P. Kalaitzis

Food industry and food chain in a challenging world

This special issue devoted to the ‘‘Food Industry and Food Chain in a Challenging World’’, addresses a multitude of challenges that European food producers and other food chain stakeholders are facing in their effort to improve their competitive position within an increasingly competitive world food market. The Food Chain is one of the main economic pillars in Europe as, beyond responding to consumer and society needs, it furthermore provides employment and opportunities for economic development in rural areas. It is therefore imperative to continuously monitor the changes that affect the sector, in order to allow stakeholders to respond promptly and effectively in the new market conditions. New technology, globalisation, demographic and social changes are amongst the main drivers of what constitutes a challenging market environment. Thus in order to adapt to these new market parameters, food chain stakeholders need to adapt their activities in order to gain in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. A restricted number of papers have been selected and included in this special issue, in which the respective authors present their views on the aforementioned food chain challenges. In particular, specific food aspects that are analysed in this issue relate to the evolving structure of the food chain, food industry developments, introduction of new technologies, institutional transformation, food and trade policies, communication, nutrition, diet, risk management, competition, management, marketing, financial and economic issues.