- is subjected to a set of forces that can be summarized in the concept of globalization. This concept refers to the recomposition of production and commercialization processes beyond national borders, with transnational corporations as the primary vectors and agents. It is further characterized by the tendency towards concentration of industry and trade, by industry's expanding influence in the definition of food products, and by a certain homogenization of food practices, as witnessed in the consumption of international brand products.These prevailing trends lead to contradictions such as competition among economic players for markets and for profits, discrepancy between the banalization of products and the search for quality, and finally, the lack of congruency between the increasingly homogeneous consumption of major international brands, on the one hand, and regional and cultural diversity, on the other. These contradictions create opportunities for alternative forms of production and distribution to become more viable, and they open the way for strategies aimed at developing certain products on the basis of specific qualities. These strategies are facilitated by the emergence of new patterns of consumption on the basis of new values that are socially created and shared in a context of growing social differentiation.The strategy underlying these possibilities for autonomy is to give products symbolic social meaning through labels or other insignia, which make them easily identifiable and which guarantee their qualityand thus create the basis for their value and for a higher retribution for agents participating in the filière. By taking advantage of these niches in the market, it is possible to escape the mechanisms of competition.T
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