In Sardinia 3 thousand companies active in the food, drink and catering sector

Sardinia ranks first among the Italian regions for the high number of workers in the food, beverage and catering sector.

The island's craftsmanship in this field has 2,942 active businesses with 10,183 employees. This is what emerges based on data from the Research Office of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna, which analyzed the ISTAT numbers for 2023.

In addition to the podium at the regional level, again at the national level, among the top 5 provinces, for the highest incidence of employees in the sectors in question on the total economy, are Nuoro (5.8%), in first place, and the South Sardinia (4.4%), in third.

There are 888 artisan food businesses working in the Sassari-Gallura area with 3,144 employees, 635 in Southern Sardinia with 2,129 workers, 606 in the Cagliari area with 2,238 employees, 530 in Nuoro and Ogliastra with 1,856 employees and 283 in Oristano with 817 employees .

The export balance is also positive: on the island, in the last 12 months, the value of food and drink exports has reached 252 million euros, equal to 3.3% of manufacturing exports. 120 million euros of food products were sold from Sassari-Gallura, 46 from Oristano, 43 from Nuoro-Ogliastra, 22 from Southern Sardinia and 20 from Cagliari.

«Our artisans of taste use Sardinian raw materials and typical production methods that highlight the link with the regional territory - comments Maria Amelia Lai, president of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - The products and companies of our food tradition, which have in the quality and in the craftsmanship of the workmanship its distinctive element, they must be promoted even more".

«This is a sector in full growth and evolution - states Daniele Serra, secretary of Confartigianato Imprese Sardegna - which increasingly responds to the needs of customers who over the years have modified and refined their tastes and eating styles». Among the most important artisan productions there are bakeries and laboratories that produce sweets, biscuits, dry baked goods, pastry shops and ice cream parlors, delicatessen and butchery factories, companies in the dairy supply chain, companies that produce tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, sweets , sugared almonds, condiments and spices, companies that produce wines, spirits, beers, the latter on the rise in recent years thanks above all to microbreweries.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry recalls that there are 8 quality Sardinian food products recognized by the European Union through the DOC (Protected Designation of Origin), PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and TSG brands: lamb Sardinia, Spiny Artichoke from Sardinia, Culurgionis from Ogliastra, Fiore Sardo, Pecorino Romano, Pecorino Sardo, Oil from Sardinia and Saffron from Sardinia.

(Unioneonline/ss)