ReviewAn integrated approach to current trends in food consumption: Moving toward functional and organic products?

In recent times, concerns about the impact of the food that people consume on their own health, as well as the social and environmental consequences that it entails, have led to major changes in all steps of the food chain including all the agents from the producer to the retailer. These phenomena comprise complex technologic, social, economic and environmental linkages that require integrated research approaches, i.e. the changes in consumers' demand and their consequences need to be considered from all these different points of view. This piece of work reviews the main causes and consequences of these changes in consumers' attitude toward foodstuff selection, dealing with different topics as regulation modifications or the impact on rural network in Europe. In addition, some references that cast doubt on the appropriateness of expanding markets for expensive products such as functional and organic ones at a time of economic recession have been provided.