Abstract

Sumac (Rhus coriaria) is a flowering plant that is widely consumed for its promoting health benefits and used in food preparations as a spice in the Mediterranean region. It is a high shrub or small tree with imparipinnate leaves, villus and red fruits with one-seeded drupe, and small greenish-white flowers. The nutraceutical and pharmaceutical potential of sumac makes it a remarkable functional food. In this review, the phytochemical and nutritional properties of sumac as an under valorized functional food have been discussed. Flavonoids, anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and organic acids have been reported as dominant phytochemicals in sumac, which are well known for their pharmacological properties that attract many consumers to commonly choose sumac in their diet as well as food preparations. The remarkable volatile compounds present in sumac give it a unique aroma that increases its acceptance by consumers and potential use in the food industry. Sumac has been evaluated for a broad range of nutritional and pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anticancer, anti-infertility, and neuroprotective potential. This review has also briefly outlined the safety concerns concerning the use of sumac in terms of toxicology and interactions.

Introduction

Today, humanity and especially most communities in developing countries depend on medicinal plants as a valuable heritage for their primary health care and substances. Functional foods (FFs) are those foods that may promote health benefits beyond their supply of essential nutrients. Owing to its basic nutritional and nutraceutical properties, a functional food can decrease the risk of the onset of many chronic diseases, and can contribute to health[[1], [2]]. FFs can be considered as whole, fortified, enriched or enhanced foods that provide health benefits beyond the provision of essential nutrients (e.g., vitamins and minerals) when they are consumed at efficacious levels as part of a varied diet regularly[3]. Rhus coriaria, also called sumac, is a high shrub or small tree (1–3 m high) with imparipinnate leaves, villus, and red fruits with one-seeded drupe, and small greenish-white flowers organized in panicles[[4], [5]]. Given its nutritional value and its phytochemical components (flavonoids, flavones, anthocyanins, tannins, organic acids, fibre, proteins, volatile oils, nitrites, and nitrates), it has been used both as a spice and gives a sour lemon taste to various foods such as vegetables, meat dishes and rice then as a medicinal herb. It contains natural pigments such as anthocyanins and is used as coloring agents in food industry[[6], [7]]. Research efforts on sumac extracts to date indicate a promising potential of the species of this genus to provide bioproducts that have desirable biological activities: antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic, antioxidant, antiviral, hypoglycaemic, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antimicrobial, antitumorigenic, antioxidant, and antiviral. In traditional medicine, this plant has been used in the treatment of many diseases such as cancer, stroke, diarrhoea, hypertension, dysentery, haematemesis, ophthalmia, stomach ache, diuresis, diabetes, atherosclerosis, measles, smallpox, aconuresis, teeth and gum ailments, headaches, animals bites, dermatitis and liver diseases[8]. Sumac may also have the potential for the prevention or treatment of atherosclerosis and its clinical manifestations. The target of this study was designed to evaluate sumac (R. coriaria) as an undervalorized functional food.

Conclusion

Due to the large variation in the bioactive and phytochemical content of sumac, sumac has a broad range of nutraceutical and pharmacological benefits. This makes sumac a rich functional food that can contribute to healthy living. In addition, the health promoting benefits associated with sumac can potentially increase its applications in different commercial products. More evidence and research are needed to explore the current nutritional benefits in humans through clinical trials. In fact, the more efforts could be applied to ensure that the phytochemical content of sumac is highly bioaccessible and bioavailable for more significant bioactivity. These efforts may be through encapsulating sumac and preparing different sumac formulations through complexation with other health promoting herbs or spices.

Abstract

Demand for processed food is increasing, but at the same time, some of these products have been strongly criticised for causing non-communicable diseases. Only a few studies have analysed consumers’ perceptions of food processing and, especially, ultra-processed foods. We examined consumers’ associations with processed foods, as well as how their processing and healthiness perceptions are related to food classification systems (i.e. NOVA) and the nutritional value of foods (i.e. Nutri-Score). An online survey was conducted with 498 Swiss consumers, who indicated their associations with the term ‘foods produced by the industry’. Furthermore, the respondents indicated how they perceived the healthiness and degree of processing of 27 foods that differed in how much they had been processed. The results suggest that consumers have rather negative associations with food processing. Consumers use the perceived degree of processing as a cue in their evaluation of the healthiness of foods. The use of this heuristic may result in biased decisions. Furthermore, we found a strong agreement between laypeople’s perceived level of processing and the NOVA classification system.

Introduction

Food processing plays an important role in a safe and secure food system (Carretero et al., 2020; Forde & Decker, 2022; Knorr & Augustin, 2021). The technologies behind food processing not only reduced the incidence of food-borne diseases (Floros et al., 2010) but also contributed to more sustainable food production by reducing food waste along the supply chain (Augustin et al., 2016). Furthermore, food processing has made it possible to supply a growing world population with affordable food products (Floros et al., 2010).

However, not all processed foods have high nutritional value. The way our food products are processed by the food industry has been blamed for an increase in obesity in many countries (Monteiro, 2009). Numerous studies have examined the consumption of processed foods in various European countries including Switzerland and around the world (Bertoni Maluf et al., 2022; Mertens, Colizzi, & Penalvo, ˜ 2022) . These studies have consistently found that processed foods contribute to at least 14% of total calorie intake, although the intake varies widely across Europe (Bertoni Maluf et al., 2022; De Amicis et al., 2022; Mertens, Colizzi, & Penalvo, ˜ 2022). Some studies have found that the consumption of processed foods, particularly those that are ultraprocessed, can have negative health effects, such as overweight and obesity (Monteiro et al., 2018), cardio-vascular diseases (Rauber et al., 2018), and cancer (Chang et al., 2023). However, other studies have not found a relationship between country-level burden of high body mass index and the consumption of highly processed foods (De Amicis et al., 2022; Mertens, Colizzi, & Penalvo, ˜ 2022).

Results 

Associations with ‘foods produced by the food industry’

The associations mentioned by the respondents were classified into 16 categories according to their meaning (Table 2). The associations mentioned the most commonly were ‘convenience food’ (18.7%), ‘unhealthy’ (16.5%), and ‘additives’ (10.4%). As expected, only a very small number of participants mentioned positive associations, which were mainly categorised into the ‘unspecific positive evaluations’ (3.0%) or ‘healthy’ (0.4%) categories. Furthermore, 11.8% of the participants responded to this task with ‘I don’t know’ or left the provided spot blank. The mean affect for the term evoked by ‘foods produced by the food industry’ was somewhat negative, with M = -1.06, SD = 2.32 (scale ranging from − 5 to + 5). The mean affect for the 16 categories are also shown in Table 2.

Abstract

     Access to healthy drinking water is vital to human health and development. Bottled water consumption has been on the rise in recent years. As several chemical and bacteriological parameters affect bottled water quality, it is difficult to choose the highest-quality bottled water. Numerous studies have proposed the use of multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to overcome this problem. Herein, the two-stage fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method were adopted to rank different brands of bottled water. The FAHP approach allows working at the intervals of judgment rather than absolute values. TOPSIS is a technique for ordering performance based on its similarity to the ideal solution. An expert panel selected and classified the criteria and sub-criteria. A pairwise comparison questionnaire was then developed, and the weights of the criteria and sub-criteria were assigned by water quality experts. The data on the quality of different brands of water were collected from the Iranian bottled water database. The final data analysis and weight determination of each parameter were performed in Excel and R software Programs. Finally, the CCi (value of closeness coefficient) and rank of 71 bottled water brands were calculated, and the best brand was introduced. Among the selected criteria, carcinogenic chemical compounds with the weight of 0.368 were the most important compound in ranking bottled water brands, followed by bacteriologic, pathogenic chemical compounds, chemical compounds important in terms of toxicity, nutritious chemical compounds with a low toxicity level, chemical compounds related to esthetic effects, and chemical compounds without health effects, respectively.

Introduction

     A challenge currently faced by developing countries is the lack of access to healthy drinking water (Abuzerr et al. 2019; Cobbina et al. 2015). Based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report, about 663 million people worldwide do not have access to healthy drinking water (WHO 2017). The increased population growth, a lack of healthy drinking water, and the public opinion about good taste, health, and appropriate quality have increased bottled water consumption. This rise has been considered in the past three decades, with the highest consumption being reported in developing countries of Asia and South Africa (Hu et al. 2011). The bottled water sale rate was $198.50 billion in 2017, a value which is estimated to reach $307.2 billion by 2024 (Doria 2006). Therefore, access to healthy drinking water is vital to human health and development (Fisher et al. 2015).

     Natural processes (erosion) and anthropogenic activities (electroplating, metal smelting, and chemical industries) are the main sources of pollutant entrance into the water. Although a few heavy metals are essential to human health, their excess amount can have negative efects such as anemia, renal dysfunction, cancer, and brain damage (Chowdhury et al. 2016; Gharibi et al. 2012; Qu et al. 2020; Qu et al. 2021a, b; Rezaee et al. 2015; Zhang et al. 2021). The existence of numerous parameters afecting water quality complicates bottled water quality assessment and ranking and decisionmaking about the purchase of the best and highest-quality brand. Therefore, there is a dire need for precise and logical techniques for accurate and scientifc decision-making. To this end, studies have proposed various methods for choosing the best option and making the decision, among which MCDM methods have received considerable attention owing to their numerous advantages (Kou et al. 2014; Mulliner et al. 2016).

Conclusion

     The quality assessment and selection of the best bottled water brand are difcult due to the efect of various physical (temperature and turbidity), chemical (heavy metals, anions, and cations), and bacteriological (Pseudomonas and coliforms) parameters on water quality and the existence of numerous brands in the market. Herein, by using the MCDM method (FAHP-TOPSIS), the quality of 71 bottled water brands in the Iranian market was ranked. The application of MCDM approaches in various sciences indicates these methods’ strong capability in evaluating problems that possess multiple criteria. These methods accurately assess bottled water quality and aid the customer in selecting a higher-quality brand. They can, therefore, be adopted to create competition among manufacturers to produce higher-quality products. In this study, the grouping and weighting of elements were based on the opinions of Iranian experts and by taking into account the local conditions of Iran. For global applications, a comprehensive model can be proposed for water quality assessment by considering other chemical and bacteriological parameters afecting water quality and with the participation of international experts from other countries.

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Data

3. Results

4. Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Disclosure statement

Funding

References

Abstract

     While a large number of studies have investigated seafood consumption in various markets, surprisingly little is known about the types of seafood sold in retail outlets or their product forms in the USA. This is particularly true for fresh seafood, which is generally regarded as the most valuable product form of seafood. In this article, a unique dataset on retail in-store seafood sales that includes information about three main product forms (fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable products) was analyzed. Fresh seafood is important, as it makes up 43% of sales revenue. Moreover, some species are almost exclusively sold fresh, with trout and lobster as prime examples. Fresh also includes the greatest diversity of species and, as such, is the most likely product form for new producers to succeed. National sales are dominated by a few species, with salmon and shrimp accounting for a large portion of the fresh (27%) and frozen categories (43%), respectively, and tuna dominating the shelf-stable category (75%). There are also a large number of species with mostly small market shares. There are few differences in regional sales patterns for the main species, with notable exceptions such as whitefish in New England and crawfish in Louisiana and Texas. The degree of urbanization and income level appears as the important drivers for seafood sales.

Introduction

     Seafood consumption in the USA has gradually increased for decades and includes a mixture of wild-caught and aquacultured species, from both domestic and imported sources (Shamshak et  al. 2019; Love et  al. 2020). As US fish stocks are generally well-managed at or near maximum sustainable yield and aquaculture production in the USA is limited, most of the increase in consumption originates from imports (Gephart et  al. 2019; Shamshak et  al. 2019). Readily available data on domestic landings, some aquaculture production, and trade enable estimates of availability (Shamshak et  al. 2019; Kroetz et  al. 2020); however, information on where seafood is consumed –in terms of both food sourcing and sub-national data, and in which product categories – is highly limited, particularly at the species level. Love et  al. (2020) recently found that about two-thirds of expenditures on seafood occurs away from home, primarily at restaurants, while seafood purchased for at home consumption makes up a much larger share by weight (56% at home vs 31% at restaurants and 13% at other outlets) (Love et  al. 2020). Moreover, these shares vary significantly by species and region. For instance, 52% of shrimp consumption occurs at home compared with 70% of salmon and 77% of tilapia consumption (Love et  al. 2020), and per capita consumption in Atlantic coastal regions is twice than that of the Midwest (Love et  al. 2020). The origin and product forms of purchased seafood are important to understand the growth in opportunities for the seafood industry – in particular in the specific market segments where domestic landings compete with typically lower priced imports – and how different parts of the seafood market respond to shocks or other sources of instability and natural variation.

Conclusions

     The US retail sector has a wide diversity of seafood species, product categories, brands, and regional sales, which makes it both complex and interesting to study. Purchases are highly focused on a handful of commodity products sold through mainstream supply chains with national distribution. Despite the diversity in seafood, which is a function of natural diversity in aquatic life (Metian et  al. 2020), the retail sector is fairly homogeneous and does not reflect the full diversity of species caught and farmed in US waters. Sales for fresh seafood vary by region, as well as by household income and urban population percentage. This suggests that better logistics and infrastructure in urban areas support fresh seafood distribution, and higher incomes allow consumers to purchase fresh products that are often at higher price points than frozen products. The opposite was true for frozen seafood, which was associated with lower household income and lower share of urban population. Shelf-stable seafood had no association with region, income, or urbanization. The Nielsen dataset does not provide insights into other food sources such as food service or self-caught seafood; however, other studies have done so (Love et  al. 2020).

1- Introduction

2- The risk early warning method

3- Case study

4- Discussion

5- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Food safety risks has received great attention in all world. And the reasonable effectiveness of security warnings can reduce public panic and risk losses. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved risk early warning method for food safety detection data based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) integrating the quality control analysis method. The AHP based on the entropy weight can obtain risk values for food safety component data. And the risk matrix of the risk component is obtained by the risk probabilities of the components. Then the corresponding risk levels are calculated using the quality control analysis method to release the risk warning information. Finally, a case study of dairy product safety data from the GuiZhou province in China is conducted to verify the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method. Moreover, the proposed method can scientifically and reasonably determine the risk level information. Furthermore, the risk management is provided to effectively reduce risk losses of the country though relevant quality inspection departments.

Introduction

With the rapid development of the economy, the food safety and quality have raised a higher requirement. If making correct and timely warning of food safety, people’s fears will be alleviated, and the harm caused by the food security crisis will be reduced. Nowadays, there are more panic and unintended consequences bring by false warnings. And the food safety risk is serious. Meanwhile, more and more food safety problems involving complex food safety data are occurred (Ma, Hou, Liu, & Xue, 2016). Because the food safety risk monitoring foundation of China is weak, it is very important to customize a risk monitoring model based on the basic national conditions (Tang, 2013). Due to the superior processing characteristics of complex food safety data technology, many dig data analysis and artificial intelligence methods of food safety risk assessment and early warning were proposed (Liu, Li, Yang, & Guo, 2018a; Wang, Yang, Luo, He, & Tan, 2015). Samuel et al. (Samuel, Asogbon, Sangaiah, Fang, & Li, 2017) used the fuzzy analysis hierarchical process (AHP) technique to calculate the global weight of attributes based on their individual contributions and predicted the high frequency risk of patients by training the artificial neural network (ANN) classifier. Wang et al. (Wang & Yue, 2017) formulated an early warning strategy for the safety risks arising from food transportation in the real-time monitoring of food safety to reduce the risk of food supply chain.

1- Introduction

2- Methods

3- Results

4- Discussion

5- Conclusions and implications

References

Abstract

Food recovery is a key strategy to address food waste concerns. School nutrition programs have significant amounts of food waste; yet, little is known about the prevalence and feasibility of school food recovery. In this mixed methods study, we identify potential school food recovery options and relevant systems factors, such as policies, resources, barriers, and competing priorities. To achieve these objectives, we conducted pre-consumer food waste audits and measured all wasted food recovered or landfilled at 14 school kitchens across three Northern Colorado school districts. Additionally, we interviewed professionals engaged in food recovery (n = 8) and school nutrition and sustainability staff (n = 20). The results indicate that the majority of food waste is landfilled, but food donation through share tables and appropriation of milk to food banks prior to long school breaks were viewed as the most feasible food recovery options. Liability concerns, increased expenses over landfilling, inconsistent wasted food volumes, and policy confusion hindered food recovery. Interviewees also viewed priorities to promote food safety and quality of recovered food as barriers. Key facilitators of food recovery were the desire to facilitate a cultural change to normalize food recovery among students and volunteers or advocates to address the food recovery labor needs. Interview participants across the system agreed that the training process required to sort uneaten foods had secondary benefits of equipping the next generation with environmental stewardship habits. Study findings underscore the interconnected nature of food safety, economics, and food recovery, and also suggest that systems-level solutions are warranted.

Introduction

Food waste is a significant problem affecting the environment and the global population. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans produced 39 million tons of food waste in 2015, sending the majority of it to landfills (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016a). Landfilled food is a key driver of climate change due to the greenhouse gas emissions during the production, distribution and refrigeration of wasted food (Springmann et al., 2018), as well as the methane and carbon dioxide emitted by landfilled food (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016b). These gases change climate patterns which affect food production, water access, and exposure to health hazards (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2018) and warrants diverting food waste from landfills. In Colorado, seven million tons of solid waste are generated annually (Burns et al., 2016). In Colorado, 16.8 percent of residential and commercial waste is comprised of food, the second most common material landfilled following paper (Burns et al., 2016). The Larimer County landfill in Northern Colorado is predicted to reach capacity in 10 years if current and projected trends for disposal of solid waste continues (Sloan Vazquez McAfee Municipal Solid Waste Advisors, 2016). In order to better manage natural resources, the EPA developed the Food Recovery Hierarchy (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016c). Food recovery refers to strategies to prevent and divert wasted food from landfill disposal (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016c). Following the reduction of surplus food, the hierarchy recommends, in order of importance, feeding hungry people, feeding animals, industrial uses, and composting as landfill alternatives (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016c). Important considerations for food donations are proper food handling and food safety (McFadden et al., 2015). There are also increasing food safety concerns with feeding food scraps to animals, and this practice has dwindled considerably since the 1980s when a number of animal-feed related disease outbreaks occurred (Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, 2016a).

Limited non-farm opportunities in the rural areas of the developing world, coupled with population growth, means agriculture will continue to play a dominant role as a source of livelihood in these areas. Thus, while rural transformation has dominated recent literature as a way of improving welfare through diversifying into non-farm sectors, improving productivity and resilience to shocks in smallholder agricultural production cannot be downplayed. This is especially so given the changing climatic conditions affecting agricultural production, and thus threatening many livelihoods in rural areas. Farm diversification is an important strategy for creating resilience against climatic shocks in farm production. Using cross-sectional data from northern Namibia, the study assesses the barriers and success factors related to effective crop and livestock enterprises diversification and the effect of these on food security outcomes. A Seemingly Unrelated Regression model is used to assess the joint factors explaining total farm diversification, while a step-wise error correction model is used to evaluate the conditional effect of diversification in each of the two farm enterprises on two measures of food security: food expenditure and dietary diversity. We find that past exposure to climate shocks informs current diversification levels and that access to climate information is a key success factor for both livestock and crop diversification. In terms of food security, greater diversification in either crop or livestock production leads to higher food security outcomes, with neither crop nor livestock diversification showing dominance in affecting food security outcomes. However, an overall higher level of diversification in both livestock and crop enterprises is dominant in explaining food security outcomes.

Introduction

Risk is inherent in small-scale rain-fed agricultural production. Farmers have to contend with seasonal weather uncertainties, the threat of pests and diseases, and post-harvest losses, among other risks. These risks are being exacerbated by the effects of a changing climate; for example, the severity and distribution of important livestock and crop diseases is changing, while incidents of droughts and floods are on the rise (Elad & Pertot, 2014; Thornton, van de Steeg, Notenbaert, & Herrero, 2009; Wetherald & Manabe, 2002). These effects of climate change are expected to increase poverty incidences in most developing countries and create new poverty pockets in countries with increasing inequality (IPCC, 2014). Agricultural production has been stagnant in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and there is consensus that the current trend in productivity cannot guarantee food security in the region (Jayne, Chamberlin, & Headey, 2014; Kyalo Willy, Muyanga, & Jayne, 2019; Onyutha, 2018). Climatic shocks that further adversely affect food production are a serious threat to food security and livelihoods in the region. While there are adaptation options that can create resilience in agricultural productivity, studies continue to show low adoption rates across the region (Bradshaw, Dolan, & Smit, 2004; Di Falco, Veronesi, & Yesuf, 2011; Mulwa, Marenya, Rahut, & Kassie, 2017; Singh et al., 2017; Smit & Wandel, 2006). In crop farming, such adaptation measures include using seeds adapted to climate-stressors (for example drought resistant seeds) and spreading risks across different crop types (Howden et al., 2007).

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the best foods for potential Vitamin D food fortification and to model the efficacy and safety of different food fortification scenarios in adults aged 50+ years in Ireland. Research Methods & Procedures: National Adult Nutrition Survey Vitamin D data for participants aged 50+ years was updated. Vitamin D from foods with natural and added Vitamin D was estimated and daily Vitamin D intake patterns were examined. Data modelling was used to estimate the impact of target food fortification scenarios. Results: Almost two thirds of the mean daily Vitamin D intake of adults aged 50+ years (7±7µg) comes from foods with added Vitamin D. Milks and breads are the most frequently consumed foods across all meals and were subsequently targeted for the data modelling exercise. Results from the data modelling show that Vitamin D intakes increased between 9- 17µg daily, depending on the fortification scenario. Fortifying milk or bread resulted in ~30% or ~55% of individuals meeting the RDA; however fortifying both simultaneously resulted in ~70% meeting the RDA. Conclusion(s): Currently the majority of older Irish adults are not meeting dietary recommendations for Vitamin D. Fortification of commonly consumed foods such as milk and bread could improve daily intakes such that ~70% of the cohort would meet the minimum recommendation. Future research should examine the efficacy of different food fortification scenarios to improve Vitamin D intakes for older Irish adults.

Introduction

Vitamin D is a fat soluble nutrient essential for calcium homeostasis (1). Vitamin D status is measured by the metabolite 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D (25(OH)D) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) define 25(OH)D concentrations of <50nmol/L as insufficient and <37.5nmol/L as deficient (2). Vitamin D can be synthesised in the skin on exposure to sunlight; however, synthesis is limited at northerly latitudes due to low ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure. For this reason, a large proportion of people in northern European countries, including Ireland, have insufficient circulating 25(OH)D (3-6). Vitamin D can also be consumed in foods, and dietary sources are critical in certain populations where skin synthesis does not meet physiological needs (4-6). However, dietary Vitamin D is also a concern as there are only a few foods that contain natural Vitamin D such as oily fish, egg yolk and meat. Other foods like milk and breakfast cereals that contain little or no natural Vitamin D can be fortified to improve intakes. Evidence from research suggests that fortified foods are important dietary sources of Vitamin D and therefore contribute to improved Vitamin D-related health outcomes (7).

1- Introduction

2- Experiment 1

3- Experiment 2

4- General discussion

References

Abstract

We conducted two event-related potentials (ERP) experiments to investigate consumers’ responses to different types of food bundles. In Experiment 1, the participants were instructed to indicate their wanting of a three-yogurt bundle when their neural activity was recorded. The results of self-report wanting scores revealed that the participants wanted bundles consisting of their favorite yogurt products more than those of disliked products. Such a difference in self-report scores was also indexed by the N2 in frontal brain and the P1 in the left hemisphere. By contrast, bundles consisting of three different yogurt products elicited a smaller amplitude of the N2 than bundles consisting of two favorite products and one disliked product, but these two types of bundles received comparable wanting scores. Moreover, we asked the participants in Experiment 2 to perform a visual discrimination task on these bundles, and did not found these effects on the N2 or the P1. Collectively, these results revealed neural activities underlying consumers’ responses to food rewards, and demonstrated the role of individuals’ variety-seeking tendency in wanting process.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

In summary, two major findings emerged from the present study. First, our results associated the N2 with wanting for food bundles, though this wanting effect was intertwined with liking (also see Goto et al., 2017; Telpaz et al., 2015). This result not only extended the scope from wanting for a single product to wanting for a bundle of multiple products, but also specifically linked people’s wanting for food bundles to smaller amplitude of the N2 in frontal region of the brain. Our results also associated wanting for food bundles with the posterior P1. To the best of our knowledge, the present study provides the first empirical evidence to link ERPs earlier than the N2 to wanting. This result associated the P1 to food-related cognitive processes (Becker et al., 2016), and is in line with the literature about that the P1 is sensitive to the influence of motivation (Cunningham et al., 2012; Hammerschmidt et al., 2017). Second, the results of this study revealed that the N2 may also index the differences in consumers’ responses to food rewards that cannot be easily captured by self-report ratings. That is, our results of self-report ratings did not reveal any significant difference between the 3M and 2F1D bundles, but our ERP results did reveal significant differences in the N2 elicited by these two types of food rewards. The dissociations between self-report ratings and ERPs we observed in this study are in line with the literature that people can generate motivation without conscious awareness (Winkielman, Berridge, & Wilbarger, 2005), and demonstrate that EEG signals are sensitive enough to capture the implicit processes of motivation processes (Jones, Childers, & Jiang, 2012; Pozharliev, Verbeke, van Strien, & Bagozzi, 2015).

1- Introduction

2- Materials and methods

3- Results and discussions

4- Conclusion

References

Abstract

With current global challenges such as population growth, climate change and water scarcity, it is critical to develop sustainable strategies to achieve food security. One way to tackle this is by developing new products that use alternative and more sustainable ingredients. Bambara groundnut is a low-impact African legume as it can be grown on marginal soils and is resistant to high temperatures. The aim of this study was to investigate UK consumer acceptability and emotional response to snack products containing Bambara groundnut flour as an alternative sustainable ingredient. A key objective was to understand the contribution that measuring emotional response would reveal. Additionally the impact of extrinsic information on consumer acceptability and emotional response to snack products was investigated by sharing information concerning Bambara groundnut’s sustainability and nutritional credentials. 100 UK participants were recruited to evaluate two biscotti and two cracker products. For each category a standard product made from standard ingredients sourced commercially, and one made replacing some of standard flour with Bambara flour were obtained. For each sample, participants were asked to rate their overall liking and emotional response based on sensory properties of the product (the blind condition). Participants were invited back for a second session, where they were informed about global resource challenges, and the sustainable features and nutritional value of Bambara, and which products contained this as an ingredient (informed condition). Under the blind condition, no significant differences in overall liking were observed between standard and Bambara products, indicating UK consumers accept the sensory properties of products that contain Bambara flour. Interestingly, the extrinsic information shifted consumer emotional response towards more positive emotions and less negative emotions when consuming products containing Bambara flour. It also made them felt less guilty when consuming the Bambara products, suggesting consumers engage with the idea of sustainable ingredients, and that this sustainable ingredient has potential for future new product development. It also highlighted the value of measuring emotional response for novel products to understand what may drive purchase behaviour when products are matched for liking. Food neophobia status did not impact product acceptability and emotional response between Bambara and standard products, however overall a lower emotional response was found for medium neophobic consumers in general who are more likely to evade novel products.

Introduction

Food security is defined by the United Nations as where ‘all people, at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’ (World Food Summit, 1995). With current global population growth and a prediction that this will reach over 10 billion people by 2050 (FAO, 2009), the goal of improving global food security faces a number of challenges including climate change (Cox, Betts, Jones, Spall, & Totterdell, 2000) and water scarcity (Butler, 2017). Sustainable strategies that enable agricultural production increase, waste reduction, and development of alternative sustainable novel ingredients for food processing are urgently needed. With increased public interest in sustainable food products, consumer attitude and acceptance of novel sustainable food products or ingredients is an important determinant of a novel product’s implementation and commercialisation.

1- Introduction

2- Description of the traditional process

3- Energy saving simulations and methods

4- Improvement of the desolventizer operation

5- Energy and environtal impacts of the improved process

6- Conclusions

References

Abstract

Soybean oil is widely used as cooking oil, whereas the soybean cake is a valuable ingredient for animal food. The extraction of soybean oil is an energy-intensive process, with additional significant impact on the environment via the wastewater and hexane emissions. The research investigated different ways to minimize the energy consumption. In a traditional process, both direct (live) steam and indirect steam heating (jackets, tubular exchangers) are used to deliver the required heat duty. Direct steam injection is restricted to the first evaporator and the stripper, for a total of 620 kg/h. Indirect steam is also applied in the evaporators for a total of 6.44 MW. The desolventizing process requires a steam energy input of 8.15 MW. Integration of a heat exchanger network in the evaporation and stripping part of the process reduces the amount of direct steam usage from 620 kg/h to 270 kg/h and of the indirect heat duty from 6.44 to 5.05 MW. In the cake desolventizing part of the process, the energy requirement is reduced from 8.15 to 2.12 MW. The overall gross energy saving is hence ∼50%. The improvements moreover reduce both the waste water loadings by 56.5% and the CO2 emissions by 62.5%. Hexane emissions are moreover significantly (>90%) reduced.

Introduction

Vegetable oils are commonly used for different end applications. Whereas edible vegetable oils, such as soybean, peanut, palm and sunflower oils are used in food commodities. (Alam et al., 2014), they also find applications in biodiesel or even bio-aviation fuel via transesterification and other secondary transformation processes. (Issariyakul and Dalai, 2014; Lin et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2017; Yun et al., 2013). There are also a number of oils, such as rice bran oil, palm kernel oil and sheanut butter, that are used in specific markets with added value for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. (Cargill, n.d.) Soybeans are used worldwide for their oil and protein contents. In 2017, the world production of soybeans was 340 million ton (33.9% in America, 32.1% in Brazil, 16.2% in Argentina). The world production of soybean oil was 56 million ton. The high content of poly-unsaturated components in soya has positive effects on the human health, by e.g. reducing the blood lipids, preventing blood clots, and boosting immunity. The cultivation of soybeans moreover captures nitrogen from the air and transforms it into N-fertiliser. The main components of the soybean are proteins (36 wt%), carbohydrates (30 wt%), fat/oil (20 wt %) and water (9 wt%). The composition of the soybean oil is given in Table 1 (Carrín and Crapiste, 2008).

There is limited research on food safety practices of street foods, particularly food trucks in developed countries. Given this gap, this study explores the safety and sanitation status of food trucks in the highly developed tourist destination of Orlando, Florida, in the United States. A sample of 30 raw and cooked ready-to-eat foods was collected from 24 food trucks located in residential and touristic sites located in Orlando and then held for microbiological analyses (E. coli and Salmonella enterica spp.) to determine pathogen populations of the final products. In addition to lab analyses for coliform bacteria, food safety practices of vendors were evaluated. Although developed countries are believed to have strict safety and quality measures in place, our study results reveal that food prepared in and sold from food trucks can be potential vehicles of clinically relevant E. coli and Salmonella carrying intestinal pathogenic virulence factors or antibiotic resistance genes, which might create a public health hazard or more specifically foodborne illnesses and outbreak. To minimize foodborne illnesses and infection risks, food inspections and monitoring processes should be carefully revised by municipal, county, and state health departments. This is one of the first studies to explore safety of food truck products in the context of a developed country.

Introduction

Street foods are often integral components of local culture and offer diverse opportunities to tourists and locals alike, for unique cultural experiences. Since food and travel are inextricably linked in memorable tourist experiences, travelers often try local cuisine at various types of restaurants or try indigenous foods at street food stalls. The sensual experience of eating and engaging in adventures involving various types of food and cuisines have led to the creation of the term “food porn” by travelers and bloggers (Scott, 2018). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 2.5 billion people around the world regularly consume street food and it is considered to be the most common form of public dining (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2007; Kraig and Sen, 2013). Street food also represents one of the most significant sources of employment for low-income families (Bhowmik, 2012; Freese et al., 1998). From time to time, the food service industry has been associated with news related to foodborne illnesses resulting from improper food handling, lack of sanitation, and other problems. Mobile and street food vendors (e.g., food trucks) in particular have been associated with environmental and public health risks. These types of events are attributed to improper food preparation and service, absence of food safety regulations, and improper waste management practices (Alimi, 2016; Food and Agriculture Organization, 2011; Kothe et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2014; Qureshi and Azim, 2016; World Health Organization, 1996). Previous studies on street food and street food vendors have revealed numerous safety, quality, and environmental problems in developing countries (Alimi, 2016; Al Mamun et al., 2013; Campos et al., 2009).

Separation becomes a bottleneck of dealing with the enormous stream of waste plastics, as most of the extant methods can only handle binary mixtures. In this paper, a novel method that based on magnetic levitation was proposed for separating multiple mixed plastics. Six types of plastics, i.e., polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyamide 6 (PA6), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), were used to simulate the mixed waste plastics. The samples were mixed and immersed into paramagnetic medium that placed into a magnetic levitation configuration with two identical NdFeB magnets with like-poles facing each other, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to verify the separation outputs. Unlike any conventional separation methods such as froth flotation and hydrocyclone, this method is not limited by particle sizes, as mixtures of different size fractions reached their respective equilibrium positions in the initial tests. The two-stage separation tests demonstrated that the plastics can be completely separated with purities reached 100%. The method has the potential to be industrialised into an economically-viable and environmentally-friendly mass production procedure, since quantitative correlations are determined, and the paramagnetic medium can be reused indefinitely.

Introduction

Massive global production of plastics, e.g., 322 M tonnes in 2015, has resulted in an ever-increasing stream of waste plastics (PlasticsEurope, 2016). Owning to less environmental burdens and economic feasibility, mechanical recycling of waste plastics or plastic recycling is becoming a promising practise in dealing with this particular waste stream (see Gu et al., 2014, 2016a,b, 2017a; Biganzoli et al., 2015; Wäger and Hischier, 2015; Ripa et al., 2017; Zheng et al., 2017). Recycled plastics possess comparable performance and advantageous prices to their virgin counterparts (Gu et al., 2016a), and have already been applied in the manufacturing sector (Gu et al., 2016b, 2017a). Plastic recycling is also one of the major sources of environmental benefits in waste management systems (Biganzoli et al., 2015; Wäger and Hischier, 2015; Ripa et al., 2017). However, although plastic recycling enjoys a rapid growth in recent years, most of waste plastics are still sent to landfill or incineration (PlasticsEurope, 2016). In reported cases of plastic recycling, only waste plastics of certain types and sources are recycled. For example, in the municipal solid waste (MSW) management system of Naples, only polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) get mechanically recycled while the mix plastics are recovered as fuels or directly end up in landfill (Ripa et al., 2017). Some Chinese plastic recycler only takes sorted waste plastics from factories or dismantling sites (Gu et al., 2017a). From a brief review of the extant literature, it can be deduced that the technology of separating mixed waste plastics is highly desirable for promoting the rate of plastic recycling, as most current practises cannot handle this particular type of MSW. Since separation of mixed plastics poses a difficult challenge to promoting mechanical recycling of plastics, the field thereby attracts a great deal of attention from academics. Froth flotation is one intensively studied plastic separation technology (see Guney et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2014, 2015, 2017a,b; Zhao et al., 2015; Censori et al., 2016; Truc and Lee, 2016, 2017; Pita and Castilho, 2017; Salerno et al., 2018; Wang and Wang, 2017). Froth flotation exploits tiny density differences between materials (Censori et al., 2016), yet, this technology primarily focuses on separating desirable types of plastics from binary mixtures, e.g., separating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from mixtures like PVC/polystyrene (PS) (Salerno et al., 2018), PVC/PET (Guney et al., 2013), PVC/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (Wang et al., 2017b; Wang and Wang, 2017), PVC/polycarbonate (PC) or PVC/polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) (Wang et al., 2017a), or separating PS from PS/PMMA, PS/PET, and PS/PVC (Pita and Castilho, 2017).