Brazil's poultry exporters are out to prove their standards of hygiene, animal welfare and environmental credentials equal the world's best. They feel unfairly slated for inhumane factory farming methods and destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Oh, and they ain't too happy about what they see as EU trade barriers.

With more than 1M hectares of crop surface free from pesticides and fertilisers, Italy is the most organic country in Europe, and fourth in the world. But it seems that the Italians, who already enjoy what is generally accepted as one of the healthiest diets in Europe, aren't willing to fork out the extra money for an organic product. A recent survey found that the number of consumers unwilling to pay higher prices for organic products rose 13% in three years. Instead, Italy's main export markets include the UK and Germany, which absorb around 30% of its organic output.

It's got a fifth of the world's population, an economy growing at more than 10% a year and a burgeoning middle class with cash to spend. If you're serious about developing your business in growth markets, China is a market you cannot ignore, says consultant Rohit Talwar. But be prepared for a culture shock. Head for Beijing without some serious preparation, he says, and you could get your fingers badly burned.

You English don't like offal very much do you; not like us French, remarks Michel Ganneau, as he points enthusiastically at a huge array of liver and tripe; head meat and trotters on display. It's very early on a slightly nippy Monday morning and we're in the offal hall of the huge Rungis market 6km outside Paris.

You don't have to be Hercule Poirot to work out why the Belgium food market is missing from British exporters' most-wanted list.

In a hierarchy where the lowly manufacturer kneels at the feet of the mighty discounter and consumers have evolved into skilled bargain hunters, how can German food processors inject value into the marketplace?

It is said that the Dutch have embarked on more revolutions than any other nation in Europe. Now, with the help of some pretty powerful food companies, they're busy plotting more in the futuristic 'Food Valley' near Wageningen.

Land of the midnight sun, lingonberries, and Laplanders. Paper mills, pine forests, and pickled herring. Ryebread and reindeer. There are as many clichés about Finland as there are lakes (187,888 of them, actually), or islands (179,584), or Nokia phones (61 models at the last count).

The Czech's traditional consumption of roast pork and dumplings (Svickova na smetane) and garlic seasoned potato pancakes (bramborak) washed down with a bottle of Pilsner is on the wane. The country which was responsible for the 'velvet revolution' in the late eighties, is undergoing a culinary revolution in the naughties. The hearty Bohemian tradition of dining on meat and pickled vegetables is being replaced by western-style grazing on savoury snacks, foreign convenience brands and ready meals. This is a cultural change that offers new scope for UK manufacturers with convenience products and ready meal production expertise.

Ireland's richness in food and drink has as much to do with its climate as anything else. The high quality of its dairy produce and beef is attributed to grass-fed cattle which take advantage of a pastoral landscape that is oft to be found "dreeping in rain", as James Joyce would put it.

Poland is potentially a land of opportunity for UK manufacturers. With a population of 40m, it is the largest food and drink market in central Europe and has one of the largest working populations. According to the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIZ), with 35% of its inhabitants under the age of 35 it is also one of the youngest populations on the continent. Around 14m young people are expected to enter the labour market over the next few years.

Think of the most sophisticated retail grocery markets in the world and Hungary probably does not immediately spring to mind. But of the 10 new states that swelled the European Union's (EU) food market to euros 600bn on May 1, Hungary is not only the most advanced producer, but also the venue for a turf war between more than a dozen leading global chains that are changing the culture of food consumption in central Europe and opening the doors to processors.