Quality And Food Security. Shifts in eating habits of modern consumer

Through issues addressed the book Quality and food security. Shifts in eating habits of modern consumer can be a valuable bibliographic material for both professionals and practitioners involved in the food production and commercialization, for the students of economic education and also for those interested in improving quality of life by healthy eating.

Because the book highlights the role and the importance of macro- and micronutrients and the nutritional benefits of the main groups of foodstuffs, it can be a milestone in the demarche to change the eating habits of the modern consumer, in line with the principles of nutrition, which is primarily a science of measure.

Foodstuff is one of the main carriers of information from the environment, being crucial to the proper functioning of the human body. Its quality matters essentially in preventing the disease and maintaining the health. Based on this fact, the book highlights the complexity of the concept of food quality, analyzing the hypostases under which it occurs and also the mutations arise in the consumers’ perception of food quality.

The book as well analyzes the main causes which determined a nutritional degradation in modern food: ultra processing of industrial foodstuffs, over organoleptically foodstuffs by widespread use of food additives and also the genetically modification of raw materials.

An approach of the book is to turn the consumers’ attention towards food options that guarantee both individual and also, environmental health. So, it outlines the main benefits of organic foodstuffs, "Fair trade" products and "Slow Food" products.

Although the label is the primary means of informing consumers about the identity, composition and properties of foodstuff, and also a means of guiding consumer’s choices, it was found major obstacles in the understanding and use of nutritional information by consumers. Therefore, the book presents a set of landmarks for the correct interpretation of the nutritional information, both on the detailed nutritional label and those who are on the front of the packaging, through FOP systems (Front-of-Package).