The specific objectives are to develop a network of universities, institutes, high schools, consumer organisations, NGOs and private enterprises active in the field of food consumer science that are able to develop joint-research activities and to gain a better understanding of food consumers in the WBCs, with a focus on products with positive nutritional properties (fruits and health/diet foods) and/or sustainability (organic and traditional food products).

Conclusions:

In Western Balkans Countries, food supply chains can be relatively short for products originating in small-scale farms, but an increasing number of intermediaries take part in the commercialisation of food products in formal supply chains. The supply chain usually includes at least four main stages:

• the farm level — includes farmers and upstream industries;
• processing — could be very short or very long depending on the type of product, on- farm transformation is widespread as well as industrialised processing;
• selling — by the retailers who will distribute and advertise the population about the products;
• consumption level — the act of buying; the main actor is then the consumer, acting for different reasons (intra-individuals determinants and sensory characteristic of the products) and pressures (society also called interpersonal determinants).

Source: Focus-Balkans