European consumer´s requirements concerning the “gaúcha” apple, in the export

Abstract

Considering the European consumers’ concern regarding food quality and safety, three study cases were developed with companies aiming to know what the requirements about apple production are. The results showed that two companies are only producers, meaning they do not hold any contractual relation between a company and themselves, which characterizes the management structure as “own production”. As for the third company, producers sell their fruit to the company after establishing a partnership (hybrid governance structure). The challenges for these companies are the increasing level of requirements concerning the apple quality, the relation between prices and costs and the food safety and traceability in the chain