Key findings and today situation. The market The market of products with health claims seems to be one of the fastest growing segments of food industry in Europe and worldwide. This trend of market’s increase is already present in Slovenia and Croatia and upcoming in the rest of the Western Balkan countries (Serbia, Montenegro, BIH, and Macedonia). Young, educated, wealthy and urban women are the main consumers. The health claims are related to nutrition labelling. Thus, the analysis of the WBC market, which is rather underdeveloped, is necessarily based both on observation of products with nutrition and health claims (N&H claims). The shop-checks in 2010 have identified 475 different N&H products in all six WBC. Regarding the consumers’ preference for a particular origin, it seems that the WBC consumers tend to prefer the domestic products. However, when the origin of brands and manufacturers are observed, significant differences appear among WBC. Production and supply chain Both processors and retailers in WBC find the price of the products with H&N claims absolutely the most important factor influencing the local consumers’ choice. However, they also see a growing importance of health benefits of food. The main barriers for the market development are consumers related. Eating habits are the most important problem quoted by the interviewees, followed by the consumers’ lack of awareness and knowledge. Processors mostly complain about the limited shelf space in retail chains for which “they have to fight”, since retailers put priority on conventional products with higher turnover. Having in mind the rising importance of the health claim product market, some retailers in Slovenia have developed their private labels of healthy food, thus giving less space to private companies using their own brand name. Processors in WBC are highly dissatisfied with the national policies for nutrition. Namely, in most of the countries such policies have not been developed (Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) or, even existing, they are not properly implemented (Slovenia).
Key findings and today situation. Balkan countries have a strong heritage of culinary traditions. Therefore, consumers find a lot of traditional foods in Western Balkan Countries (WBC). In some WBC, many products are already registered and protected in a legal framework. However, traditional food is not only limited to registered products under a legal framework. All the WBC does not share the same level of regulation for traditional products. This regulation may be scarce in some countries and well developed in others. However, in a context of economic transition, the existing regulations tend to comply more and more with EU regulations for traditional products. The main objectives of this EU regulation are to keep a diversified agricultural production, to encourage rural development of less-favoured areas, to give clear information to consumers regarding the origin of products and eventually to harmonise the legal protection framework for Geographical Indications. The EU framework also intends to prevent unfair competition between producers and enhance public credibility of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), and Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG) schemes. This strategy seems supported by the study outcome as 80% of the Balkan consumers think that traditional products should be protected and consider as an important purchase criterion for traditional foods the geographical origin.. However, the concept of traditional products being wider than the PDO, PDI, TSG schemes, some other concepts as for example “on farm”, “regional” or “local” products exist and meet consumers’ demand as a counterforce to the development of agro-food processing industry. It seems important to preserve the strong heritage of Balkan culinary tradition, especially for the new generations. Throughout the study on traditional food, some limits regarding production, processing, information, regulation and communication have stood out. Speaking at a market level, the current limits regarding regulation for traditional food products in WBC are more focused on the control and inspection framework, which should be established or improved according to the country and the type of food. A need for transparency is also highlighted. The study on traditional food underlined a lack of confidence about hygiene practices especially for small-scale production. Then, the consumers expect that the regulation about traditional products will enhance the sustainability and the diversity of...
