The Impact of Health Claims on Food Production and Eating Habits: An Analysis of the Evolution of Consumption in Italy

In Developed Countries, the problem of malnutrition is mainly connected to excessive food-intake whose direct consequences can be overweight and obesity. In the last decades, these problems increased significantly and they are expected to rise in the next future. Consumers education towards healthier food models is the main tool to prevent overweight and obesity. The European Union has approached the issue through regulatory actions that, from 2006, have completed the existing general framework of labelling requirements, by providing for specific provisions aimed at protecting the consumer’s right to correct information on nutritional and health properties of food. In this framework, the aim of this paper is to verify if after ten years of the introduction of the European Regulation 1924/2006, the declared objectives have been reached. In particular, an analysis in depth, regarding the evolution of lifestyle, health conditions and food production in Italy in the period 2005-2014 has been carried out.