CONSUMERS’ PERCEPTION AND INTEREST FOR MOUNTAIN FOOD PRODUCTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Mountain areas represent almost half of Europe, therefore, those areas are vital for both European population and farmers. Unfortunately, some of these mountainous areas are not suitable for living and agricultural activities, and so the number of abandoned areas is quite high. It is also possible to categorise mountain areas according to the distribution of favoured and less favoured areas by including other important factors such as slope and altitude. Most of the agricultural actions take place in favoured areas by using natural sources of the mountain. Mountain products are the main goods that are produced and processed in mountainous areas with particular characteristics related to the production area. Up to 2012, mountain products were partially included under the European quality schemes such as PDO and PGI. This situation was creating a problem for both producers and consumers. From the point of view of producers, they could not get the added value for their products and they could not receive a reward for their hard work. As far as European consumers, they cannot distinguish between products that are correctly labelled and those that are taking advantage of the positive view of mountains for promotional purposes. To prevent this confusion, a few years ago, European Union adopted Regulation (EU) No. 1151/2012 and the Delegated Act (EU) 665/2014, which include the optional quality term ‘Mountain Product’ and they aim to protect those special products under a single regulation. In accordance with the new regulation, some Member States were decided to implement it together with their national laws. The main criteria defined by these laws concern the areas of origin of raw materials, the processing and packaging of products. Literature researches showed that data on this brand new topic are very scarce, especially on the consumers’ perception and willingness to pay for mountain products. Looking at the few number of existing studies on consumers’ behavior towards mountain food products and the potential of these products on the market there seems to be a gap in research. This study will address this gap and focus on consumer perception and attitudes towards mountain food as well as studying consumer attitudes towards possible new initiatives in the case of the optional quality term "Mountain product"in Italy. For this reason, the choice of this area of study is due to the fact that Italy, to date, has the highest production rate of mountain products in Europe. In details, the specific objectives of this study are: * To identify the factors and motivations that influence consumers’ attitudes towards mountain products * To identify consumers’ perceived barriers to purchasing mountain food * To identify consumer trust versus the new label * To determine the relationship between consumer attitudes and intentions to purchase mountain products * To identify the consumer willingness to pay for milk labeled with the optional quality term. The study is based on a research carried out through the use of a questionnaire which was built after a long literature survey, in line with consumers’ perception of the European quality schemes like PDO, PGI and TSG. The results of our study could contribute to the literature gap on this specific field. The research is divided into 4 chapters that cover all the main aspects related to Mountain Food Products, with a special focus on the new optional quality term “Mountain Product”.