Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 2017, Vol. 5, No. 1, 6-14 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfnr/5/1/2 ©Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/jfnr-5-1-2 Exploring the Socio-cultural Sustainability of Traditional and Typical Agro-food Products: Case study of Apulia Region, South-eastern Italy Silvana Moscatelli 1,* , Mauro Gamboni 1 , Sandro Dernini 2 , Roberto Capone 3 , Hamid El Bilali 3 , Francesco Bottalico 3 , Philipp Debs 3 , Gianluigi Cardone 3 1 Department of Biology, Agriculture and Food Sciences, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy 2 Forum on Mediterranean Food Cultures, Rome, Italy 3 Department of Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Rural Development-International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM-Bari), Valenzano (Bari), Italy *Corresponding author: silvana.moscatelli@cnr.it Abstract Traditional and typical foods represent the opposite of mass production and are important elements of the Mediterranean cultural heritage. The paper aims to present a preliminary methodological approach and a first set of indicators for assessing the socio-cultural sustainability of Apulian typical agro-food products. An expert focus group approach was used, within Agriculture & Quality programme (2013-2015) of Apulia region, to identify sustainability principles and criteria and to select for each criterion appropriate indicators referring either to business activities or products. A 0-10 rating system was developed for each indicator: 0 (unsustainable), 10 (very sustainable) and 5 (sustainability benchmark value). Social sustainability is defined as the capacity to ensure equity in life quality and human well-being conditions, independently of class and gender. From a cultural viewpoint, it is important to take into account the community’s own distinctive and traditional elements that form its original identity. Socio- cultural criteria concern, among others, the worker protection and relations while maintaining culture and local traditions over time. Indicators identified deal with the following sustainability criteria: chain actors’ life quality and wellbeing; corporate social and ethical responsibility; women’s participation; social inclusion; good relations with the local community; promotion of local identity and transmission of traditional knowledge; workers’ training; foreign labourers’ inclusion; and animal welfare. Traditional and typical foods represent the cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet cultural heritage. The promotion of the Mediterranean diet, and the cultural heritage that represents, should go together with the valorisation of traditional and typical products on which it is based, and with the sustainable rural and territorial development. Assessing the sustainability of these products can be an effective operational approach for achieving this goal and at the epicentre of the effort to preserve and enhance the Mediterranean Diet. Keywords: typical agro-food products, sustainability, cultural heritage, society, ethics, indicators Cite This Article: Silvana Moscatelli, Mauro Gamboni, Sandro Dernini, Roberto Capone, Hamid El Bilali, Francesco Bottalico, Philipp Debs, and Gianluigi Cardone, “Exploring the Socio-cultural Sustainability of Traditional and Typical Agro-food Products: Case study of Apulia Region, South-eastern Italy.” Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, vol. 5, no. 1 (2017): 6-14. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-5-1-2. 1. Introduction Traditional and typical foods represent a key factor in the Mediterranean diet (MD) that is posed at the opposite of mass food production. They date back to before the large-scale alteration of traditional food production processes and can be at the epicentre of the effort to preserve diversity and collective identity [1,2]. The MD has been underlined as a driver of sustainable food systems within regional sustainable development strategies based on the enhancement of traditional local products [3]. Communities and cultures that maintain their own traditional food systems are better able to conserve local food specialties with a corresponding crop and animal diversity [1]. The MD offers a clear example of that. Indeed, it encompasses a plethora of traditional and typical foods [4], that are an integral part of the MD and one cannot exist without the other [5]. For these reasons and for its peculiar and recognized characteristics, the MD is currently studied by CIHEAM and FAO as a case study for the assessment of the sustainability of dietary patterns in the Mediterranean area [6]. The MD represents much more than a healthy dietary pattern as it is linked to Mediterranean food cultures and traditional cuisines in which typical products as well as traditional recipes play a crucial role [7]. But not only cultural and tradition-linked aspects come into play when it comes to the MD, but also other considerations affecting the individual and collective