QUALITY AND TRACEABILITY OF TYPICAL MEDITERRANEAN FRUITS

Quality and traceability are the winning combination for the development of a modern agriculture, where other functions, related to territorial, environmental and social skills, are gradually taking place aside from the traditional economic task. In the last decade quality has become an essential feature to ensure the access into the market and an effective competition to many ever-growing exporting countries. Quality is defined as the set of features of a food that leads to consumer satisfaction and includes sensory properties, shelf-life, product safety and functional properties. The systems for the traceability of food products along specified stages of production, processing and distribution play a key role in assuring safety, quality and origin of food and are typically based on a continuous paper-trail and effective labelling. However, analytical techniques that enable the determination of the provenance of a food product provide an independent mean of control and also help to prove product authenticity, to combat fraudulent practices and to control any adulterations. The capability to certify food origin or authenticity of a product is of significant economic importance for the agri-food stakeholders in different countries. For example, some food products (organic and/or with certifications of origin) can boast EC recognition on their label. This adds value to such products in terms of marketability and increased export value. The present work has been developed starting from this perspective, focusing on the quality and traceability of Mediterranean fruits and their derivatives grown in Sicily.