Food is a very sensitive area and the most intimate form of consumption. Consumer choice is known to be strongly affected by emotional factors usually not taken into account in economic analysis. At the same time it is clear that such emotional factors can affect consumer behaviour and market...

The Italian Industrial Districts (IDs) are considered to be one of the main reasons for the rapid industrial development and success of Italy since the Second World War. The SME's have also played an important role in this. In this paper we outline the general characteristics of the ID approach...

In ‘dissipative’ dynamical systems, variables evolve asymptotically toward low‐dimensional ‘attractors’ that define their dynamical properties. Unfortunately, real‐world dynamical systems are generally too complex for us to directly observe these attractors. Fortunately, there is a...

In the EU market small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the greater part of the food industry, specially with regard to traditional food products (TFPs). However, the growth of competition, connected mainly to globalisation, is making it very difficult for SMEs to survive. On the...

Since 2005, the implementation of a traceability system is mandatory to all European food chain operators. The balance of costs to build and maintain the traceability system and benefits of traceability depends on the firm's traceability objectives and its resources, as reflected in...

Usually, marketing communication efforts in the agrifood sector address the end consumers and concentrate on products that are processed and ready for consumption, thus quality efforts often concentrate on the final product. Moreover, there’s a widespread view that agricultural commodities...

In line with the social objectives of the PNPB (Brazilian Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel) and its “Social Seal” Framework, PETROBRAS has set up a 57 million liter/year biodiesel plant in the semi‐arid region of North of Minas Gerais State, where the socioeconomics indicators...

Fresh fruits are always recommended as ingredients in healthiest diets. However, there is a tendency for consumers to move their consumption towards transformed fruits, which are integrated in many food products. Quite commonly fresh fruits are difficult to handle and store but they also do not...

This paper introduces an innovative, interdisciplinary food systems programme based on an open‐source pedagogical model that facilitates learning through the use of technology developed at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). We begin by explaining the structure and goals of the UOC and...

Currently, in most pork chains there is still a mismatch between delivered quality and expected quality, leading to unsatisfied customers and value losses because products are not sold against the best possible price. Differentiation of quality of pork starts already in the breeding stage,...