Food science. Consumer-oriented approach and business insights

The book is designed primarily as a benchmark for the contemporary consumer, highly interested in reorienting his/her eating behaviour according to the principles of a healthy diet; the book offers consumers valuable knowledge in this field and contributes in raising their awareness on different food issues of high importance today. On the other hand, the book may represent a useful guide for entrepreneurs involved in different activities specific to the food industry. In their entrepreneurial steps and in their sustained efforts to reconfigure the food universe, they should focus not only on competition and profit maximization, but rather on ethics and respect for the consumer.    

Because the label is the primary means of informing consumers about the identity, composition, and properties of foods, and also a means to guide consumer choice, the book outlines the latest requirements in food labelling and a set of benchmarks for the correct interpretation of nutritional information, both highlighted in the detailed nutritional label, and presented using "Front-of-Package" systems.

The theme related to methods for determining the nutritional profile of foods naturally finds its place in the book’s subject, being useful not only for specialists in the field, but also for consumers concerned about the nutritional balance in their daily diet.

Since during recent decades the democratization of consumption and food abundance - that particularly characterize industrialized countries - has encouraged unhealthy eating habits, the presentation of the most important healthy eating patterns and the analysis of the nutritional profile of the main food groups, are very adequate.

The book ends up with a theme referring to innovation and tradition in contemporary food. The development of various symbiotic formulae between the science of nutrition and modern technology has resulted in an unprecedented expansion of the world food offer, but also in a nutritional deterioration of the modern diet. Therefore, many innovations in the food industry are now beginning to be seen with scepticism by consumers. Increasingly aware of the serious food imbalances caused by overconsumption of various ultra-processed or genetically modified foods, consumers are increasingly turning towards food choices that guarantee both individual health and environment protection. Such food choices may be represented by organic foods, functional foods, traditional food products or "Novel foods". The book highlights a series of beneficial effects of their consumption and also various opportunities for developing the businesses based on these products in the future.