The VIS Assessment Tool for the Cured Meat Italian Supply Chain: Fostering Accountability for Sustainability through a FAO SAFA-Based Framework

This chapter proposes a discussion on the opportunities of performing a detailed analysis of the sustainability dimensions involved in companies’ managerial practices and reporting propensity. Taking the FAO’ SAFA framework as a reference, an analysis was performed on the specific context of the Italian agri-food chain of cured meat products. The selection process has been conducted with supply chain associations and firms, discussing with field experts the materiality of the themes for this peculiar context. Once validated, this model may represent a golden rule for sustainability assessment framework for the Italian cured meat supply chain and a “ready to use” self-assessment tool for all the small and medium enterprises both at farm and transformation level. In terms of practical implications, this model helps (1) the operator to establish a time-series analysis of its sustainability performance, (2) it represents a significant-comparable benchmarking scheme for the whole supply chain, and (3) it can be used as holistic model approach to identify thematic gaps in firm’s sustainability orientation.