Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing

Food Engineering Series

Series Editor Gustavo V. Barbosa-Cánovas, Washington State University, USA Advisory Board José Miguel Aguilera, Catholic University, Chile Xiao Dong Chen, Monash University, Australia J. Peter Clark, Clark Consulting, USA Richard W. Hartel, University of Wisconsin, USA Albert Ibarz, University of Lleida, Spain Jozef Kokini, University of Illinois, USA Michèle Marcotte, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Canada Michael McCarthy, University of California, USA Keshavan Niranjan, University of Reading, United Kingdom Micha Peleg, University of Massachusetts, USA Shafiur Rahman, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman M. Anandha Rao, Cornell University, USA Yrjö Roos, University College Cork, Ireland Walter L. Spiess, University of Karlsruhe, Germany Jorge Welti-Chanes, Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico

For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/5996

Joyce I. Boye

●

Yves Arcand

Editors

Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing

Editors Joyce I. Boye Food Research and Development Centre Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada

Yves Arcand Food Research and Development Centre Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada

ISBN 978-1-4614-1586-2 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-1587-9 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1587-9 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011944435 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Protecting the sustainability of our resources is the only way to ensure access to food for the present as well as for future generations. Anonymous, 2011

Preface

As we move into the future, decisions on food purchases will increasingly be influenced not only by price and quality, but also by social and environmental factors such as the sustainability of technologies used for food production and processing and their environmental and health impacts. Growing consumer awareness about the impact of processing and production practices on the environment, the high energy consumption of certain processes, health impacts of some of the technologies used in processing, and a heightened social and industrial consciousness to reduce the carbon-footprint are examples of factors influencing food choice. These factors have been made quite evident in the growing “buy-local,” “fair-trade,” “certified organic” trends. As a result, farmers and food manufacturers will increasingly be interested in identifying and using greener economically viable technologies for food production and processing. Some producers are already responding with the use of organic inputs in processing, use of recyclable and good-for-the-environment packaging, establishing just employer–employee relationships, and reducing animal testing in product development. There is little doubt as we move into the future that nutrition will continue to be one of most fundamental needs of human beings. The food chain has evolved tremendously from a “do it yourself” mindset before the Industrial Revolution, to a fully developed industrial sector in which more than 90% of the current population do not know where their food comes from or how it is made. Since the Industrial Revolution, worldwide food production has increased significantly but at a slower rate than global population. As an example, in the year 2000, of a worldwide population of nearly 6.5 billion people, 70% were sufficiently fed, 15% were malnourished, and the remaining 15% were severely malnourished. At the same time most land and aquatic resources were overused.

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Preface

The challenge as we move toward the year 2050 will be how to feed the projected nine billion global population who are likely to have a higher standard of living and are therefore likely to eat more, including eating more meat. To do this successfully will require that we produce 30% more food with much less impact on our environment. Some of the most serious environmental concerns we face include, land use change and tremendous reduction of biodiversity (>10× the sustainable rate), aquatic eutrophication by nitrogenous substances caused by over-fertilization (3.5×), global warming caused by enteric fermentation and use of fossil fuels (1.5×), aquatic eutrophication by phosphorus substances caused by fertilizer overuse (1.0×), water shortages owing to irrigation (0.7×), ecotoxicity and human effects of pesticides (0.5×), and so on. But there is hope. First, we are now aware of the problem. We now know that about 30–50% of food produced is wasted. Tools such as life cycle analysis (LCA) are currently being developed to provide a good global picture of the current situation and the main contributors to the present challenges. Initiatives are emerging from different parts of the world to identify more sustainable approaches to food production, transformation, and distribution. It is quite evident that one of the most important challenges of the next 40 years will be to find a balance between food supply and demand in a manner that is sustainable and that ensures the long-term survival of humankind. Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing provides a comprehensive review of the current status of the agriculture and agri-food sectors in regard to environmental sustainability and material and energy stewardship and provides strategies that can be used by industries to enhance the use of environmentally friendly technologies for food production and processing. In the first section, the book provides a global look at today’s supplies, demands, and key players of the food supply chain. Key drivers of the evolution in the food supply chain are described based on past, present and future trends. Part II provides an in-depth description of food production and processing using the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool. Chapter 3 starts with a description of LCA as applied to the food sector followed by chapters describing in more details crop production, animal production, and food processing. Part III of the book provides information on approaches to use to improve food production practices (e.g., optimizing the management of nutrient cycles, analyzing benefits of organic farming, and quantifying transportation impacts, etc.). In Part IV, information on more sustainable food pro-

Preface

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cessing approaches are provided, such as greener separation technologies (supercritical and subcritical fluid extraction, aqueous extraction), enzyme assisted food processing, electrotechnologies, greener technologies for microbial control, reduced energy unit operations and low environmental impact packaging. Part V further provides an in-depth look at some emerging analytical techniques for research and development that reduce solvent, chemical, and energy use. In the last section of the book, a critical analysis of some of the challenges associated with the use of agricultural resources to grow biofuels and bio-based products are addressed. In addition, technologies to reduce the generation of process-induced toxins are also reviewed. Furthermore, social factors that influence consumer perceptions about some of the current and emerging agri-food technologies, and the need and importance of biodiversity in maintaining sustainable diets of human populations are discussed in detail. We wish to thank all the contributors to this book for the stellar job in compiling the most comprehensive information on Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing to date. We trust that this work will be a significant contribution to the agriculture and agri-food sectors and of use to policy makers, the food industry, and the general public. Although much effort was made to avoid duplication of the information presented, as often happens with books of this nature, some minor duplication is unavoidable. We have endeavored to reduce this as much as possible. Additionally, we have made every effort to avoid errors. However, there is always a possibility that some oversight may have occurred. We take full responsibility for any errors and would kindly ask that we be informed of any such errors so corrections can be made in any future editions. Finally, we would like to give special acknowledgment to Danielle Palardy at the Food Research and Development Center of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada for the monumental secretarial help in the preparation of the book. Special thanks also go to Pierre Di Campo and Hélène Simard-Vermette, librarians at the same location, and to graduate students Zhen Ma and Xin Rui for their wonderful assistance. And, last but not the least, to all our readers, we thank you and hope that you enjoy reading this book. Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada

Joyce I. Boye Yves Arcand

Contents

Part I

The food chain

1

Introduction to the global agri-food system .................................... Nadia Gagnon

3

2

Key drivers of the food chain ......................................................... Corinne Gendron and René Audet

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Part II

Life cycle/environmental impact assessment

3

Life cycle assessment and the agri-food chain ................................ John E. Hermansen and Thu Lan T. Nguyen

43

4

Life cycle assessment of crop production ....................................... Frank Brentrup

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5

LCA of animal production............................................................. Xavier P.C. Vergé, Devon E. Worth, Raymond L. Desjardins, Brian G. McConkey, and James A. Dyer

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6

Life cycle assessment of processed food .......................................... Yves Arcand, Dominique Maxime, and Reza Zareifard

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Part III 7

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Green technologies in food production

Managing nutrient cycles in crop and livestock systems with green technologies ..................................................... Jonathan Vayssières and Mariana Cristina Rufino Environmental performance of organic farming ............................ Christian Schader, Matthias Stolze, and Andreas Gattinger

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Contents

Food transportation issues and reducing carbon footprint ............................................................................ Wayne Wakeland, Susan Cholette, and Kumar Venkat

Part IV

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Green technologies in food processing

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Supercritical and near-critical CO2 processing............................... Eric J. Beckman

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Green separation technologies in food processing: supercritical-CO2 fluid and subcritical water extraction................. John Shi, Sophia Jun Xue, Ying Ma, Yueming Jiang, Xingqian Ye, and Dianyu Yu

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12

Electrodialysis in food processing .................................................. Martin Mondor, Denis Ippersiel, and François Lamarche

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13

Enzyme-assisted food processing ................................................... Benjamin K. Simpson, Xin Rui, and Jiang XiuJie

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14

Emerging technologies for microbial control in food processing .......................................................................... Michael O. Ngadi, Mohsin Bin Latheef, and Lamin Kassama

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15

Green technologies in food dehydration ......................................... Stefan Grabowski and Joyce I. Boye

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16

Green packaging ........................................................................... Susan E.M. Selke

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Part V

Environmentally friendly approaches to R&D and QA

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Microtechnology and nanotechnology in food science .................... 471 Filomena Nazzaro, Florinda Fratianni, and Raffaele Coppola

18

Bead-based arrays: multiplex analyses .......................................... Anne Maltais and Joyce I. Boye

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19

Greening of research and development .......................................... Joyce I. Boye, Anne Maltais, Steve Bittner, and Yves Arcand

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Massidea.org: a greener way to innovate ....................................... Teemu Santonen

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Part VI

Health and social perspectives

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Reducing process-induced toxins in foods ...................................... Humayoun Akhtar

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The fallacy of bio-based materials and biodegradability ................ Rita Schenck

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Contents

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“Green” food processing technologies: factors affecting consumers’ acceptance .................................................................. Elisabeth Gauthier

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Food biodiversity and sustainable diets: implications of applications for food production and processing ........................ 643 Barbara Burlingame, U. Ruth Charrondiere, Sandro Dernini, Barbara Stadlmayr, and Stefano Mondovì

Author description ......................................................................................... 659 Book cover description .................................................................................. 661 Index ....................................................................................................

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Contributors

Humayoun Akhtar Guelph Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada Yves Arcand Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada René Audet Department of Strategy and Social and Environmental Responsibility, Management Sciences School, Quebec University at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada Eric J. Beckman Chemical Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Steve Bittner Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Joyce I. Boye Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Frank Brentrup Yara International, Research Centre Hanninghof, Dülmen, Germany Barbara Burlingame Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy U. Ruth Charrondiere Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy Susan Cholette San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA Raffaele Coppola Istituto di Scienze dell’Alimentazione, Avellino, Italy Sandro Dernini Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy xv

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Contributors

Raymond L. Desjardins Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada James A. Dyer Agro-environmental Consultant, Cambridge, ON, Canada Florinda Fratianni Istituto di Scienze dell’Alimentazione, Avellino, Italy Nadia Gagnon Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Research and Analysis Directorate, Ottawa, ON, Canada Andreas Gattinger Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland Elisabeth Gauthier Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Food Research and Development Centre, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Corinne Gendron Department of Strategy and Social and Environmental Responsibility, Management Sciences School, Quebec University at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada Stefan Grabowski Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada John E. Hermansen Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Research Centre Foulum, Tjele, Denmark Denis Ippersiel Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Food Research and Development Centre, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Yueming Jiang South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China Lamin Kassama Department of Food and Animal Sciences, Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL, USA François Lamarche Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Food Research and Development Centre, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Mohsin Bin Latheef Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada Ying Ma College of Food Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China Anne Maltais Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Dominique Maxime Département de génie chimique, Interuniversity Research Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services, International Chair in Life Cycle Assessment, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

Contributors

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Brian G. McConkey Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current, Canada Martin Mondor Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Food Research and Development Centre, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada Stefano Mondovì Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy Filomena Nazzaro Istituto di Scienze dell’Alimentazione, Avellino, Italy Michael O. Ngadi Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada Thu Lan T. Nguyen Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Research Centre Foulum, Tjele, Denmark Mariana Cristina Rufino Plant Production Systems, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands Sustainable Livestock Futures, International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya Xin Rui Bioresource Engineering Department, McGill University (Macdonald Campus), QC, Canada Teemu Santonen Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Espoo, Finland Christian Schader Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland Rita Schenck Institute for Environmental Research and Education, Tacoma, WA, USA Susan E.M. Selke School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA John Shi Guelph Food Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada Benjamin K. Simpson Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry Department, McGill University (Macdonald Campus), QC, Canada Barbara Stadlmayr Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy Matthias Stolze Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland Jonathan Vayssières Livestock Systems Research Unit, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), La Réunion, France

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Contributors

Kumar Venkat CleanMetrics Corporation, Portland, OR, USA Xavier P.C. Vergé Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada Wayne Wakeland Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA Devon E. Worth Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada Jiang XiuJie Hei Long Jiang Ba Yi Agricultural University College of Food Science, Da Qing, PR, China Sophia Jun Xue Guelph Food Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada Xingqian Ye School of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Dianyu Yu College of Food Science and Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China Reza Zareifard Food Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saint Hyacinthe, QC, Canada

Part I

The food chain

Chapter 1

Introduction to the global agri-food system Nadia Gagnon

1.1

Introduction

The global agri-food system has evolved rapidly over the past few decades. Many influencing factors, particularly globalization and trade liberalization, which came about in the early 1990s with the signing of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations and the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) multilateral trade agreement have contributed to these changes. The WTO agreement led to a substantial decrease in many tariffs and barriers to trade that had inhibited trade in agricultural products before that time. Since 1993, therefore, trade in agriculture products has grown immensely. World agriculture and agri-food exports alone rose from $US280 billion in 1999 to $US920 billion in 2009. Similar products sourced from various countries around the world can now be found in grocery stores everywhere from China to Brazil to North America. At the same time, the development of new technologies, new business models, and evolving consumer demands have affected the global agri-food system. Since the early 1990s, such significant innovations as biotechnology, no ill conservation tillage, Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS), and the Internet have transformed agriculture and food production across the globe. Increasingly wealthy consumers around the world are demanding more from their food, including more health benefits, ethical concerns, humane treatment of animals, fair trade, and environmental benefits such as low carbon, water, and energy use. The food industry is responding by developing private standards that can ensure these consumer demands are met by differentiating their products. This requires increased global supply chain integration.

N. Gagnon (*) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Research and Analysis Directorate, Ottawa, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected] J.I. Boye and Y. Arcand (eds.), Green Technologies in Food Production and Processing, Food Engineering Series, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-1587-9_1, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

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N. Gagnon

This chapter presents a broad overview of the global agri-food system or supply chain. It begins with a context in which the global agri-food system is evolving, particularly related to consumer demands and world agricultural production. It then goes on to describe what a “supply chain” is, and explores the structure of each component of the supply chain or system as well as the principal actors within the chain and their contribution to the economy. The various components of the agrifood system or supply chain are described, from input industries to the players involved in selling and delivering food to consumers with regard to their size, importance, interaction, and contribution to the “greening” of the supply chain.

1.2

Global context related to consumer demands

Evolving consumer demands are a vital factor that has led to a significant change in the global agri-food system. Traditionally, food price and consumer income have been widely recognized as playing a key role in influencing the purchasing decisions of food consumers. However, there are increasingly other considerations that influence consumer choice of one food product over another. For instance, consumers are increasingly paying more attention to food safety concerns. In recent years, a number of food-related public health and environmental incidents has raised consumer interest in agricultural production methods. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (mad cow disease), avian influenza, and genetically modified (GM) foods have all led to consumers becoming quite interested in the safety of their food. Several cases of BSE were reported in North America and Europe, leading to trade embargoes, animal destruction, and a complete breakdown in trust in the food safety systems of the United Kingdom (WOAH 2010). The outbreak of avian influenza in poultry across Asia and Eastern Europe in 2003–2004 caused serious social and economic losses, because birds had to be destroyed and several human deaths were attributed to the disease. In Vietnam alone, where poultry production was down by around 15%, economic losses resulting from the avian flu were estimated at about 0.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) (World Bank 2005). Additional losses occurred because of lower egg production and reduced activity in distribution channels. In addition, the development of biotechnology and the resulting consumer resistance to GM crops, the result of a revolution in technology that recombines genetic material across different species, makes news headlines every now and then with significant negative repercussions for producers and markets. In Europe in particular there is significant consumer resistance to these GM products, and exports from North America, where some GM crops are produced, are routinely scrutinized. Recently the agro-chemical producer BASF, with its headquarters in Germany, has been in the spotlight after seeds from a new strain of GM potato were found in a Swedish field (BASF 2010). Similarly, a genetically modified strain of flax was found in a shipment of flax from Canada in Germany. Such episodes have raised consumer concerns about the characteristics of food to which the agri-food system must respond.

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Introduction to the global agri-food system

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In addition to food safety and genetically modified food products, consumers are increasingly interested in ethical considerations when purchasing food. Ethical consumption is driven by consumer preferences related to broader societal goals that go beyond their immediate need for safe and nutritious food products. For instance, environmental concerns related to ecological footprints (carbon, water etc.), fair and equitable labour market outcomes (fair trade), animal welfare (free-range rearing and humane methods of slaughtering), poverty, and underdevelopment in the Less Developed World are increasingly important and are affecting food purchasing decisions. Growing interest in local food and cooperative distribution networks has also become important. Despite the fact that the largest food retailers in industrialized countries continue to capture the largest market share, local food demand is being influenced by environmental concerns as well as consumer interest in supporting local farmers.

1.3

Characteristics of the global agri-food system

Some of the main characteristics and dynamics of the global agri-food system are explored in the following, with a focus on the various activities performed by different players in the system, including inputs and services suppliers, agricultural production, food processing, retailing, and consumption practices. In addition a variety of technological, environmental, health and socioeconomic issues related to these activities are explored. A typology is presented in Table 1.1, which characterizes agrifood systems or supply chains in different parts of the world. The first type is a traditional food system with traditional, unorganized supply chains and limited market infrastructure. The second type of food system is considered a modern well-structured agricultural system, with traditional actors, subject to more rules and regulations and a more efficient market infrastructure. The third type is considered the industrialized food system found in most developed countries. It is characterized by a high degree of coordination among actors, a highly consolidated processing and Table 1.1 Main characteristics of the three types of global agri-food systems Food system Traditional Modernizing Industrialized characteristics agriculture agriculture agriculture Share of GDP from >30% 10–30% 50% 15–50%