Legislative Factors and Product Specifications in the Marketing of ‘Light’ Foodstuffs

In the second half of the twentieth century, a new paradigm in food consumption emerged – expressed in the quest for low-calorie foods, with the objective of meeting new aesthetic standards, but also countering the development of obesity-related diseases. The food industry has been able to grasp consumers’ current needs with the introduction of reduced-calorie foods that, unlike other categories of products, have been showing an increasing sales trend. In this paper, after analysing the specifications, composition and production characteristics of low-calorie food products, we have attempted to clarify the effectiveness of said foods and the way they are perceived by consumers, in light of developments in the legislation regulating the marketing of reduced-calorie foods.