intervention tools issued by the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) and the Institute of Self-regulation in Advertising (IAP) to reduce deceptive and misleading advertising practices. An exploratory research was carried out to investigate the research questions related to GIs value and consumers’ food choices. Consumer Ethnocentrism, Country of Origin effect, Food Choice Questionnaire and Willingness-to-pay for GIs were the dimensions examined through our survey. In order to answer the research question related to the efficiency of fines, information and data have been collected through several sources following Grounded Theory approach. In particular: interviews were organized with key components of ICA, a survey was run among companies in the agrifood sector that received a penalty from ICA or IAP, information was collected from Consumer Association’s websites, Corporates’ websites, national print and web media titles, while secondary data were collected from ICA and IAP databases. Our findings suggest that if consumers are aware of GIs meaning and are willing to pay a premium price, then the Consumer Protection is fundamental not only for consumers, but also for the companies. In other words, through consumer protection law, the Italian Competition Authority is also defending the competitive system of enterprises producing high quality products. The data analyzed shows that Ethnocentrism, Country of Origin effect and consumers’ food choices are crucial variables affecting the perception and the willingness-to-pay for quality food products. The exploratory study on the Italian egg pasta carried out in Sweden and Italy suggests that consumers attribute a considerable value to PGI pasta from Campofilone and PGI from their own country. Moreover, when buying foodstuff, the most important factor for both Swedish and Italian consumers is sensory appeal. Data analysis on consumer protection shows that some firms have planned an accurate system of unfair commercial practices to circumvent the set of imposed rules and to reduce the efficacy of the proposed dissuasive system. Finally, some potential interventions aimed at improving the efficacy of the consumer protection system are suggested.