Publisher's Synopsis
The international trade in food is measured in hundreds of billions of pounds/ euros/ dollars or whatever currency you choose to use. The food industry is therefore of major economic importance to most countries both in "simple cash" terms (their food imports/exports and trade balance) as well as the employment it provides. The success of the food industry, in part, relies on its ability to be innovative - for example the UK food industry launches, at considerable development cost, approximately 8500 new food products each year. However, many of these will not be on supermarket shelves a year later and this represents a major economic loss.
