Origine e autenticità dei prodotti agroalimentari tra labelling e sviluppo sostenibile

In recent decades, society has become more attentive towards the origin of foods and its production systems, due to a heightened awareness of the environmental, cultural, and organoleptic aspects of food. The paper investigates the significance of the origin and authenticity of agrifood products in the context of sustainable development. Particular attention is paid to the very concepts of origin and authenticity, as well as the various types of signs that have emerged globally over the years to provide consumers with identifiable, evocative associations that reflect certain characteristics of the products. A categorization of signs into three groups, based on the different roles played by the origin element is proposed to explore the connections between food and cultural tradition.