Assessing the economic feasibility of dietary supplements made with typical mediterranean food products

Several past studies have shown a considerable change in the food production sector. Currently, consumers pay more and more attention to the quality aspects of food related not only to their nutritional properties but also to the health properties. As a result of increased consumer’s awareness on the close link between nutrition and reducing the risk of diseases, consumers are more oriented towards foods that can generate positive contributions to health. This trend has encouraged the food industry to development and commercialization of several new products, among them the so-called "functional foods". In this scenario, the present study assessed the economic feasibility of a new functional product that is a dietary supplement made with white lupine and red orange juice’s extract not present on the market yet. We firstly conducted a Benefit-Cost Analysis which allowed us to assess the economic feasibility of the aforementioned dietary supplement and then through a Sensitivity Analysis we assessed the impact of possible changes in costs and benefits over the estimated economic indicators.