Solidarity Purchase Groups and the new critical and ethical consumer trends: first results of a direct study in Sicily

Recently in Italy food consumption has evolved in the sector of healthy foods and environmentally friendly foods. This trend is confirmed by the birth of numerous solidarity purchase groups (called Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale or GAS in Italy), made up of individuals or families who choose to purchase products that are ethically viable. In this paper we try to identify the socio-economic conditions and motivation behind this phenomenon, and for this purpose we have developed over 205 questionnaires.

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