An investigation into Italian consumers’ awareness, perception, knowledge of European Union quality certifications, and consumption of agri-food products carrying those certifications

The present study investigated Italian consumers’ awareness, perception, knowledge of European Union (EU) quality certifications: Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), Traditional Specialty Guar-anteed (TSG), and organic as well as the consumption of agri-food products carrying those certifications. A total of 212 consumers responsible for food purchases took part in a web-based survey between June and December 2019, inclusive. Descriptive sta-tistics were calculated in relation to the data collected, followed by a factor analysis to reduce data dimensionality, and a cluster analysis on the latent variables generated, to identify similarities and differences among respondents. Awareness, perception, knowl-edge and consumption of agri-food products carrying EU quality labels has increased among consumers in recent years. The results related to the consumer’s knowledge of quality-certified products showed that more than half of respondents were able to spontaneously quote examples of PDO (76%), PGI (56%) and organic food products (73%) while only 33% of participants could name at least one TSG product. The gener-al awareness of the guarantees offered by PDO and PGI certifications was also assessed in relation to production processes, the natural and human factors of a particular envi-ronment and the reputation and quality of a particular region. Cluster analysis showed that consumers with the highest education were most likely to value EU quality certi-fications and support their local economies. The information obtained have practical implications for marketing and communication of European certified food products at national and international level.