Food Diversity and Consumer Protection

Food and nutrition are the expression of the differences between different cultures: they contribute, at the same time, to strengthening the identity of a group and mediating between different cultures. The food sector has been one of the clearest examples of contamination among uses, habits and traditions. Such contamination meant, for a long time, diversification and innovation and, therefore, an increase in the quality of life and health. Nowadays, however, interventions to increase productivity have led to the idea that agricultural products should be treated simply as commodities and to a consequent trend of homogeneity in food tastes and to the lack of investment in food diversity. This entails a growing vulnerability of human and natural systems. Preventive protection applied before consumer choice and the promotion of a system of rules for market operators may help to reduce the risk of decline in food diversity. The consumer becomes the holder of the same interests as the community, according to a logic of “belonging” not only and not so much to a group, but also to a system from which human welfare originates.