Search results for: food crisis

Authors: Emran M. Badghish

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Overweight and obesity have now become an epidemic around the globe, both in high-, as well as low-income regions. It is important to use preventive measures that are cost-effective. Schools are the essence of building societies and engaging them in healthy nutrition will offer a way to reach individuals at an early stage in life, with many positive and significant impacts. Aim: Provide healthy food in schools of children aged 5 to 18 years old. Methods: Distributing healthy food to a school and implementation of a star rating system for healthier foods, with five stars for the healthiest option to a half a star for the unhealthiest. The stars system was developed in Australia and should motivate children to consume the healthier nutritional options. Each canteen should be allowed a minimum of 3.5 stars rating for the food provided. Outcome Measurement: Body-mass-index as an indicator of overweight and obesity should be checked at the beginning of the study annually for five years for all children. Another side measurement is the performance by checking the grades and a questionnaire on eating habits at the start of the study and yearly. Expected Outcome: A lower health-risk behaviour and assistance to children in reaching their potentials as they will adapt to eating healthier. Nutrition during childhood has the potential to prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes, dental diseases, hypertension and, in later life, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and a variety of cancers. In Australia NSW starting from 2016 is expecting a 5% reduction of childhood overweight and obesity by 2025. As for Saudi-Arabia, it is expected to have an, even more, reduction by 2023 as a lot of our children are canteen-dependent. Conclusion: Introducing healthy food in schools is a preventative method that would have significant influence on the reduction of the prevalence of obesity in Saudi-Arabia and improves its general health.

Keywords: food, healthy, children, obesity, schools

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Authors: Sónia Ribeiro, Diana Farinha, Elsa Pereira, Hélia Sales, Filipa Figueiredo, Rita Pontes, João Nunes

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Conventional plastic impacts on Planet, natural resources contamination, human health as well as animals are the most attractive environmental and health attention. The lack of treatment in the end-of-life (EOL) phase and uncontrolled discard allows plastic to be found everywhere in the world. Food waste is increasing significantly, with a final destination to landfills. To face these difficulties, new packaging solutions are needed with the objective of prolonging the shelf-life of products as well as equipment solutions for the development of the mentioned packaging. FLUI project thus presents relevance and innovation to reach a new level of knowledge and industrial development focused in Ecodesign. Industrial equipment field for the manufacture of new packaging solutions based on biodegradable plastics films to apply in the food sector. With lesser environmental impacts and new solutions that make it possible to prevent food waste, reduce the production e consequent poor disposal of plastic of fossil origin. It will be a paradigm shift at different levels, from industry to waste treatment stations, passing through commercial agents and consumers. It can be achieved through the life cycle assessment (LCA) and ecodesign of the products, which integrates the environmental concerns in the design of the product as well as through the entire life cycle. The FLUI project aims to build a piece of new bio-PLA extrusion equipment with the incorporation of bioactive extracts through the production of flexible mono- and multi-layer functional films (FLUI systems). The biofunctional and biodegradable films will prompt the extension of packaged products’ shelf-life, reduce food waste and contribute to reducing the consumption of non-degradable fossil plastics, as well as the use of raw material from renewable sources.

Keywords: food packing, bioplastics, ecodesign, circular economy

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Authors: Adepoju Abiola Lydia, Adeyanju James Abiodun, Abioye A. O.

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Spray drying, an innovative and sustainable preservation method, is increasingly gaining recognition for its potential to enhance food security by extending the shelf life of fruits. This technique involves the atomization of fruit pulp into fine droplets, followed by rapid drying with hot air, resulting in a powdered product that retains much of the original fruit's nutritional value, flavor, and color. By encapsulating sensitive bioactive compounds within a dry matrix, spray drying mitigates nutrient degradation and extends product usability. This technology aligns with sustainability goals by reducing post-harvest losses, minimizing the need for preservatives, and lowering energy consumption compared to conventional drying methods. Furthermore, spray drying enables the use of imperfect or surplus fruits, contributing to waste reduction and providing a continuous supply of nutritious fruit-based ingredients regardless of seasonal variations. The powdered form enhances versatility, allowing incorporation into various food products, thus broadening the scope of fruit utilization. Innovations in spray drying, such as the use of novel carrier agents and optimization of processing parameters, enhance the quality and functionality of the final product. Moreover, the scalability of spray drying makes it suitable for both industrial applications and smaller-scale operations, supporting local economies and food systems. In conclusion, spray drying stands out as a key technology in enhancing food security by ensuring a stable supply of high-quality, nutritious food ingredients while fostering sustainable agricultural practices.

Keywords: spray drying, sustainable, process parameters, carrier agents, fruits

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Authors: Kinga Wieczorek, Elzbieta Kukier, Remigiusz Pomykala, Beata Lachtara, Renata Szewczyk, Krzysztof Kwiatek, Jacek Osek

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The MICRORISK project (Research cooperation in assessment of microbiological hazard and risk in the food chain) was funded by the European Commission under the FP7 PEOPLE 2012 IRSES call within the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme of Marie Curie Action and realized during years from 2014 to 2015. The main aim of the project was to establish a cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the third State in the area important from the public health point of view. The following organizations have been engaged in the activity: National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) in Pulawy, Poland (coordinator), French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) in Maisons Alfort, France, National Scientific Center Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine (NSC IECVM), Kharkov and State Scientific and Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise (SSRILDVSE) Kijev Ukraine. The results of the project showed that Ukraine used microbiological criteria in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of 15 November 2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs. Compliance concerns both the criteria applicable at the stage of food safety (retail trade), as well as evaluation criteria and process hygiene in food production. In this case, the Ukrainian legislation also provides application of the criteria that do not have counterparts in the food law of the European Union, and are based on the provisions of Ukrainian law. Partial coherence of the Ukrainian and EU legal requirements in terms of microbiological criteria for food and feed concerns microbiological parameters such as total plate count, coliforms, coagulase-positive Staphylococcus spp., including S. aureus. Analysis of laboratory methods used for microbiological hazards control in food production chain has shown that most methods used in the EU are well-known by Ukrainian partners, and many of them are routinely applied as the only standards in the laboratory practice or simultaneously used with Ukrainian methods. The area without any legislation, where the EU regulation and analytical methods should be implemented is the area of Shiga toxin producing E. coli, including E. coli O157 and staphylococcal enterotoxin detection. During the project, the analysis of the existing Ukrainian and EU data concerning the prevalence of the most important food-borne pathogens on different stages of food production chain was performed. Particularly, prevalence of Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., L. monocytogenes as well as clostridia was examined. The analysis showed that poultry meat still appears to be the most important food-borne source of Campylobacter and Salmonella in the UE. On the other hand, L. monocytogenes were seldom detected above the legal safety limit (100 cfu/g) among the EU countries. Moreover, the analysis revealed the lack of comprehensive data regarding the prevalence of the most important food-borne pathogens in Ukraine. The results of the MICRORISK project are networking activities among researches originations participating in the tasks will help with a better recognition of each other regarding very important, from the public health point of view areas such as microbiological hazards in the food production chain and finally will help to improve food quality and safety for consumers.

Keywords: cooperation, European Union, food chain safety, food law, microbiological risk, Microrisk, Poland, Ukraine

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Authors: Kubra Dogan, Fatih Tornuk

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Due to increasing consumer demand for the high-quality food products and awareness regarding the health benefits of different nutrients in food minimal processing becomes more popular in modern food preservation. To date, heat treatment is often used for inactivation of spoilage microorganisms in foods. However, it may cause significant changes in the quality and nutritional properties of food. In order to overcome the detrimental effects of heat treatment, several alternatives of non-thermal microbial inactivation processes have been investigated. Ultraviolet (UV) inactivation is a promising and feasible method for better quality and longer shelf life as an alternative to heat treatment, which aims to inhibit spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms and to inactivate the enzymes in vegetable juice production. UV-C is a sub-class of UV treatment which shows the highest microcidal effect between 250-270 nm. The wavelength of 254 nm is used for the surface disinfection of certain liquid food products such as vegetable juice. Effects of UV-C treatment on microbiological load and quality parameter of vegetable juice which is a mix of celery, carrot, lemon and orange was investigated. Our results showed that storing of UV-C applied vegetable juice for three months, reduced the count of TMAB by 3.5 log cfu/g and yeast-mold by 2 log cfu/g compared to control sample. Total phenolic content was found to be 514.3 ± 0.6 mg gallic acid equivalent/L, and there wasn’t a significant difference compared to control. The present work suggests that UV-C treatment is an alternative method for disinfection of vegetable juice since it enables adequate microbial inactivation, longer shelf life and has minimal effect on degradation of quality parameters of vegetable juice.

Keywords: heat treatment, phenolic content, shelf life, ultraviolet (UV-C), vegetable juice

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Authors: Ted Gournelos

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Marketing approaches in practice and academic literature usually foreground the importance of product and brand awareness in strategy. Decisions emphasize justifications and promotions of existing projects, which has the unintended consequence of pushing marketing, public relations, and other communications to secondary strategies and tactics rather than as inherent pieces of organizational development. In other words, marketers implement what others have already decided. This is a challenge not only for the communications field, but also for the organizations themselves, since integrated communications employees are often the primary, if not the only, touchpoints for client/customer/user research and interaction. Organizations thus become increasingly out of touch, raising the risk of public or human resources crisis and decreasing the focus on opportunities for development and growth. This paper will discuss the potential for social entrepreneurship to refocus marketing and communications professionals on primary strategy, and suggest best practices for developing initiatives not only to impact marketing efforts themselves, but also the guiding organizational approaches to project management, human resources, corporate social responsibility, and research. It will provide a comparative analysis of social media marketing efforts conducted by food security non-governmental organizations from several countries, pointing out both flaws and areas of opportunity for integration with for-profit organizational strategy, and discuss the implications of descriptive, proactive, and interactive messaging.

Keywords: social enterprise, strategy, innovation, social media

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Authors: Stephen Hamafyelto, Hussaini Garba, Mary Pindar Ndahi

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The study was carried out with the intent to mitigate the trauma experienced by victims of insurgent attacks by the so-called Boko Haram militants in Borno state of Nigeria. The area was ridden by the crisis over the past 9 years. As a result, many people were killed, maimed and raped. Some others suffered all manner of inhuman treatment at the hands of their captors. The extent to which this dehumanized treatment has gone and impacted on the people in this area has left most of them traumatised. Victims who survived the attacks have been resettled in camps provided by government where their needs have been cared for. This can never be the same with their natural habitats. Many interventions have also been done by government, non-governmental organisations and corporate and individual bodies. In this regard, social needs of the victims have been the immediate concerns of most organisations, where food, shelter, and clothing were provided. However, there is little that has been done to rehabilitate these victims psychosocially. In this regard, sports and games including the victims’ local games were used to provide psychosocial rehabilitation of victims. The intent was to bring them back to social reality, social inclusion, and stable emotions and peer integration. Descriptive statistics and Multivariate analysis were done. No statistically significant difference was found among male and female children and adults in terms of psychosocial rehabilitation using sports and games.

Keywords: social reality, social inclusion, emotional intellegence, peer model

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Authors: Senait G. Worku, Ellen Mangnus

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Inclusive business models which integrates low-income people with companies value chain in a commercially viable way has gained momentum for the perceived potential to contribute to poverty alleviation and food security in developing countries. This article investigates the impact of Community Revenue Enhancement through Technology Extension (CREATE) project of Heineken brewery on smallholder farmers’ wellbeing in Arsi zone Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. CREATE is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Heineken N.V. which source malt barely from smallholder farmers in three zones of Oromia. The study assessed the impact of CREATE on malt barley productivity, food security and new asset purchase in Arsi zone by comparing households that participate in the project with non-participating households using propensity score matching method. The finding indicated that households that participated in the CREATE project had higher malt barley productivity and purchased more new assets than non-participating households. However, there is no significant difference on food security status of participating and non-participating households indicating that the project has a profound impact on asset accumulation than on food security improvement.

Keywords: inclusive business, malt barley, propensity score matching, wellbeing

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Authors: Vikrant Sinha, Himanshu Singh, Nitish Kumar Singh, Sujal Nag

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This research creates an urgent and complex challenge for marine ecosystems. Microplastics were primarily found on land, but now they are pervasive in marine environments as well, affecting a wide range of marine species, from zooplankton to larger mammals that live in those environments. These pollutants interfere with major biological processes like feeding and reproduction, causing disruption throughout the food web as microplastics are getting accumulated at different tropic levels. Meanwhile, climatic changes made these effects more accelerated, and the concentration of microplastics due to these occurrences is increasing day by day. Rising temperatures, melting ice, increased runoff due to rainfall, and shifting wind patterns are transforming marine life in a way that intensifies the burden on marine life. This dual stress is particularly present in fragile ecosystems of marine life, such as coral reefs and mangroves. Addressing this twisted crisis requires not only efforts to restrain plastic pollution but also adapts strategies for climate mitigation. This research emphasizes the critical need to combine approaches to save marine biodiversity and withstand the rapid changes in the environment.

Keywords: microplastic pollution, climate change impacts, marine ecosystems, biodiversity threats, zooplankton ingestion, trophic accumulation, coral reef degradation, ecosystem resilience, plastic pollution mitigation, climate adaptation strategies, SST, sea surface temperature

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Authors: Yun Chen, David Penton, Fazlul Karim, Santosh Aryal, Shahriar Wahid, Peter Taylor, Susan M. Cuddy

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Droughts have severely affected Afghanistan over the last four decades, leading to critical food shortages where two-thirds of the country’s population are in a food crisis. Long years of conflict have lowered the country’s ability to deal with hazards such as drought, which can rapidly escalate into disasters. Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of droughts is needed to be able to respond effectively to disasters and plan for future occurrences. This study used Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at monthly, seasonal, and annual temporal scales to map the spatiotemporal change dynamics of drought characteristics (distribution, frequency, duration, and severity) in Afghanistan. SPEI indices were mapped for river basins, disaggregated into 189 sub-catchments, using monthly precipitation and potential evapotranspiration derived from temperature station observations from 1980 to 2017. The results show these multi-dimensional drought characteristics vary along different years, change among sub-catchments, and differ across temporal scales. During the 38 years, the driest decade and period are the 2000s and 1999–2022, respectively. The 2000–01 water year is the driest, with the whole country experiencing ‘severe’ to ‘extreme’ drought, more than 53% (87 sub-catchments) suffering the worst drought in history, and about 58% (94 sub-catchments) having ‘very frequent’ drought (7 to 8 months) or ‘extremely frequent’ drought (9 to 10 months). The estimated seasonal duration and severity present significant variations across the study area and throughout the study period. The nation also suffered from recurring droughts with varying length and intensity in 2004, 2006, 2008, and, most recently, 2011. There is a trend towards increasing drought with longer duration and higher severity extending all over sub-catchments from southeast to north and central regions. These datasets and maps help to fill the knowledge gap on detailed sub-catchment scale meteorological drought characteristics in Afghanistan. The study findings improve our understanding of the influences of climate change on drought dynamics and can guide catchment planning for reliable adaptation to and mitigation against future droughts.

Keywords: SPEI, precipitation, evapotranspiration, climate extremes

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Authors: Ismahane Emma Karima Bessi

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Military sociology is largely avoided. Discussing the military as a societal phenomenon and the social dimensions of war and peace is now considered a disgraceful and neglected province of social science that has a major impact on global populations. The first official press war began with William Howard Russell in the mid-19th century. The media are crucial to war and peace. Even Gaius Julius Caesar, with his "commentarii bello gallico", was a media tool to influence his warfare. Napoleon Bonaparte also knew how important the press was for his actions. This shows how important history is for crisis and war journalism. The one-sided media coverage that every country is confronted with ultimately prevents people from having a certain interest in the truth and from gross knowledge gaps in order to get an accurate picture of reality. There is a need to examine the relationship between the military, war, and the media to look at the modality in which the media is involved in military conflicts, in this case, as an adjunct, i.e., war because of the media. These are promoted or initiated by the following factors: photos intended for the visual manipulation of the population, the pressure from politicians and parties who are urging and exerting their influence on the global media to share the same pattern of opinion, and, most importantly, the media profiting from the war by listening to popular reactions and passing them on promoting with new visuals. These influence political elections. The media occupies a huge and ubiquitous part of the population. These have the ability to make a country that is in constant crisis and war mode appear in a brilliant light of peace. An article or photograph taken by one journalist has a tremendous impact as it can control the minds of millions of people. Most wars currently have state-political reasons. The parties, therefore, want to have their (potential) voters on their side, who are inflated by the media. The military is loathed or loved. Thinking must be created that a well-trained military in the instances of natural sciences, history, and sociology can save or protect the lives of many people. Theoretical methods for this are defined and evaluated in more detail in this paper.

Keywords: war, history, military, science, journalism, crisis

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Authors: Tania Vazquez, Aida Huerta

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Way to get our food has changed over the time, and it is a daily necessity. Nowadays we found a lot of problems involved with the economy, environment, and society, which affect the agrifood system. Some problems as construction of big cities and growing population have been increasing demand food directly. Due to the countryside are far away from the city, another alternative systems have come from, such as Urban Agriculture (UA). UA system offers food production into the cities, products with characteristics as quality, healthy and good prices, close to the customers, recycling culture and the promote environmental education. Last years in Mexico City urban gardens have taken strongly in various politic delegations. There are establishment’s public and private initiatives. Moreover, these places have had different issues like low income, many activities, few workers, low production, lack of training and advice, devaluation of your work and low sales, all these shortcomings generate the devaluation of their work. The aim of this paper is to evaluate a business plan in Mexico City´s urban gardens that contribute to ensuring economic, environmental and social sustainability; to adjust business plan for this places so that they reach viability over time. As a part of soft systems methodology developed of Peter Checkland, we interviewed owners of urban gardens and we found that recurring problem was lack planning manager activities and a master plan about their business. We evaluate the business plan based on “Ten principles in sustainable food value chain development” proposed for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). With this study was possible measure, understand and improve performance of business plan in the three pillars of the sustainability in addition to this it allowed us to fit in with the needs of urban gardens.

Keywords: business plan, Mexico City, urban agriculture, urban gardens

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Authors: Maja Sajdak

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The aim of this article is to identify the measures companies undertake in order to adapt to the environment as well as discussing their diversity and effectiveness. The research methods used in the study include an in-depth analysis of the literature and a case study, which helps to illustrate the issue in question. Referring to the concept of agility, which is firmly embedded in the theory of strategic management and has been developed with the aim of adapting to the environment and its changes, the paper first examines different types of adaptation measures for companies. Then the issue under discussion is illustrated with the example of the company Hortimex. This company is an eminent representative of the world’s leading manufacturers of food additives and ingredients. The company was established in 1988 and is a family business, which in practice means that it conducts business in a responsible manner, observing the law and respecting the interests of society and the environment. The company’s mission is to develop a market in Poland for the products and solutions offered by their partners and to share their knowledge of additives in food production and consumption.

Keywords: adaptation measures, agile enterprise, flexibility, unanticipated changes

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Authors: Zhao Xinlei

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In general, interstate relations are diverse and include economic, political, military, and diplomatic. Therefore, by analyzing the development of the relationship between Malaysia and China, we can better verify how the Hirschman effect works between small countries and great powers. This paper mainly adopts qualitative research methods and uses Malaysia's 2020-2022 political crisis as a specific case to verify the practice of the Hirschman effect between small and large countries. In particular, the interest groups in small countries that are closely related to trade with extraordinary abilities, as the primary beneficiaries in the development of trade between the two countries, although they may use their resources to a certain extent to influence the decisions of small countries towards great powers, they do not fundamentally determine the small countries' response to large countries. In this process, the relative power asymmetry between states plays a dominant role, as small states lack trust and suspicion in political diplomacy towards large states based on the perception of threat arising from the relative power asymmetry. When developing bilateral relations with large countries, small states seek practical cooperation to promote economic and trade development but become more cautious in their political ties to avoid being caught in power struggles between large states or being controlled by them. The case of Malaysia-China relations also illustrates that despite the ongoing political crisis in Malaysia, which saw the country go through the transition from (Perikatan Nasional) PN to (Barisan Nasional) BN, different governments have maintained a pragmatic and proactive economic policy towards China to reduce suspicion and mistrust between the two countries in political and diplomatic affairs, thereby enhancing cooperation and interactions between the two countries. At the same time, the Malaysian government is developing multi-dimensional foreign relations and actively participating in multilateral, regional organizations and platforms, such as those organized by the United States, to maintain a relative balance in the influence of the US and China on Malaysia.

Keywords: Hirschman effect, interest groups, Malaysia, China, bilateral relations

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Authors: Bailey Houghtaling, Elena Serrano, Vivica Kraak, Samantha Harden, George Davis, Sarah Misyak

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United States (U.S.) Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants are low-income Americans receiving federal dollars for supplemental food and beverage purchases. Participants use a variety of (traditional/non-traditional) SNAP-authorized stores for household dietary purchases - also representing food access points for all Americans. Importantly consumers' food and beverage purchases from non-traditional store formats tend to be higher in saturated fats, added sugars, and sodium when compared to purchases from traditional (e.g., grocery/supermarket) formats. Overconsumption of energy-dense and low-nutrient food and beverage products contribute to high obesity rates and adverse health outcomes that differ in severity among urban/rural U.S. locations and high/low-income populations. Little is known about the SNAP-authorized food store format landscape nationally, regionally, or by urban-rural status, as traditional formats are currently used as the gold standard in food access research. This research utilized publicly available U.S. databases to fill this large literature gap and to provide insight into modes of food access for vulnerable U.S. populations: (1) SNAP Retailer Locator which provides a list of all authorized food stores in the U.S., and; (2) Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC) that categorize U.S. counties as urban (RUCC 1-3) or rural (RUCC 4-9). Frequencies were determined for the highest occurring food store formats nationally and within two regionally diverse U.S. states – Virginia in the east and California in the west. Store format codes were assigned (e.g., grocery, drug, convenience, mass merchandiser, supercenter, dollar, club, or other). RUCC was applied to investigate state-level differences in urbanity-rurality regarding prevalent food store formats and Chi Square test of independence was used to determine if food store format distributions significantly (p < 0.05) differed by region or rurality. The resulting research sample that represented highly prevalent SNAP-authorized food stores nationally included 41.25% of all SNAP stores in the U.S. (N=257,839), comprised primarily of convenience formats (31.94%) followed by dollar (25.58%), drug (19.24%), traditional (10.87%), supercenter (6.85%), mass merchandiser (1.62%), non-food store or restaurant (1.81%), and club formats (1.09%). Results also indicated that the distribution of prevalent SNAP-authorized formats significantly differed by state. California had a lower proportion of traditional (9.96%) and a higher proportion of drug (28.92%) formats than Virginia- 11.55% and 19.97%, respectively (p < 0.001). Virginia also had a higher proportion of dollar formats (26.11%) when compared to California (10.64%) (p < 0.001). Significant differences were also observed for rurality variables (p < 0.001). Prominently, rural Virginia had a significantly higher proportion of dollar formats (41.71%) when compared to urban Virginia (21.78%) and rural California (21.21%). Non-traditional SNAP-authorized formats are highly prevalent and significantly differ in distribution by U.S. region and rurality. The largest proportional difference was observed for dollar formats where the least nutritious consumer purchases are documented in the literature. Researchers/practitioners should investigate non-traditional food stores at the local level using these research findings and similar applied methodologies to determine how access to various store formats impact obesity prevalence. For example, dollar stores may be prime targets for interventions to enhance nutritious consumer purchases in rural Virginia while targeting drug formats in California may be more appropriate.

Keywords: food access, food store format, nutrition interventions, SNAP consumers

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Authors: Nicholas Okpe

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As the world gets more and more engulfed in both man-made and natural disasters, the call for religious intervention becomes intrinsically louder to the extent that any religious inclination that does not devolve into societal or humanitarian adventures makes no meaning. Wars, conflicts, environmental disturbances have thrown new challenges hitherto unknown to the doorsteps of religious groups for intervention as the last hope of humanity. In Nigeria, since the last two decades, many things have fallen apart that have led to humanitarian crisis from the North to the South and from the East to the West. Over five million Nigerians live in internally displaced camps all over the country due to the various forms of social unrest as well as natural disasters, especially floods. These problems have brought forth the signifance of various religious groups who through their interventions have often shown to be the hope of the people. This paper examines the latent potentials of religion in not only making people to cope with difficult situations they find themselves in, but also giving sucure to the many who otherwise are despondent and at the edge of life. Many religious groups have well developed plans of interventions in various humanitarian situations. The efforts of religions such as christianity, Islam and the indigenous African religion is exrayed and assessed for proper evaluation. The paper finds out that the most potent and effective means of attending to humanitarian crisis today in Nigeria is through the various religious organization as governments at various levels have lost credibility in such exercises.

Keywords: humanitarianism, religion. nigeria, society, practice

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Authors: M. Bischoff, F. Schmidt, J. Herrmann, J. Mattheß, G. Seide, T. Gries

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Crop yields have not increased as dramatically as the demand for food. One method to counteract this is to use pesticides to keep away predators, e.g. several forms of insecticide are available to fight insects. These insecticides and pesticides are both controversial as their application and their residue in the food product can also harm humans. In this study an alternative method to combat insects is studied. A physical insect-killing effect of SiO₂ particles is used. The particles are applied on fibres to avoid erosion in the fields, which would occur when applied separately. The development of such SiO₂ functionalized PP fibres is shown.

Keywords: agriculture, environment, insects, protection, silica, textile

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Authors: Azza A. Al-Ghamdi, Abir S. Abdel-Naby

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Cellulose acetate (CA) is a natural biodegradable polymer. It forms transparent films by the casting technique. CA suffers from high degree of water permeability as well as the low thermal stability at high temperatures. To adjust the CA polymeric films to the manufacture of food packaging, its thermal and mechanical properties should be improved. The modification of CA by grafting it with N-Amino phenyl maleimide (N-APhM) led to the construction of hydrophobic branches throughout the polymeric matrix which reduced its wettability as compared to the parent CA. The branches built onto the polymeric chains had been characterized by UV/Vis, ¹³C-NMR and ESEM. The improvement of the thermal properties was investigated and compared to the parent CA using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), differential thermal analysis (DTA), contact angle and mechanical testing measurements. The results revealed that the water-uptake was reduced by increasing the graft percentage. The thermal and mechanical properties were also improved.

Keywords: cellulose acetate, food packaging, graft copolymerization, thermal properties

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Authors: Margaret S. Gumisiriza, Ernest. R. Mbega, Patrick Ndakidemi, Businge K. Edward

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The purpose of the paper was to assess existing literature regarding hydroponics in both the developing and developed countries. Furthermore, relate it to the context of African countries, how they can implement it and benefit from it in the face of climate change, high population growth rates, and reduced food production. Agriculture remains the major economic activity for a number of African countries. It is the source of income for most peasants, and still contributes to the Gross Domestic Product in most of these African countries. Unfortunately, climate change coupled with the increasing rates of population growth; rural-urban migration; and urbanization have led to food insecurity due to a reduction of available land for agriculture. This has further intensified the food security dilemma in Africa, especially in urban areas, where land is already limited. Considering the aforementioned state of affairs, there is an increasing demand for interventions that can help farmers in Africa to cope with climate change and increase food production. This review explores hydroponic farming and how it can be used as a climate-smart farming system in Africa’s rural and urban areas. Specifically, the review focuses on hydroponics, requirements for hydroponic farming and the state of hydroponic farming in LDCs and Developed countries (DCs). From the review, it was observed that African countries especially those that receive a lot of sunlight would highly benefit from the solar-powered hydroponic farming systems. Further, still, this farming system will help African countries cope with the challenges of high population pressure in urban areas and climate change as it qualifies to be an urban farming system.

Keywords: Africa, climate-smart agriculture, solar-powered-hydroponics, urban-farming

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Authors: Saruda Nitiworakarn

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This research aims to identify traditional Mon cuisines as well as gather and classify traditional cuisines of Mon communities in Bangkok. The studying of this research is used by methodology of the quantitative research. Using the questionnaire as the method in collecting information from sampling totally amount of 450 persons analyzed via frequency, percentage and mean value. The results showed that a variety of traditional Mon cuisines of Bangkok could split into 6 categories of meat diet with 54 items and 6 categories of desserts with 19 items.

Keywords: cultural identity, traditional food, Mon cuisine, Thailand

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Authors: Marisol Warthon-Medina, Jenny Plumb, Ayoub Aljawaldeh, Mark Roe, Ailsa Welch, Maria Glibetic, Paul M. Finglas

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Similar to Western Countries, the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) also presents major public health issues associated with the increased consumption of sugar, fat, and salt. Therefore, one of the policies of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) EMR is to reduce the intake of salt, sugar, and fat (Saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids) to address the risk of non-communicable diseases (i.e. diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer) and obesity. The project objective is to assess status and provide training and capacity development in the use of improved standardized methodologies for updated food composition data, dietary intake methods, use of suitable biomarkers of nutritional value and determine health outcomes in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Training exchanges have been developed with clusters of countries created resulting from regional needs including Sudan, Egypt and Jordan; Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania; and other Middle Eastern countries. This capacity building will lead to the development and sustainability of up-to-date national and regional food composition databases in LMIC for use in dietary monitoring assessment in food and nutrient intakes. Workshops were organized to provide training and capacity development in the use of improved standardized methodologies for food composition and food intake. Training needs identified and short-term scientific missions organized for LMIC researchers including (1) training and knowledge exchange workshops, (2) short-term exchange of researchers, (3) development and application of protocols and (4) development of strategies to reduce sugar and fat intake. An initial training workshop, Morocco 2018 was attended by 25 participants from 10 EMR countries to review status and support development of regional food composition. 4 training exchanges are in progress. The use of improved standardized methodologies for food composition and dietary intake will produce robust measurements that will reinforce dietary monitoring and policy in LMIC. The capacity building from this project will lead to the development and sustainability of up-to-date national and regional food composition databases in EMR countries. Supported by the UK Medical Research Council, Global Challenges Research Fund, (MR/R019576/1), and the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Keywords: dietary intake, food composition, low and middle-income countries, status.

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Authors: Rafał Wonicki

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We live in an increasingly unstable world - the 2008 Euro crisis, the 2011-2015 immigration crisis in the EU, the pandemic of COVID-19, China's rivalry with the US, and the war in Ukraine are just some of the phenomena that show that current model of international justice is more and more contested. One of the answers to these challenges - apart from the return to the multipolar world or the growth of populism (Zakaria, Mouffe, etc.) - is the idea of global egalitarianism in the form of cosmopolitan democracy. The work will analyze this project and present the legal and institutional dimensions of the idea of global egalitarianism, which will examine the relationship between the axiological assumptions of this approach and its outcome in the shape of international institutions. In order to examine the project, a historical outline will be presented, which will anchor the idea of cosmopolitan democracy in the background of earlier philosophical ideas about the world state. Next, thanks to this, it will be possible to see to what extent this model is consistent with the postulates of its creators (Archibugi, Held, and others) and to what extent it solves the problems that they diagnose in today's globalized world. At the same time, the inclusion of the model of cosmopolitan democracy in the latest discussion concerning the theoretical and practical advantages and disadvantages of the world state will reveal the axiology behind the idea of state sovereignty and give the audience the possibility to reflect how such philosophical concepts help to better understand contemporary times.

Keywords: cosmopolitan democracy, global egalitarianism, held, Archibugi

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Authors: Akachi Odoemene

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There is an ongoing grassroots war in Nigeria, particularly in its north central zone, as well as all through its southern parts, which have been most bloody. The war is between Fulani herdsmen and farming communities – an age-long problem which has escalated in the last decade and has assumed a very deadly dimension. In a typical scenario, Fulani herdsmen move into non-Fulani homelands with their cattle which graze on local farmlands, destroying farmers’ crops. This provokes their victims – the farmers – to acts of resistance, preventing the Fulani and their cattle from entering into farmlands. In some cases, there have been incidences of killing and/or stealing cattle, or poisoning of fields. In response, the herders wedge deadly attacks on farming communities, leading to the death of thousands of people. To be sure, this has been a major factor of instability in the rural areas of Nigeria. This paper aims at engaging the issues and cross-cutting issues of interest, as well as providing context and perspectives to the violent conflicts between Fulani herders and local communities in Nigeria. It particularly interrogates four central issues: (1) the nature and dynamics of the crisis, (2) the positions and stakes of the parties to the crisis, (3) the remedies available for containing/managing the conflicts and their desirability, and (4) perspectives on the positions of government(s) (and the African Union) on this conflict. Both primary and secondary sources were used for the purposes of this essay.

Keywords: Fulani Herdsmen, violent conflicts and insecurity, sustainable remedies, Nigeria

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Authors: Ada Rocha, Beatriz Almeida, Cláudia Viegas

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Considering the growing trend of food consumption outside the home, Food Service units (FSU) achieved importance and responsibility in feeding the population. FSU have a strong environmental impact since the large-scale production of meals implies a high use of resources and produce high amounts of waste with economic and environmental consequences. At the end of 2019, with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, this effort towards sustainability was affected by the contingency measures imposed to stop the spread of the virus. Preventive measures in FSU, include the provision of cutlery and paper napkins in individual bags, the use of disposable paper towels, the supply of individual portions of bread and spices, as well as bottled water. These measures are, in many cases, a setback and an obstacle to the implementation of more sustainable practices and imply greater consumption of natural resources and materials. The present study aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of the contingency measures for the Covid-19 pandemic on the environmental practices of FSU in Portugal. A questionnaire was developed to characterize the FSU and the impact of the implementation of contingency measures for the Covid-19 pandemic. A great impact of the implementation of the contingency measures in the sustainability of FSU was observed, highlighting concerns about the need to keep these measures, some of them adopted due to fear of the unknown and its consequences on an ongoing successful process. Policymakers should keep only the ones that may prove to be efficient and positive and abandon or relieve the unnecessary ones.

Keywords: COVID-19, environment, food service, sustainability, SGD

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Authors: Se-Hyuk Park, Hee-Jung Seo

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Previous studies have investigated effective coping strategies for excessive stress, positive adaptation, resilience, mental health, and personal growth. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, little research has been conducted to investigate how Koreans with physical disabilities deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to identify coping strategies and coping resources that Koreans with physical disabilities utilized during the COVID-19 crisis. This study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 participants. Data were qualitatively analyzed using the constant comparative method with content mapping and content mining questions. We identified three salient themes that were used by participants as coping strategies to deal with various COVID-related challenges: (a) engagement in meaningful activities, (b) improvement of social and emotional support, and (c) experience of resilience. The findings of the present study highlighted that Korean adults with SCI actively engaged in various leisure activities, maintained and developed closer social relationships, and experienced resilience to face COVID-19-related stressors. These coping strategies were noted as a catalyst for physical health as well as psychological well-being of individuals with SCI.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, covid-19 pandemic, coping strategies, coping resources, leisure

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Authors: C. M. Cebola, V. H. Ferreira

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In the past decade mediation has been legally implemented in European legal systems, especially after the publication by the European Union of the Directive 2008/52/EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and mercantile matters. Developments in international trade and globalization in this new century have led to an increase of the number of litigations, often cross-border, and the courts have failed to respond adequately. We do not advocate that mediation should be promoted as the solution for all justice problems, but as a means with its own specificities that the parties may choose to consider as the best way to resolve their disputes. Thus, the implementation of mediation should be based on the advantages of its application. From the economic point of view, competitive negotiation can generate negative external effects in social terms. A solution reached in a court of law is not always the most efficient one considering all elements of society (economic social benefit). On the other hand, the administration of justice adds in economic terms transaction costs that can be mitigated by the application of other forms of conflict resolution, such as mediation. In this paper, the economic benefits of mediation will be analysed in the light of various studies on the functioning of justice. Several theoretical arguments will be confronted with empirical studies to demonstrate that mediation has significant positive economic effects. The objective is to contribute to the dissemination of mediation between companies and citizens, but also to demonstrate the cost to governments and states of still limited use of mediation, particularly in the current economic crisis and propose actions to develop the application of mediation.

Keywords: economic impact, litigation costs, mediation, solutions

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Authors: Nini Johana Marin Rodriguez

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This paper applies DCC, EWMA and OGARCH models to compare the dynamic correlations between exchange rates, oil prices, exchange rates and stock markets to examine the time-varying conditional correlations to the daily oil prices and index returns in relation to the US dollar/local currency for developed (Canada and Mexico) and emerging Latin American markets (Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru). Changes in correlation interactions are indicative of structural changes in market linkages with implications to contagion and interdependence. For each pair of stock price-exchange rate and oil price-US dollar/local currency, empirical evidence confirms of a strengthening negative correlation in the last decade. Methodologies suggest only two events have significatively impact in the countries analyzed: global financial crisis and Europe crisis, both events are associated with shifts of correlations to stronger negative level for most of the pairs analyzed. While, the first event has a shifting effect on mainly emerging members, the latter affects developed members. The identification of these relationships provides benefits in risk diversification and inflation targeting.

Keywords: crude oil, dynamic conditional correlation, exchange rates, interdependence, stock prices

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Authors: M. Riaz, Inamur Rehman, Abhishek Sharma

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The present work is the development of an experimental method for determining the thermal diffusivity variations with temperature of selected regular shaped solid fruits and vegetables subjected to forced convection cooling. Experimental investigations were carried on the sample chosen (potato and brinjal), which is approximately of spherical geometry. The variation of temperature within the food product is measured at several locations from centre to skin, under forced convection environment using a deep freezer, maintained at -10°C.This method uses one dimensional Fourier equation applied to regular shapes. For this, the experimental temperature data obtained from cylindrical and spherical shaped products during pre-cooling was utilised. Such temperature and thermal diffusivity profiles can be readily used with other information such as degradation rate, etc. to evaluate thermal treatments based on cold air cooling methods for storage of perishable food products.

Keywords: thermal diffusivity, skin temperature, precooling, forced convection, regular shaped

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Authors: Yevheniia Varyvoda, Douglas Taren

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At the aggregate level, climate variability, the rising number of active violent conflicts, globalization and industrialization of agriculture, the loss in diversity of crop species, the increase in demand for agricultural production, and the adoption of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns are exacerbating factors of food system destabilization. The importance of pseudocereals to fuel and sustain resilient food systems is recognized by leading organizations working to end hunger, particularly for their critical capability to diversify livelihood portfolios and provide plant-sourced healthy nutrition in the face of systemic shocks and stresses. Amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa are the most promising and used pseudocereals for ensuring food system resilience in the reality of climate change due to their high nutritional profile, good digestibility, palatability, medicinal value, abiotic stress tolerance, pest and disease resistance, rapid growth rate, adaptability to marginal and degraded lands, high genetic variability, low input requirements, and income generation capacity. The study provides the rationale and examples of advancing local and regional food systems' resilience by scaling up the utilization of amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa along all components of food systems to architect indirect nutrition interventions and climate-smart approaches. Thus, this study aims to explore the drivers for ancient pseudocereal utilization, the potential resilience benefits that can be derived from using them, and the challenges and opportunities for pseudocereal utilization within the food system components. The PSALSAR framework regarding the method for conducting systematic review and meta-analysis for environmental science research was used to answer these research questions. Nevertheless, the utilization of pseudocereals has been slow for a number of reasons, namely the increased production of commercial and major staples such as maize, rice, wheat, soybean, and potato, the displacement due to pressure from imported crops, lack of knowledge about value-adding practices in food supply chain, limited technical knowledge and awareness about nutritional and health benefits, absence of marketing channels and limited access to extension services and information about resilient crops. The success of climate-resilient pathways based on pseudocereal utilization underlines the importance of co-designed activities that use modern technologies, high-value traditional knowledge of underutilized crops, and a strong acknowledgment of cultural norms to increase community-level economic and food system resilience.

Keywords: resilience, pseudocereals, food system, climate change

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Authors: R. B. B. Samantha Ramachandra, L. D. J. Upul Senarath, S. H. Padmal De Silva

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Dietary pattern largely differs over countries and even within a country, it shows cultural differences. The dietary pattern changes the energy consumption and micronutrient intake, directly affects the pregnancy outcome. The dietary diversity was used as an indirect measure to assess micronutrient adequacy for pregnant mothers in this study. The study was conducted as a baseline survey with the objective of designing an intervention to improve the dietary diversity of pregnant mothers in Sri Lanka. The survey was conducted in Kalutara district of Sri Lanka in 2015 among 769 pregnant mothers at different gestational ages. Dietary diversity questionnaire developed by Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) Food and Nutrition technical Assistance (FANTA) II project, recommended for cross-country use with adaptations was used for data collection. Trained data collectors met pregnant mothers at field ante-natal clinic and questioned on last 24hr dietary recall with portion size and coded food items to identify the diversity. Pregnant mothers were identified from randomly selected 21 clusters of public health midwife areas. 81.5% mothers (n=627) in the sample had been registered at Public Health Midwife (PHM) before 8 weeks of gestation. 24.4% of mothers were with low starting BMI and 22.7% mothers were with high starting BMI. 47.6% (n=388) mothers had abstained from at least one food item during the pregnancy. The food group with the highest consumption was rice (98.4%) followed by sugar (89.9%). 76.1% mothers had consumed milk, 73% consumed fish and sea foods. Consumption of green leaves was 52% and Vit A rich foods consumed only by 49% mothers. Animal organs, flesh meat and egg all showed low prevalence as 4.7%, 21.6% and 20% respectively. Consumption of locally grown roots, nut, legumes all showed very low prevalence. Consumption of 6 or more food groups was considered as good dietary diversity (DD), 4 to 5 food groups as moderate diversity and 3 or less food groups as poor diversity by FAO FANTA II project. 42.1% mothers demonstrated good DD while another 42.1% recorded moderate diversity. Working mothers showed better DD (51.6%, n=82/159) compared to housewives in the sample (chi = 10.656a,. df=2, p=0.005). The good DD showed gradual improvement from 43.1% to 55.5% along the poorest to richest wealth index (Chi=48.045, df=8 and p=0.000). DD showed significant association with the ethnicity and Moors showed the lowest DD. DD showed no association with the home gardening even though where better diversity expected among those who have home gardening (p=0.548). Sri Lanka is a country where many food items can be grown in the garden and semi-urban setting have adequate space for gardening. Many Sri Lankan mothers do not add homegrown items in their meal. At the same time, their consumption of animal food shows low prevalence. The DD of most of the mothers being either moderate or low (58%) may result from inadequate micro nutrient intake during pregnancy. It is recommended that adding green leaves, locally grown vegetables, roots, nuts and legumes can help increasing the DD of Sri Lankan mothers at low cost.

Keywords: dietary diversity, pregnant mothers, micro-nutrient, food groups

Procedia PDF Downloads 164