Trout hamburgers: a sustainable pipeline from aquaculture to community catering

Public procurement is one the most influential means through which national and local governments can endeavor to modify behaviors and habits in the economy and the society. By assuring large, certain and lasting markets, public administrations can request sustainable changes from their suppliers, laying down the conditions for supervising the whole process and for empowering the consumers. Serving fresh, high-quality fish coming from sustainable aquaculture systems in school and other public canteens should have positive effects on people’s present and future health and well-being, on the environment, on the local social and economic development. Still, such a simple idea turns out to be a surprisingly complex affair in practice, requiring inputs of research, innovation, information and training at every stage of the pipeline. This study describes a catering trial in the canteen of a public research institution of fresh hamburgers and sausages from farmed rainbow trouts, of which Italy is one of the most important producers. The difficulties encountered during the experiment, both objective and subjective (i.e., those perceived by the different actors along the supply chain, including the consumers) are examined, and solutions envisaged to overcome the barriers are proposed; finally, the results of a preliminary survey on fish consumption in community canteens are analyzed.