scholarly journals Mycoprotein: environmental impact and health aspects

Author(s):  
Pedro F. Souza Filho ◽  
Dan Andersson ◽  
Jorge A. Ferreira ◽  
Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

Abstract The term mycoprotein refers to the protein-rich food made of filamentous fungal biomass that can be consumed as an alternative to meat. In this paper, the impact caused by the substitution of animal-origin meat in the human diet for mycoprotein on the health and the environment is reviewed. Presently, mycoprotein can be found in the supermarkets of developed countries in several forms (e.g. sausages and patties). Expansion to other markets depends on the reduction of the costs. Although scarce, the results of life cycle analyses of mycoprotein agree that this meat substitute causes an environmental impact similar to chicken and pork. In this context, the use of inexpensive agro-industrial residues as substrate for mycoprotein production has been investigated. This strategy is believed to reduce the costs involved in the fungal cultivation and lower the environmental impact of both the mycoprotein and the food industry. Moreover, several positive effects in health have been associated with the substitution of meat for mycoprotein, including improvements in blood cholesterol concentration and glycemic response. Mycoprotein has found a place in the market, but questions regarding the consumer’s experience on the sensory and health aspects are still being investigated.

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 26-45
Author(s):  
Bon Nguyen Van

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been strongly affecting the world economy during the past years and is a critical topic for both developing and developed countries. Most countries, particularly developing ones, always attempt to adjust and modify appropriate policies and institutions to attract FDI inflows. In the context of Vietnam, does the institutional quality have any effect on attracting FDI inflows in provinces? To answer clearly and exactly this question, the impact of institutional quality on attracting FDI inflows is empirically investigated in a sample of 43 provinces of Vietnam over the period of 2005–2012 via the estimation technique of difference panel GMM. Estimated results indicate that in the total sample of all provinces the institutional quality has significantly positive effects on the FDI flows. However, in the sub-sample of provinces the impact of the institutional quality on attracting FDI inflows in Northern and Southern regions are statistically significant while that in Central region is not.


2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Doro ◽  
Vincent Réquillart

Abstract Food systems in developed countries face one major challenge, namely the promotion of diets that are both healthy and generate less greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). In this article, we review papers evaluating the impact of a change in diets on both health and GHGE. We address the following questions: How big are the health and environmental impacts that could be induced by a switch to healthier diets? In monetary value, what is the relative importance of the health impact and the environmental impact? Is it possible to design an economic policy to increase global welfare that also takes into account the externalities on both health and the environment? Since the way the change in diet is modeled is a key issue, we classify papers according to the methodology used for simulating diet changes: ad hoc scenarios, optimized diets, and economic modeling. We find that it is possible to design economic policies that have positive impacts on both dimension. Because the substitutions/complementarities between food products are complex, it is not granted that a policy targeting one dimension will generate positive effects on the other dimensions. However, given the diversity of substitution and the complementarity possibilities between products, it is possible to design a policy that does improve both dimensions. A carbon-based tax policy that targets the products with a high greenhouse gas content (e.g., meat products) and reinvests the revenues collected with the tax to subsidize the consumption of fruit and vegetables, is likely to have positive effects on both dimensions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (No. 10) ◽  
pp. 449-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Bečvářová

The market extension generally affects growth performance positively by allowing an expansion of markets, by increasing outside competition as well as by more rapid diffusion of new products, processes and research output between national economies. The positive effects of considerable market on productivity are indubitable. However, two other weighty phenomena of the process are necessary to investigate, effects of regulatory policy and market power exhibits. Agriculture as a sector belongs to those, where the support policies exist for a long time. Nevertheless, the last decades have witnessed considerable changes in this sector among most of developed countries and their agricultural/regulatory policies. It has been perceived, that the agriculture for 21st century cannot be separated from the other components of agri-food sector. The economic importance of the processing and finalization stages (i.e. food industry and food distribution) has increased over time. There are concerned inter-relationships between the market structures development and the crucial factors of the interconnected markets developments in the framework of production verticals of agricultural commodities. Reflecting the steadily more sophisticated supply side behaviour, solution is based upon the demand oriented approach explaining changes of the position of agriculture within the agri-food chain. Conflict of interest between the regulatory/agricultural policy and the market power of input supply and output processing firms and retail notably has increased dramatically. Economic manifestation of the increasing market power on the demand side as well as the impact of market interrelationships and change of policy regulation efficiency within commodity chains are characterised there.  The position of agriculture within the agri-food chain has changed and the influence of farmers has decreased. Success of agricultural enterprises in achieving their operational goals is still more influenced by improvements in productivity and by competitiveness of other “links” of the agri-food chain.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-148
Author(s):  
Nikola Vidović ◽  
Milenko Dželetović ◽  
Hatidža Beriša

The paper focuses on a topic that explains the impact of credit flows on the conduct of monetary policy, as well as their impact on economic activities within national economies in certain countries in the world. Function and importance for the banking sector, as well as for all economic entities, which are categorized by company size, and the impact on the performance and realization of business activities.By comparing similarities and differences, there is a clear distinction between the basic banking channel of credit and the credit channel in the wider sense, as well as their degree of operation in the period before, during, and after the global economic crisis. The paper highlights the positive effects, as well as the negative, ie how their implementation affects the actors of a country's economic system and what are the consequences with a focus on demand, personal consumption, inflation and employment. The problems of adequate application of the model in periods of recession, as well as the degree of representation in developed countries, moderately developed, and countries in the transition period are studied.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manogna R L

PurposeInnovation strategy and its outcomes may be different for agricultural input firms in developing countries than those operating in developed countries; hence, a study of developing economy should be an important addition to the literature which has earlier focussed mainly on developed countries. Indian firms which were previously catering to domestic demand are now the exporters of major agricultural machinery such as tractors and pesticides.Design/methodology/approachRapid growth in demand for the agricultural inputs and improvement in technology implementations have led us to study the performance and transformation of these input industries. An empirical analysis was performed on the listed agricultural input firms during 2001–2019 to investigate the relationship between the R&D efforts and growth of firms in the seed, pesticide, fertiliser and agricultural machinery industries using the system-generalised methods of moments (GMM) technique on the panel of 1,320 firm-year observations.FindingsThe findings reveal that investments in innovations have a positive and lagged effect on the growth of firms in the Indian agricultural inputs industry. A further analysis reveals that younger firms grow faster when they invest in R&D. More specifically, the author finds evidence in the case of the agricultural inputs industry that import of raw materials negatively affects the firms' growth (FG) and export intensity (EI) positively affects the growth in the case of R&D firms. Investments in R&D are also seen to enable firms to reap benefits from externalities present in the industry.Research limitations/implicationsThis study suggests that the government should encourage the industries to invest optimally in R&D projects by providing favourable fiscal treatments and R&D subsidies which are observed to have positive effects in various developed countries.Originality/valueThere are very few studies that have explored the impact of R&D expenditure on the firm performance in agricultural inputs industry, especially in an emerging economy context like India.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Zahirah Mohd Sidek

Purpose This paper aims to re-examine the impact of government expenditure on income inequality. Existing studies provide mixed results on whether government expenditure reduces or increases income inequality. In this paper, government expenditure is viewed as a tool for redistribution, hence, its impact on inequality is examined. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 122 countries with 91 and 31 countries categorized as developing and developed countries is used. The dynamic panel threshold regression is used to examine the impact of government expenditure on income inequality and to estimate the turning point of the negative or positive effects. Findings The major findings suggest that, in general, government expenditure does reduce income inequality. Results from developed countries support the inversed U-shaped Kuznet curve where higher government expenditure initially led to more inequality but would eventually bring about a positive effect after a certain threshold level. For developing countries, education and development expenditure were the driving forces towards lower income inequality. Practical implications Several policy implications can be derived from this paper. First, government expenditure is a useful tool to alleviate the problem of income inequality. More integration with the global economy via trading activities is also an important channel to help reduce income inequality. Finally, better institutional quality provides an effective ecosystem in promoting better redistribution of income via government expenditure. Originality/value This paper presents a maiden attempt to estimate a threshold value or when government expenditure starts to reduce or increase income inequality. The sample is segregated into developed and developing countries to further control the effect of government size and the level of development of a country.


2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (4I-II) ◽  
pp. 865-874
Author(s):  
Adeel Ali ◽  
Syed Faizan Iftikhar ◽  
Ambreen Fatima ◽  
Lubna Naz

Literature on nexus between trade openness and government spending is impressive [Atif, et al. (2012), Rudra (2004), Dani (1997) and McGuire (1999)]. The literature is growing rapidly. Analysts have documented the positive effects of government social spending [see for example Mesa-Lago (1994); Huber (1996); Weyland (1996); McGuire (1999)]. Unfortunately, Pakistan lacks empirical evidences on the impact of government social spending. Although Government of Pakistan has taken number of initiatives to have some form of redistribution policies, however, inequality in Pakistan is higher as compared to other Least Developed Countries that are open to trade. This situation is alarming. This paper therefore tries to identify the nexus between trade openness and social spending for the period 1975–2012. International evidence suggests that government social spending influences poverty and distribution of income. Pakistan‘s low level achievement in terms of reducing inequality, given the likely adverse economic impact of trade openness, point towards the fact that government has to design the policy in such a way that it affects the distribution of income. Thus, exploring the effect of social spending on income inequality is necessary for the concerned policy makers.


Transport ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasa Vaiškūnaitė ◽  
Pranas Mierauskas ◽  
Valdas Špakauskas

Roads affect wildlife in different ways. Road construction increases fragmentation of habitats, influences landscape pattern and alters the physical environment. Roads act as barriers to animal movements, increase their mortality rates and cause other negative impacts on biodiversity. The current paper overviews the assessment of road impacts in Lithuania, reviews approaches applied to evaluation of road development impacts as well as analyses application of Lithuanian legal documents in the field. In Lithuania, assessment of possible effects inflicted by envisaged road construction is determined by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment of Planned Economic Activities and orders of the Ministry of Environment. Although the legislation covers some aspects of biodiversity, little attention is given to the assessment of the impact on biodiversity; meanwhile the impact assessment of proposed economic activities on Natura 2000 sites is clarified more extensively. Lithuanian methodological guidelines on determination of environmental impact assessment procedures and principles for the road network do not comply with international requirements concerning the biodiversity impact assessment of roads. The practiced biodiversity impact assessment used for road development projects in Lithuania complies with minimum requirements used in developed countries. To fulfil international requirements on biodiversity conservation, it is necessary to amend the Lithuanian legislation on environmental impact assessment and issue guidelines on biodiversity protection in road development projects. The article proposes models for calculation of road pollution dispersion for evaluation of air quality next to the already existing and newly projected roads.


2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Forte ◽  
Paula Sarmento

We analyse the impact of FDI on market concentration for the Portuguese manufacturing industries in the 2006–2009 period. Using panel data estimation, and after controlling for other determinants of industry concentration (entry barriers, market size, and growth), we found a significant negative impact of FDI on industry concentration. This finding is in line with the results of the empirical literature on other developed countries. Moreover, it supports the argument that FDI has positive effects on domestic firms, eventually through positive externalities, and contradicts the widespread view that in small economies FDI increases concentration. Overall, this study adds to the controversial literature on FDI and concentration, and it is the first study on this topic applied to Portugal.


Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muriel Henrion ◽  
Célia Francey ◽  
Kim-Anne Lê ◽  
Lisa Lamothe

Cereal β-glucans are dietary fibres primarily found in oats and barley, and have several positive effects on health, including lowering the postprandial glucose response and the improvement of blood cholesterol levels. Cereal β-glucans have a specific combination of β-(1→4) and β-(1→3) linkages into linear long-chain polysaccharides of high molecular weight. Due to their particular structure, cereal β-glucans generate viscosity within the intestinal tract, which is thought to be the main mechanism of action responsible for their positive health effects. However, cereal grains are rarely consumed raw; at least one cooking step is generally required before they can be safely eaten. Cooking and processing methods more generally will modify the physicochemical characteristics of β-glucans, such as molecular weight, extractability and the resulting viscosity. Therefore, the health impact of β-glucans will depend not only on the dose administered, but also on the ways they are processed or converted into food products. This review aims at summarizing the different parameters that can affect β-glucans efficacy to improve glucose and lipid metabolism in humans.


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