Understanding how an adequate food security may be determined, how nutritional intakes evolve over time and are influenced by global dynamics are few of the questions scholars are trying to answer. In addition, a great interest is devoted to the changes in consumers' preferences and expectations as well as to the analysis of food innovations and their impact on the global market.We review the recent and emerging trends in food supply chains of selected sectors (fruits and vegetables, meat, and seafood), and deepen on emerging trends in the food industry. By presenting the evidence provided by the literature and emphasizing the unresolved research questions, we offer a critical view of future directions that should be followed by research agenda.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the price of extra virgin olive (EVO) oil and its main quality attributes, in the specific case of business-to-consumers electronic commerce (B2C EC) channel. The final objective is to provide useful insights for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) interested in online selling of EVO. Design/methodology/approach – A hedonic price model was estimated considering the following attributes: packaging, cultivar composition, organic certification, oil extraction method, origin certification and localization of selling firms. A survey was performed in 2012 considering 169 virtual stores of SMEs (farms, mills and bottlers) located in all the main Italian olive-growing areas. A data set of 667 references was used to estimate the implicit prices of considered attributes. Findings – The EVOs sold through virtual stores are highly differentiated on the basis of several quality attributes among which the most important is the certification of origin (protected denominations of origin/protected geographical indication). Therefore the firm location could generate considerable advantages or disadvantages in adopting a B2C EC strategy. Research limitations/implications – Future researches should develop a comparison between the premium prices and costs associated to each attribute in order to find the best product differentiation strategy. An accurate analysis about the implementation and management costs of EC systems as well as an examination of interactions between online and offline sale channels is needed. It would be useful to compare the manufacturer direct sell business model with other business model. Originality/value – Few studies applied the hedonic price model to analyse the retail olive oil market. Nevertheless, no studies have analysed the market of EVO sold in virtual shops.

Today yogurt is produced and consumed worldwide, and its popularity has increased in recent years. In Italy, yogurt consumption grew by 43% in the period 20042008. This study is focused on the analysis of yogurt retail prices that show a great variability in the Italian market. In fact, our survey, carried out in a selected area of Italy during the last months of 2010, showed that yogurt retail prices range from 0.9Euro/kg to 9.6 Euro/kg. We deemed the hedonic price model to be the most appropriate analytical tool for this investigation because it allows explaining how the price of yogurt varies depending on its main quality attributes. The study's results may be useful in better understanding the evolutionary dynamics of an important market, such as yogurt in Italy, and, second, in addressing the marketing strategies of yogurt manufacturers facing an expanding market that is also characterized by an increasing competitive pressure and a rapid change in consumer preferences. [EconLit Citations: Q110, D400, L660]

The global economic crisis in 2007-08 resulted in a tremendous food price increase that is likely to have adversely affected food security and nutritional status in many developing countries.

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