Place and role of food industry in modern economies

In a period of economic crisis, there is a constantly increasing need to have a general picture on the place and role of different branches in fabrics of modern, open national economies. Based on Leontief’s input-output model, using the unified, structural database of OECD, the article analyses the economic role of the food industry in national economies of OECD member states as well as in economic structure of some important emerging markets by approach of network analysis. Applying this unique combination of a comprehensive database and network analysis methods, it is proven that the centrality of the food industry, determined on the basis of these indicators, is much higher than the average of other sectors of the national economies. This fact can be explained by the specific “bridge” role of the food industry between the different sectors of national economy. Results have proven the importance of the food industry and highlight the necessity of revision of governmental resource-allocation principles for R+D and industrial policy in member-states of the European Union

Multicriterial optimization of liquid food packaging systems

The food industry is in the crossfire of increasing pressure of competition, consumer demands, and growing importance of ecological sustainability considerations. Life cycle analysis is one of the most important methods for evaluation of environmental effects of food industrial technologies and packaging systems. During the last decades there have been an intense work to collect pieces of information on different environmental aspects of food packaging systems all over the world, but there is a considerable gap between the amount of knowledge and its practical application in decision making on the level of enterprises as well as in the process of determination of environmental protection fee. Application of modern, freely available software frameworks for life cycle analysis offers a favourable possibility for integration of environmental information into managerial and governmental decision making processes. Based on case studies, the article demonstrates the possibilities of utilisation of cumulative environmental burden indicators as well as expert decision-support systems for optimisation of product-portfolio, based on environmental considerations

Towards the Sustainable Food Consumption in Central Europe: Stochastic Relationship Between Water Footprint and Nutrition

Sustainable nutrition (SN) considers the environmental impact of food production. This study aims to analyse the relationship between nutrient density and water footprint (WF) of the most consumed food items in Hungary and to create a classification of nutrients. Based on a comprehensive analysis of literature and different data sources, the authors analysed the stochastic relationship between WF and nutrient density of different food items by Spearman's rank correlation. The analysis proved significant (P<0.05) relationship between nutrient density and WF of the most relevant food items in Hungary. Based on the classification, there are nutrients that are overconsumed among the Hungarian population and positively correlate with WF (e.g., cholesterol) and there are nutrients that are under-consumed among the Hungarian population and negatively correlate with WF (e.g., dietary fibres). In general, it can be concluded that the re-structuration of food consumption patterns in Hungary is an important and urgent task, which serves both the public health and ecologic goals. These efforts should be based on a complex evaluation of the problem. This study was one initial step to analyse SN focused on Hungary and further studies are definitely needed

Economics of apple-storage I: Comparative time series analysis of apple producer prices in Germany and Hungary

Based on standard econometric methods the article analyses the time series of fresh apple producer prices in domestic markets of Germany and Hungary. In Germany, as a consequence of high storage capacities the quantity offered in different parts of the season is relatively stable, that’s why only a rather limited price increasing can be detected. In Hungary, as a consequence of the limited storage capacity this fluctuation is much more important. The modern methods of time series analysis (ARIMA models, stepwise regression) can be efficiently applied for forecasting of price movements

Investment analysis of Hungarian apple-orchard and fruit storage projects

There are profound, long-term changes in world apple production and trade. The former hegemony of Europe in apple productiondoest not exists any more, among the most important apple exporters the emerging economies have a growing importance. The globalisingapple market means new challenges of traditional producers. This is especially true for Hungary, which has been the most important appleexporter in terms of quantity thirty years ago, but now its production hardly covers the domestic demand. A necessary precondition of themodernisation is the re-construction of plantations and the cold-storage system. Analysing the economic effi ciency of apple production andcold storage, it is obvious, that a necessary precondition for the modern, competitive apple production is the availability of cold-storagefacilities. Neither the apple-production, nor the cold-storage can not evaluated separately from each other. Under current Hungarian conditionsthere is a need for active state support for the establishment of cold-storage facilities

Investment analysis of Hungarian apple-orchard and fruit storage projects

There are profound, long-term changes in world apple production and trade. The former hegemony of Europe in apple production doest not exists any more, among the most important apple exporters the emerging economies have a growing importance. The globalising apple market means new challenges of traditional producers. This is especially true for Hungary, which has been the most important apple exporter in terms of quantity thirty years ago, but now its production hardly covers the domestic demand. A necessary precondition of the modernisation is the re-construction of plantations and the cold-storage system. Analysing the economic effi ciency of apple production and cold storage, it is obvious, that a necessary precondition for the modern, competitive apple production is the availability of cold-storage facilities. Neither the apple-production, nor the cold-storage can not evaluated separately from each other. Under current Hungarian conditions there is a need for active state support for the establishment of cold-storage facilities

Economics of apple-storage I: Comparative time series analysis of apple producer prices in Germany and Hungary

Based on standard econometric methods the article analyses the time series of fresh apple producer prices in domestic markets ofGermany and Hungary. In Germany, as a consequence of high storage capacities the quantity offered in different parts of the season isrelatively stable, that’s why only a rather limited price increasing can be detected. In Hungary, as a consequence of the limited storage capacitythis fluctuation is much more important. The modern methods of time series analysis (ARIMA models, stepwise regression) can be efficientlyapplied for forecasting of price movements

Use and abuse of dietary supplements for adolescents — Results of a survey among Hungarian recreational athletes

Consumption of dietary supplements (DS) has been showing a persistent, rapidly growing tendency all over the world. A new branch has been created on the borderline of food and pharmaceutical industries. It is a general tendency that the policy and regulation towards the products of this branch are lagging far behind the practice. This is an especially important problem with adolescents. To work out an efficient regulatory framework, we have to have an adequate picture on consumer behaviour and attitudes towards these products. Based on literature analysis of two focus group interviews, we have developed a motivational model on usage of DS, which has been tasted during a direct-question survey involving more than 500 respondents. Our results have proven that the consumption of DS is proliferated among young recreational athletes. One quarter of them consumes proteins, one tenth L-carnitine at least 2–3 times a week. The most important motivational factor is the improvement of sport performance. The level of confidence in these products is considerably influenced by peers and trainers. The propensity to underestimate the potentially adverse consequences of these products is high