Sustainability and Compliance in Organic Food Industries: A Comparative Study of India and Italy

Food safety, quality management, and ecologically conscious practices must be successfully integrated throughout supply chains to guarantee the sustainability of organic food systems. There is little empirical data on how these factors interact in various institutional and regulatory contexts, despite the growing significance of the organic sector for sustainable food transitions. This study examines sustainability-focused compliance procedures in Italian and Indian organic food processing businesses. A systematic questionnaire was used to gather primary data from 300 certified organic businesses (150 per nation), and non-parametric statistical methods were used to examine firm-size and cross-country variations. The results show notable differences between the two contexts in terms of food safety rules and sustainability performance. Because of a more developed regulatory framework and more robust enforcement mechanisms, Italian businesses demonstrate greater and more consistent sustainability performance. On the other hand, Indian businesses, especially small ones, show more unpredictability, which suggests that they have limited ability to implement sustainable practices and environmental management. The performance of quality management systems in both nations is similar, indicating the contribution of international certification standards to the harmonisation of quality governance. In contrast to Italy, where they operate as separate operational domains, correlation research shows that sustainability, food safety rules, and quality management are more closely interwoven in Indian businesses. The study emphasises the importance of the company’s size and the regulatory environment in determining how sustainability is integrated into organic food chains. The findings present beneficial guidance for small and medium-sized businesses by highlighting important areas where targeted capacity building and regulatory assistance can improve sustainability and compliance performance and it is one of the first enterprise-level empirical evaluations of food safety rules, quality management, and sustainability in organic food processing across different regulatory contexts. The findings provide actionable insights for small organic processors by highlighting priority areas for targeted regulatory support, technical help, and capacity building to improve the incorporation of sustainability practices.