May T. Yeung - Böcker

With ageing populations, rising incomes and a growing recognition of the link between diet and health, consumers are interested in new food products, supplements and ingredients with purported health benefits. The food industry has responded with new food innovations, formulations and enhancements that comprise the growing health food market, manifesting the need to design regulatory frameworks to govern valid health claims.Regulating Health Foods provides an assessment of the regulatory environment governing the health food sector in key developed markets, including the US, the EU, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as significant emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Korea. It examines the different definitions of 'health food', product approval processes and health claims regulation in these markets. Against this backdrop, the book also offers insight into the nature of the health food sector in selected countries and examines the drivers of consumer demand for foods offering health benefits.This book is informative and accessible for students interested in food and nutrition policy, food economics, as well as socio-economic issues surrounding food and health. Academics and policymakers interested in food policy and regulation will benefit from the detailed analysis of the regulatory systems in a number of countries, and a comprehensive overview of key literature summarizing consumer attitudes toward health foods and health claims.

The Asia-Pacific Rim is still potentially one of the most dynamic areas of the global economy, and the European Union (EU) is the world's most prosperous market. The development of relations between the EU and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is vitally important for the future economic evolution of both regions. This book traces the relationship between the EU and ASEAN, considering the current and future position of trade relations.After discussing international commerce and trade at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the authors explore regionalism in the global economy and the establishment of regional trade organizations, in particular the EU and ASEAN. They then contrast the direct organization-to-organization approach which has characterized EU-ASEAN relations with that of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation). The book concludes with a substantial discussion of the institutional and policy changes that the EU and ASEAN need to enhance their future trading relationship. In addition, the authors offer insights from the EU-ASEAN experience for relations among other regional trade organizations.Regional Trading Blocs in the Global Economy will be welcomed by scholars and students interested in international trade, regional economics, European and Asian studies.

This unique book provides an assessment of an Indian-EU agreement, drawing on the theory of preferential agreements, the history of India-European relations and the recent refocusing of the Indian economy. The authors explore both a broad overview of the agreement as well as a detailed examination of sensitive sectors. A preferential trade agreement between India and the EU fires the imagination. It encompasses one fifth of humanity, connecting a large developed single market together with a major developing economy, together representing sufficient scope and diversity to capture almost all the gains expected from globalization. After a broad discussion of the agreement, the book focuses on two sensitive sectors - clothing and footwear, including the results of a stakeholder survey regarding non-tariff barriers in these industries. The book concludes that realizing the potential benefits of an India-EU agreement will depend on a clear understanding of the existing barriers to trade, careful negotiations and the willingness to implement what has been agreed. Business executives in both Europe and India as well as officials in the Indian government and EU Commission will find this innovative book a fascinating read.