XXXVII CICLO | Pietrangeli Roberta

PhD student in “Economics, Management and quantitative methods”, with background studies in agricultural and environmental science and agribusiness (master’s degree in 2020) at the University of Perugia. During my studies, I spent several exchange period abroad, at the Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), at the Curtin University (Australia) and in the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (Perth, Australia) and a traineeship at Agriconsulting Europe (Bruxelles) and the visiting period in the Thünen-Institute (Germany). My PhD research focuses on the analysis of food loss and waste in the supply chain, and the study of factors affecting commercial relations.

My PhD project is divided in three phases. As a first step, an analysis of the fruits and vegetable supply chain is conducted, especially in the upstream stages of the supply chain. Here, a focus on Producer Organisations (POs), which hold a key role in the supply chain. To analyse their role, I conducted semi-structured interviews both in Italy and Germany to understand their role, their power during contracts and negotiations with different buyers, especially with retailers, and to analyse food loss and waste. As a second step, I conducted a focus on food loss and private quality standards applied by retailers on fruits and vegetables products on carrots supply chain. Here, in one of the biggest PO of carrots located in Central Italy, I held a direct assessment to analyse, both in terms of mass and value, which are the implications of Private Cosmetic Quality Standards on the quantity and value of the product sold by the PO. The study provides a direct quantification of the amount of carrots downgraded  due to private cosmetic quality standards (which are safety and nutritious, but do not respect cosmetic issues such as shape, color, diameter…), the amount rehandled for food industry, and those lost (due to disease or rehandling process). Lastly, the contract and negotiations between PO and buyers (especially retailers) are analysed, in relationship between Unfair Trading Practices. Here, focus groups with POs, followed by a survey, are developed to analyse which practices are felt as unfair by POs and the external factors that mostly influences the quality of relationships between PO and buyers.

Blasi, E., Rossi, E. S., Pietrangeli, R., Nasso, M., Cicatiello, C., Palombieri, S., & Sestili, F. (2024). Functional Biscuits, a Healthy Addition to Your Coffee Break—Evaluating Consumer Acceptability and Willingness to Pay. Foods, 13(11), 1731. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13111731 

Pietrangeli, R., Herzberg, R., Cicatiello, C., & Schneider, F. (2023). Quality Standards and Contractual Terms Affecting Food Losses: The Perspective of Producer Organisations in Germany and Italy. Foods, 12(10), 1984. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12101984 

Pietrangeli, R., Eriksson, M., Strotmann, C., Cicatiello, C., Nasso, M., Fanelli, L., … & Blasi, E. (2023). Quantification and economic assessment of surplus bread in Italian small-scale bakeries: An explorative study. Waste Management, 169, 301-309.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2023.07.017

Deliverable 3.1 Protocol for stakeholder dialogue – Bread Deliverable of the project LOWINFOOD, Task 3 

Sjölund A. et al., 2022 https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127451

Cicatiello C., Pietrangeli R., (2024). Affamati di spreco, Il libero professtionista – Reloaded, volume 21 anno 2024, pp 114-119 https://issuu.com/confprofessioni-stampa/docs/cp_numero_21_singole?fr=sZGM3MDY1NTc0MDI