ABSTRACT
In the present era, processing and new distribution options provide increasing opportunities available to food marketers to provide the consumer with convenient and nutritious products. The rapid economic and income growth, urbanization, and globalization are leading to a dramatic shift of diets away from staples and increasingly toward livestock and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, and fats and oils (Pingali 2004). The current food consumption patterns are showing signs of convergence toward a nutritious diet. The main determinants of the changes in the demand for food are: income growth, which leads to major shifts in demand across different types of food; the process of urbanization, which brings about new dietary needs; and more generally lifestyle changes (Pingali 2004).
