How New Environmental Sustainability Regulations Will Impact Food Safety and Shelf Life

Organized by the Order of Food Technologists of Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, and Umbria.

The Order of Food Technologists is a public law entity whose main objective is to safeguard the quality, safety, and sustainability of the agrifood system. The Food Technologist is a professional required to possess a high capacity for integrating multidisciplinary knowledge—both cross-functionally (applying mathematical, physical, chemical, and biological disciplines to solve process or product challenges) and longitudinally (evaluating the ripple effect of technological interventions on downstream operations). Within a team, the Food Technologist plays a unique role: communicating effectively across multiple corporate levels (management, marketing, R&D) and collaborating with specialized professionals (engineers, chemists, biologists) to provide strategic support in the design, management, and control of agrifood supply chains.

Session Overview

The European Green Deal is driving deep transformation across the agrifood sector through a comprehensive regulatory framework. This includes, among others, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), new provisions regarding shelf-life labeling and expiration dates, as well as initiatives designed to combat greenwashing.

While these measures offer a significant opportunity to promote more sustainable production and consumption models, they also raise critical questions regarding operational impacts on businesses. Key concerns involve potential effects on food safety, product shelf life, consumer information, and supply chain competitiveness.

Where do we stand in the implementation of these regulations?
What tools are currently available to companies?
How can we reconcile environmental sustainability goals with the protection of food safety and product quality?
This conference aims to foster a panel discussion among institutions, businesses, industry professionals, retail representatives, and consumer associations to analyze core challenges and identify shared solutions.

Session Agenda

Roundtable Panel Discussion featuring:

• CONAI (to be confirmed)
• Federalimentare (to be confirmed)
• President of the National Council of the Order of Food Technologists
• Federdistribuzione (to be confirmed)
• FIPE – Italian Federation of Public Establishments (to be confirmed)
• Altroconsumo (to be confirmed)
• Regional Councilor (to be confirmed)
• AGCM – Italian Competition Authority (focusing on greenwashing, environmental advertising, and new EU rules on Green Claims) (to be confirmed)
• School of Law / Advocacy Academy (da confermare - to be confirmed)

Conference Output

Drafting of a final Position Paper outlining ten key takeaways from the discussion, complete with actionable proposals and recommendations for industry operators and institutional policymakers.

Closing

Networking Cocktail & Reception hosted by OTAER.

The event will be held in Italian

English translation available (see below)