THE VALORIZATION OF THE MEAT FROM WILD UNGULATES:EVIDENCES FROM AN ITALIAN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

In recent years, trends in the population of large wild ungulates (wild boar, red deer, chamois, mouflon) have become worrisome for Italy and many European countries. Ironically, while two decades ago these animals were listed as endangered species, they turned out to be a social cost. In fact, their population is growing with damage to ecosystems, economic losses in forestry and agriculture, increased risk of zoonotic diseases and increased frequency of vehicle collisions. Due to this overpopulation, management and containment strategies have been developed, with a cost to public institutions and an increase in culling rates, and the availability of game meat. Furthermore, according to European trade and safety regulations (Reg. EC No. 178/2002, No. 853/2004 and No. 854/2004), hunters are considered primary food producers (such as farmers and breeders) and, under certain conditions, they can sell the game they harvest. On the consumers’ side, recent years have seen a notable increase in the popularity of hunted wild game meat among consumers. In fact, large wild ungulate meat has optimal nutritional attributes, can be considered an environmentally friendly and local food and represents a sustainable alternative to intensive livestock production of beef, pork or poultry. The growing demand and availability of these products has led to a growing number of emerging markets for hunted wild game meat in many developed countries, including Europe. However, expansion of these markets is often hampered by the lack of a structured food supply chain. This is especially the case in Italy where the hunting sector continues to have only a recreational and social connotation. Also from a scientific point of view, despite the growing potential of the hunting sector, only a few economic studies to date discuss the case of wild game meat, and there is no research examining the Italian context. All of these premises considered, the present thesis aims to contribute to the possible future development of the Italian local supply chain of wild game meat and is structured as a step-by-step feasibility analysis that takes into consideration all of the involved stakeholders with the final goal of creating this new market. Specifically, the thesis is organized into three different studies, each one developing different aspects of the analysis. The first study focuses on the primary producer of the game meat, namely, the hunter, trying to estimate the potential market availability and quality of meat of large wild ungulates produced by hunting activities in a local mountainous context. The second study aims to assess the real economic value of the local supply chain of the hunted wild game meat by performing an exploratory analysis aimed at the quantification of the value transmission along the chain. Finally, the third study addresses the need to broaden the knowledge of consumers’ attitudes towards hunted wild game meat by profiling Italian consumers and assessing whether their attitudes and perception towards hunted wild game meat, socio-demographic characteristics and objective knowledge affect their intentions to purchase hunted wild game meat products. The results of this research led to better understand some aspects of the current scenario of the Italian hunted wild game meat sector, with the final aim of understanding if and what types of strategies implement for the promotion of its future development.