Biocide Use in the Beverage Industry: Consumers’ Knowledge and Label Preferences Relating to the Need and Usefulness of Biocides with Particular Reference to Dairy Beverage Products in New Zealand and China

Biocides, in the form of sanitisers and disinfectants, are used extensively to reduce the risk of microbial contamination to beverage products and to ensure the safety of potable water used in processing. To better understand consumers’ perceptions of biocide use and to explore messaging strategies regarding their importance to ensure product safety, eight focus groups were conducted in New Zealand (n = 4) and China (n = 4). Consumers generally did not understand why or how biocides were used. In both countries, their most trustworthy source of information on biocide use was government sources. New Zealand and Chinese participants did not like the word “biocide” mentioned on labels due to its perceived negative connotations. Interestingly, acceptance for the word was higher if the phrase “environmentally friendly” was simultaneously communicated. The findings from this study have provided the beverage industry with guidance on how best to initiate conversations with consumers on the use of biocides.

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Information-seeking to Support Personal and Community Wellbeing: Report of a study of New Zealand Men Using Focus Groups

Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes du congrès annuel de l'ACSI ◽

10.29173/cais962 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Peta Wellstead

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Support Services ◽

Information Seeking ◽

Service Providers ◽

Structural Constraints ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Study Results ◽

Groupes De Discussion

This paper reports part of an ongoing study exploring the information behaviour of New Zealand men during periods of diminished health and wellbeing. Focus groups were used for this iteration of the study. Results indicate that New Zealand men face both personal and structural constraints to their information-seeking during periods when their health and wellbeing may be compromised. This study highlights that service providers need to develop more effective information delivery mechanisms and support services for men. These services need to be appealing to men and reflect men’s information seeking preferences. The role of LIS professionals in supporting this endeavour is discussed. Cet article présente une étude en cours explorant le comportement informationnel d’ hommes néo-zélandais durant des périodes où leur état de santé et de bien-être est amoindri. Des groupes de discussion ont été utilisés pour cette itération de l'étude. Les résultats indiquent que les hommes en Nouvelle-Zélande font face à des contraintes à la fois personnelles et structurelles dans leur recherche d'information pendant les périodes où leur santé et leur bien-être peuvent être affaiblis. Cette étude met en évidence le besoin pour les fournisseurs de services de développer des mécanismes de diffusion de l'information plus efficaces et des services de soutien pour les hommes. Ces services doivent être attrayants et refléter les préférences des hommes dans leurs recherches d’information. Le rôle des professionnels de l'information dans le soutien à cette entreprise est discuté.

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Producing a new website for a paediatric liaison mental health team with our service users

BMJ Open Quality ◽

10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001128 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. e001128

Author(s):

Alexander Adams ◽

Virginia Davies ◽

Bethany Stubbs

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Patient Experience ◽

Service Users ◽

Health Issues ◽

Web Page ◽

Mental Health Team ◽

Children And Young People ◽

Specific Feedback ◽

Source Of Information

IntroductionOnline resources are an important source of information about mental health issues and services for children and young people. Our service’s website had an out-of-date appearance and was aimed at professionals. More importantly, comments in our routinely collected patient experience data indicated that service users did not know what to expect when coming to our service.MethodsWe followed the model for improvement by testing out changes in plan, do, study and act cycles that included a review of recently updated child and adolescent mental health services’ and youth charities’ websites, designing a new web page for our service and then testing out the website in focus groups. We used routinely collected patient experience data to assess impact on wider patient satisfaction.ResultsFocus groups involving patients, parents and professionals judged the new website to be clearer, more attractive and easier to understand. Routine patient experience data did not reveal any website-specific feedback.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that it is easy and possible to create an attractive and accessible website for a mental health service using quality improvement methodology. In order to capture and integrate ongoing feedback about a service’s website from service users, routinely collected patient experience measures would need to ask specific questions related to this area. In this study, preproject and postproject patient experience data did not generate any specific comments.

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Who Are the Key Players Involved with Shaping Public Opinion and Policies on Obesity and Diabetes in New Zealand?

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu10111592 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1592

Author(s):

Willemijn de Bruin ◽

Cherie Stayner ◽

Michel Lange ◽

Rachael Taylor

Keyword(s):

Public Opinion ◽

New Zealand ◽

Policy Development ◽

Service Providers ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Health Service Providers ◽

Beverage Industry ◽

Obesity And Diabetes ◽

Food And Beverage ◽

Diabetes And Obesity

There is an urgent need for strategic approaches to address the high prevalence of obesity and diabetes in New Zealand. Such approaches rely strongly on input from multiple actors in the diabetes and obesity policy space. We conducted a social network analysis to identify influential actors involved with shaping public opinion and/or policy regarding obesity and diabetes in New Zealand. Our analysis revealed a diverse network of 272 individuals deemed influential by their peers. These individuals represented nine professional categories, particularly academics (34%), health service providers (22%), and government representatives (17%). The network included a total of 17 identified decision-makers. Relative capacity of professional categories to access these decision-makers was highest for representatives of the food and beverage industry (25%), compared with nongovernment organisations (9%) or academics (7%). We identified six distinct brokers, in academic (n = 4), government (n = 1), and nongovernmental (n = 1) positions, who could play a key role in improving communication and networking activities among all interest groups. Such actions should ultimately establish effective networks to foster evidence-based policy development to prevent and reduce the burden of diabetes and obesity.

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Faecal microbial contamination of watercress (Nasturtium officinale) gathered by a Maori protocol in New Zealand streams

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research ◽

10.1080/00288330909510048 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 901-910 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. Donnison ◽

C. Ross ◽

L. Dixon

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Microbial Contamination ◽

Nasturtium Officinale

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Placing Migrants in Employment: Recruitment Consultants' Experiences

Labour Employment and Work in New Zealand ◽

10.26686/lew.v0i0.1624 ◽

1970 ◽

Author(s):

Jacqui Campbell ◽

Mingsheng Li

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Labour Market ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Oral Communication ◽

Competitive Market ◽

Good Position ◽

Standard Process ◽

Positive Experiences ◽

English Speaking

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues that recruitment consultants face when trying to place non-native English speaking professional migrants in employment in New Zealand. Five recruitment consultants participated in two focus groups as part o f a wider study conducted in 2007. The consultants in this study worked in the permanent and temporary markets covering a range of professions. Theirs is a highly competitive market, aiming to match candidates with employers to the satisfaction of both. Essentially, the role is a sales one, volume driven and time pressured. Consultants follow the same standard process for all applicants: assessing skills, including communication skills, and preparing three candidates to present to the employer for interview. The perceived differences between migrants and local candidates include difficulties in oral communication; limited knowledge of New Zealand culture, and lack of experience with behavioural interviews. Consultants adopted an educative role towards some highly prejudiced employers. Employers with previous positive experiences with migrants tended to be more receptive. Consultants considered that migrants needed to be more realistic in their job expectations; be prepared to accept contract positions and accept lower level roles initially. They should familiarise themselves with the New Zealand culture, humour and workplace expectations. Current labour market shortages place migrants in a very; good position for accessing employment.

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Facebook in the International Classroom

Global Perspectives on Social Media in Tertiary Learning and Teaching - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5826-2.ch002 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 20-50

Author(s):

Inna P Piven

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

New Zealand ◽

International Students ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Educational Research ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Course Delivery ◽

Key Factors ◽

Learning Tool

The case explores international students' learning experiences with Facebook-based activities within the eight-week study term known as the intensive mode of course delivery. By implementing participant observation and two asynchronous Facebook focus groups, the study investigates the potential values of Facebook for learning from international students' perspective. In addition, the case looks at the challenges faced by students and discusses key factors that may impact international students' experiences with courses that incorporate Facebook as a learning tool. The research is framed in the context of New Zealand tertiary education and intended as a contribution to the emerging body of educational research on social media.

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Outbreaks Where Food Workers Have Been Implicated in the Spread of Foodborne Disease. Part 9. Washing and Drying of Hands To Reduce Microbial Contamination

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-73.10.1937 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 73 (10) ◽

pp. 1937-1955 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

EWEN C. D. TODD ◽

BARRY S. MICHAELS ◽

DEBRA SMITH ◽

JUDY D. GREIG ◽

CHARLES A. BARTLESON

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Microbial Contamination ◽

Potable Water ◽

Hand Washing ◽

Skin Damage ◽

Foodborne Outbreak ◽

Toilet Paper ◽

Diarrheal Episode ◽

Single Use ◽

Food Workers

During various daily activities at home and work, hands quickly become contaminated. Some activities increase the risk of finger contamination by pathogens more than others, such as the use of toilet paper to clean up following a diarrheal episode, changing the diaper of a sick infant, blowing a nose, or touching raw food materials. Many foodborne outbreak investigation reports have identified the hands of food workers as the source of pathogens in the implicated food. The most convenient and efficient way of removing pathogens from hands is through hand washing. Important components of hand washing are potable water for rinsing and soaps to loosen microbes from the skin. Hand washing should occur after any activity that soils hands and certainly before preparing, serving, or eating food. Antimicrobial soaps are marginally more effective than plain soaps, but constant use results in a buildup of the antimicrobial compound on the skin. The time taken to wash hands and the degree of friction generated during lathering are more important than water temperature for removing soil and microorganisms. However, excessive washing and scrubbing can cause skin damage and infections. Drying hands with a towel removes pathogens first by friction during rubbing with the drying material and then by wicking away the moisture into that material. Paper rather than cloth towels should be encouraged, although single-use cloth towels are present in the washrooms of higher class hotels and restaurants. Warm air dryers remove moisture and any surface microorganisms loosened by washing from hands by evaporation while the hands are rubbed together vigorously; however, these dryers take too long for efficient use. The newer dryers with high-speed air blades can achieve dryness in 10 to15 s without hand rubbing.

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Unemployment and fraud during the Great Depression in New Zealand

Journal of Financial Crime ◽

10.1108/jfc-07-2020-0135 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Radiah Othman ◽

Rashid Ameer

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Great Depression ◽

Extreme Condition ◽

Content Type ◽

The Great Depression ◽

The People ◽

Financial Crimes ◽

The Unemployed ◽

Source Of Information ◽

New Zealanders

Purpose This paper aims to provide a historical understanding of the unemployment context experienced by the New Zealand population during the Great Depression, which might have caused people to commit financial crimes, such as fraud, to survive. Design/methodology/approach The main source of information is narratives from newspaper articles published by 42 newspapers from 1931 to 1950 that explore New Zealanders’ experiences during declined economic conditions. Findings During the period studied, New Zealanders suffered because of various challenges, mainly unemployment. The government’s response was criticised by the people who used the newspapers as a medium to unleash their frustration about the fairness of unemployment relief for the unemployed and taxation of those who were employed. Some people who struggled in between jobs, as well as some who found themselves being disadvantaged, turned to deviant behaviour such as fraud. The fraudsters might be thought of as the victims of the day, committing a crime of survival, not a crime of choice. Research limitations/implications This research promotes more historical studies to enrich fraud-auditing literature. The lack of detailed information reported in the newspapers during this period limits making specific links to individual circumstances. Originality/value Fraudsters have always been perceived as responsible for their destinies, but a wider social and political context is rarely examined in fraud cases. The period chosen for this paper represents the extreme condition in which the elements of motive, opportunity and rationalisation are all interwoven into one.

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