86.4% of Italians trust the food industry

The relationship between Italian consumers, at the table among the most demanding in the world, and the food industry has always been close. Today, with the growth of food lifestyles, the sector is proving to be able to respond to a strong demand for psychophysical well-being.

In particular, producing foodstuffs and dishes for a polyphony of tastes, a mosaic of diets practiced in Italy ranging from 93% of omnivores, to 7% who declare themselves vegetarian, 4% who declare themselves vegan, 22% of innovators and curious, 42% of habitual at the tables, and 7% who define themselves as passionate about cooking.

These are some of the data of the first Federalimentare-Censis Report on the economic and social value of the Italian food industry, presented to the Chamber. The report shows that 86.4% of Italians trust the Italian food industry. With 179 billion euros in annual turnover, 60 thousand companies and 464 thousand employees is a leading component of the national interest.

In the rankings of Italian manufacturing sectors, the food industry is in first place for turnover, second for number of companies, for employees and for exports in value. In ten years, turnover in real terms increased by 24.7%, the number of employees by 12.2% and the value of exports by 60.3%. The food industry responds to internal expenditure which, as a share of total expenditure, is 16.6% in Italy, as is Spain, higher than France (15.7%), the Netherlands (13.9%), Germany (13.4%) and the EU average of 27 countries (16.1%).

In addition, the Federalimentare-Censis research shows that while not giving up the strict control of the family budget, 63.4% of Italians for some foods buy only quality products, regardless of the price. 79%, while practicing subjective diets within the scope of typically Italian ones, appreciate the availability of new references in stores. It is the sense of the social role of promoting well-being and welfare of food consumption.