Researches Concerning the Impact of Food Consumption, for the Human Health

Intervening after several years flustered by numerous food crisis (ESB, dioxins, listeria) and an intense debate on OGM, it reveals at the same time a crumbling of the traditional food models across the development of the consumption of easy products to be used anywhere (such as pizzas, soda or juice of fruit) and a strong request on behalf of the consumers in information, in control by authorities and in scientific research in the domains of food security and nutrition. The general perception of food risks is accompanied by a feeling of loss of the traditional food landmarks. The mutation of food practices, notably the cohabitation in the population of often different food habits and sometimes compared, contributes to the questionings of each and explains the strong reactivity of the consumers and public opinion in numerous food crises. Particularly, very strong difference of consumption and food behaviors between generations can only provoke doubts among the oldest on the permanence of a traditional and reassuring food model. In the inquiry, the idea most often linked to the general perception of food risks is the feeling of deterioration of the quality of the food products for last ten years. This overview of food risks explains that, beyond punctual food crisis, nutritional risks are more named spontaneously among «major risks linked to feeding». So, in their perception of food risks, the consumers grant a very big place at nutritional risks and particularly at obesity and at diseases of society (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes). Doubts of the consumers in food security (risks of physicochemical or microbiological pollution) appear more as the symptoms of a deep confusion of reports in feeding, on the occasion of which the perception of nutritional and health risks is intimately linked.