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The protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) supports producers to define common quality standards while highlighting the geographical origin of food products with specific qualities. Adaptations of quality standards are driven by international competition, new production technologies or environmental change. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the modifications affecting European Union (EU) Protected Designation of Origin-Protected Geographical Indication. It specifically compares the share of amendments in diverse product class, years and countries, illustrates specific cases and identifies the factors explaining the probability to amend product specifications.

Official documents of the DOOR Database provide the material for an analysis of changes in product specifications. They also supply the data for four illustrative cheese cases and a logistic regression of all EU amendments.

Amendments of GI product specifications are very frequent: 17 per cent of all 1,276 EU GIs had at least one amendment. This happens in particular for processed products (42 per cent more often than for unprocessed ones) and specific countries (GIs in Italy are six times, Spain five times and France four times more likely to have an amendment compared to GIs from other EU countries). As illustrated by contrasting cheese amendments, the diverse modifications in the product specifications range from more flexibility and innovation on the one hand to stricter rules for strengthening the product’s identity on the other hand.

For EU and national authorities, GI producers and scholars, this first systematic EU-wide analysis of amendments demonstrates that protected food GIs have to be conceptualised as evolving institutions and not as statically protected food production systems.

This paper aims to investigate the potential of blockchain technology (BCT) for enhancing the effectiveness of ecolabelling schemes (ecolabels). The paper examines ecolabels’ effectiveness across three criteria – reducing adverse environmental and social impacts, enhancing quality and safety standards during production and service delivery and increasing producer’s trading power via decreased information asymmetry. These three categories are compared with technology’s status quo, linking use cases relevant to the enhancement of contemporary ecolabels’ effectiveness. Conclusions are drawn over BCT’s potential for enhancing the effectiveness of ecolabels. The paper also offers directions for future research related to BCT and purpose-driven ecolabels.

This study adopted a qualitative interpretivist approach to investigate the potential BCT represents for enhancement of the effectiveness of ecolabelling schemes (ecolabels). The paper identifies three criteria against which ecolabels can be assessed in respect to their effectiveness. Additionally, it looks for linkages between the design of ecolabels and a creation and utilisation of improved practices in a given industry. This conceptual literature review resulted in a framework for ecolabels’ effectiveness and a lens to review BCT-related literature with potential to enhance ecolabels’ design and trading practices.

There is an undeniable shift in attitude towards the adoption of BCT, stepping away from the naïve notion that BCT can fix all the problems encountered in a supply chain. On the one hand, BCT offers to better inform consumers of the green benefits ecolabelled products provide. On the other hand, a broader application of BCT currently faces a trilemma of challenges related to issues of decentralisation, security and scalability. BCT’s presence is likely to force ecolabelling organisations to review their position on the market and their intended purpose in the marketplace.

This paper is based on a conceptual literature review and derives with three key themes grouping ecolabels against their efficiencies. These themes provide scope for a search of relevant blockchain-embedded use cases that may or may not contribute to the enhancement of ecolabels’ impact. This is a conceptual, theoretical review of possible approaches that can be adopted by commerce with predictions relevant to ecolabels. This paper does not claim any empirical findings.

Despite interest BCT gained to date, the technology still deals with unresolved issues related to decentralisation, scalability and security. Many studies advise caution, and some do not view the technology as disruptive but foundational. The paper provides references to studies that assist organisations with a decision, whether it is the right time to invest in BCT or not.

This paper adds to the ambition most ecolabels strive for, and that is to mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts production of conventional products may have. Use cases embedded in BCT offer insights into the impacts of enhanced transparency within supply chains. For example, BCT is likely to work well for improving the lives of those producing the foods we eat while informing on issues such as child labour or planting of new trees as part of an offset program.

This paper’s contribution is manifold. First, it delivers a qualitative conceptual analysis of principal ecolabels against their stated purpose. Second, it reviews the BCT literature and identifies cases that are able to provide perspective on the technology’s relevance to ecolabels’ effectiveness. Third, by exploring the overlap of the two concepts, this paper discusses the likelihood of future BCT’s utilisation in ecolabelling programs.

This study investigates the views of Italian aquaculture production science students, in their role of future operators, on the application of circular economy strategies.

A key step in the development of professional knowledge is to solicit the opinions of the future operators in the aquaculture sector. The authors used the Q methodology to assess the perceptions of the students on four different knowledge dimensions of the CE: operations, culture and organization, products and services, and ecosystem.

Four discourses emerge from the results, representing the respondents' views on the CE. The first discourse considers CE as business strategy applicable to products and services, the second a corporate mission and the fourth an operational efficiency strategy. Finally, the third discourse views CE as a multidimensional concept.

This study contributes to the scientific and institutional debate on how to accelerate the aquaculture's circular transition. First and foremost, it offers insights to guide policy makers in the development of appropriate knowledge and information systems. Second, it offers the opportunity to improve training programmes to enable current students to be prepared for the future challenges.

The results reflect a different perceived knowledge of CE among future operators, whose opinions are little explored in the literature.