Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the food innovation strategies carried out by an Italian firm, Argotec, responsible for the development and supply of space food (SF) for European astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), can also be applied to food suitable to be eaten on Planet Earth. This study aims at showing the relationship between SF innovation and terrestrial strategies directed at implementing this kind of food also on terrestrial tables. Design/methodology/approach This research focusses on a case study. The subject of the case study under analysis is Argotec, an internationally recognised Italian aerospace engineering company, dealing with research, innovation and development in various sectors, including engineering, information technology, system integration, small satellites and “Human Space Flight and Operations”. The company produces innovative SF for European astronauts performing long-duration missions on-board the ISS. Moreover, the SF is made available also for terrestrial beings as a solution for everyday eating necessities. Findings Argotec is characterised by strong innovation in terms of products and processes. Throughout the case study, the authors focus on the relationship between SF innovation and its terrestrial applications, since this company also manufactures products, traded under the brand “ReadyToLunch”, suitable for daily meals on Earth. Innovation applied to SF can thus offer advantages also for terrestrial daily meals and therefore help the company achieve other competitive advantages: as to the authors’ knowledge, this is a unique case. Research limitations/implications This study also has some limitations, typical of the applied methodology. In relation to the interview technique, further interviews would be required in order to fully understand the end-user perspectives regarding the importance and interest of this kind of “ready-to-eat” food. Practical implications Practical implications relate to astronauts and to terrestrial consumers. For astronauts, SF is not any more intended only to satisfy humans’ basic needs, and to provide the necessary nutrients during space missions, but has become an important factor in the quality of life in space. For terrestrial consumers, SF may represent a healthy, tasty and nutritious “ready-to-eat” choice: single courses for the main meals and snacks for a break. Originality/value This research fills a gap in literature: to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper presenting a case study on a company responsible for the development and supply of SF for European astronauts on-board the ISS, as well as encouraging the consumption of SF by terrestrial beings, as an ordinary “ready-to-eat” lunch/dinner.

With COVID-19 rampaging through the world in 2020, global businesses were disrupted. The resulting pandemic caused many undesirable economic and societal effects including: sudden supply shortages, economic recession, unemployment, lower consumer incomes, reduced business revenues and increased business losses. A knock-on effect of these effects is increased opportunity for illicit trade to take place and food fraud. Paradoxically the coronavirus outbreak threatened legal global distribution routes and facilitated some fraudulent trade, highlighting that fraud is opportunistic by nature. This is not unexpected as case history and published literature highlights increased fraud in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters. History teaches us that fraudulent activities in the aftermath or amid a crisis result from “at-risk” individuals e.g., those in poverty, criminals or opportunists, taking advantage from weaknesses in systems e.g., food chain, financial services etc. and as crime increases offenders are motivated to find new flaws to exploit. So far, there are no international data available to compare incidence of food fraud and adulteration during pandemic to any previous pre-pandemic period. The scope of this paper is not therefore to assert that there was a pandemic related increase in food fraud, but to indicate market and supply chain weaknesses and disturbances that may have exposed the market to a higher risk of food fraud vulnerability during the pandemic. Indication of these system weaknesses, highlights areas that might deserve special monitoring and development to reduce vulnerability in any future global crisis.

The Covid19 pandemic in early 2020 found most of public and private institutions unprepared. Even after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic, many public and private decision makers failed to take rapid mitigation measures and responses to the virus. Reasons that determined late response in public and private sectors might be different and may include: the risk of being accused of fearmongering in over-warning the public reluctance to impose heavy restrictions that may interfere with personal rights to liberty, assembly, and movement; fear of constraining economic growth; concerns about losing business opportunities due to adoption of traditional risk assessment principles too often based on probabilistic evaluation or on cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses. The decision-making process required to face an outbreak that could eventually turn into a pandemic is characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty: the situation is what the modern decision theory typically refers to as "decisions under ignorance" or ambiguity. Nevertheless, events such as COVID-19 clearly illustrate the value of early response, which essentially involves listening to early alarm signals, undertaking proactive mitigation strategies and ensuring a safe running of the business. The aim of this paper is to focus on possible decision-making principles supporting early response to be applied at the first alarm sign to take precautionary and preemptive actions in order to mitigate future outbreaks of pandemic flu.

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Food recalls can have very serious aftermath from many points of view: starting from the outbreak consequences on public health, on company's reputation, sellout , finance, up to putting at risk the survival of the firm itself. From a formal point of view, a product harm crisis presents similarities with other emergency situations: both of them consist in unpredictable events, often due to unknown or undervalued causes, which can significantly alter normal business and compromise the safety of the company, of its employees and customers. Given the potential damage resulting from a dangerous product crisis, it is surprising that in the food industry alongside mere procedures (often reducible to botched manuals compiled solely because their presence reassures auditors and authorities) there is still little attention to an approach based on a method. Formal corporate procedures (manuals and crisis management plans) are important, but can cause a false sense of security and preparedness, if executives do not possess an adequate crisis management culture, which depends, as well as on experience and training, also on the ability to assume the correct behavioral posture, and which involves psychological, organizational and communicational skills that can not be undervalued. The purpose of this article is to provide a practical approach based on the experience of crisis-management (applied in emergency situations by health professionals, armed forces and civil protection) useful to support food industry during a food recall, in order to avoid the most classic errors that can undermine speed of reaction, corrective measures effectiveness and leadership, in the most delicate moments for a company life. If it is true the way a firm manages the recall affects its impact, it is necessary to assess the fundamental factors to be observed at such times: timeliness, lucidity, responsibility, leadership.