Ethical issues related to food sector evolution in developing countries: about sustainability and equity. (Special issue: Food safety, food quality and food ethics. Selected papers from the 3rd Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Fo

After a century of major technical advance, essentially achieved by and for the industrialized countries, the evolution of the food sector in southern countries should no longer be thought of in terms of a "headlong pursuit." In the present context of demographic growth, urbanization, poverty and disparities, environmental degradation, and globalization of trade, new priorities have emerged, and new ethical questions have been raised, mainly related to sustainability and equity. This paper analyses these ethical concerns. It examines whether the model of food sector development initiated by the industrialized countries be applied to the entire world on a sustainable and equitable basis, given the effects of this development with regard to: the energy consumed; the changes in dietary behaviour and related nutritional problems; the new demands in terms of food safety; the questions of biodiversity; ownership of knowledge; cultural identities; gender issues; and man's relationship to food and nature.