A systematic review of the SAFA framework in the literature: An approach to assess sustainability in agri-food systems

The Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems (SAFA) represents a comprehensive global framework for the assessment of sustainability performance across food and agriculture value chains. Its key feature is its holistic approach to sustainability, which encompasses the environmental, economic, and social dimensions in conjunction with the governance aspects. With the aim of identifying a sustainability assessment model to be applied in the Italian agri-food system, the SAFA method was evaluated as a possible application, examining its characteristics at different stages of the supply chain. At this scope, a systematic literature review was conducted employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The results revealed that the SAFA approach, which is characterised by a more qualitative assessment, has been met with particular approval by the scientific community. It offers an intriguing contribution to the discourse on sustainability in agri-food systems, effectively integrating all relevant elements. It would be interesting to apply SAFA to assess diverse sectors of the Italian agri-food system, so as to further test the potential of this framework in detecting the commitment to sustainability of the producers.