Résumé
As a cereal and staple food of our diet, durum wheat is largely consumed worldwide through a large variety of food products (pasta, couscous, bulgur, etc.). From all cereals, durum wheat-based products are playing a crucial role in culturally-diverse healthy Mediterranean diets and in the maintenance of employment in the Mediterranean basin, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and family owned businesses. Here, traditional food recipes based on durum wheat and traditional production methods are widely practiced, however, facing heavy competition with industrial produced durum wheat products and other cereal-based products. This work presents a prospective analysis of potential innovations in the durum wheat sector, particularly regarding the traditional products and various associated manufacturing processes in the Mediterranean area. Today, the development of competitive, energy saving and environmentally friendly production systems are imperative; therefore, innovations are identified and analyzed regarding all three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental). In addition, it is shown that challenges for SMEs of the durum wheat sector are related to the ability to keep typicality in safe and sustainable food products and to reconcile tradition and modernity while taking into account economic, sociological, regulatory and environmental changes. As support is needed to help SMEs and traditional food producers to develop in this direction, several policy recommendations are proposed.