Emerging food risks: Regulation, conflicts and tensions

Over the last few decades, world and Brazilian society have been facing risks that emerge from food, associated with the accelerated increase in the prevalence of obesity and other chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Food products with high levels of fat, sugar and salt, which circulate widely on the global market and change the daily eating practices of different peoples, are among the causal factors of these diseases. Therefore, regulating the nutritional profile of these products, reducing the amount of nutritional components considered a health risk, is a key intervention measure to be followed by public institutions to protect the health of the population and curb NCDs. However, this imposes on public authorities the need to liaise with the various stakeholders, as well as the challenge of managing interests and conflicts that oscillate between defending public health and limiting the freedom of the food market to operate. It is the tensions of this regulatory imperative and the changes it implies and anticipates in the behavior of the parties involved that the book analyzes and uncovers.