scholarly journals Ethical food packaging and designed encounters with distant and exotic others

Semiotica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (232) ◽  
pp. 251-271
Author(s):  
David Machin ◽  
Paul Cobley

AbstractThere has been criticism of how Fair-Trade products represent workers in remote parts of the world where packaging offers an encounter with distant others which romanticizes and homogenizes them as a pre-modern form of ethnicity. Such workers are shown as always engaged in authentic, simple, honest decontextualized manual labor. And they are depicted as highly appreciative of, and empowered by, the act of ethical shopping. This paper shows that a close social semiotic analysis of Fair-Trade packaging reveals a different set of meanings which sit alongside the decontextualized ones. Designs integrate these workers into more contemporary kinds of modernist, rational, design chic, which communicates its own kind of honesty and authenticity. We consider how this, too, shapes how such consumers encounter distant others and its consequence for the meaning of the act of ethical shopping, where consumers can buy into moral alignment offered by products.

Foods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavia Dilucia ◽  
Valentina Lacivita ◽  
Amalia Conte ◽  
Matteo A. Del Nobile

Fruit and vegetable by-products are the most abundant food waste. Industrial processes such as oil, juice, wine or sugar production greatly contribute to this amount. These kinds of residues are generally thrown away in form of leftover and used as feed or composted, but they are a great source of bioactive compounds like polyphenols, vitamins or minerals. The amount of residue with potential utilization after processing has been estimated in millions of tons every year. For this reason, many researchers all around the world are making great efforts to valorize and reuse these valuable resources. Of greatest importance is the by-product potential to enhance the properties of packaging intended for food applications. Therefore, this overview collects the most recent researches dealing with fruit and vegetable by-products used to enhance physical, mechanical, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of packaging systems. Recent advances on synthetic or bio-based films enriched with by-product components are extensively reviewed, with an emphasis on the role that by-product extracts can play in food packaging materials.


Author(s):  
Simon Caney

In recent years, a number of powerful arguments have been given for thinking that there should be suprastate institutions, and that the current ones, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and United Nations Security Council, need to be radically reformed and new ones created. Two distinct kinds of argument have been advanced. One is instrumental and emphasizes the need for effective suprastate political institutions to realize some important substantive ideals (such as preventing dangerous climate change, eradicating poverty, promoting fair trade, and securing peace). The second is procedural and emphasizes the importance of political institutions that include all those subject to their power in as democratic a process as possible, and builds on this to call for democratically accountable international institutions. In this chapter, the author argues that the two approaches need not conflict, and that they can in fact lend support to each other.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6921
Author(s):  
Laura Sisti ◽  
Annamaria Celli ◽  
Grazia Totaro ◽  
Patrizia Cinelli ◽  
Francesca Signori ◽  
...  

In recent years, the circular economy and sustainability have gained attention in the food industry aimed at recycling food industrial waste and residues. For example, several plant-based materials are nowadays used in packaging and biofuel production. Among them, by-products and waste from coffee processing constitute a largely available, low cost, good quality resource. Coffee production includes many steps, in which by-products are generated including coffee pulp, coffee husks, silver skin and spent coffee. This review aims to analyze the reasons why coffee waste can be considered as a valuable source in recycling strategies for the sustainable production of bio-based chemicals, materials and fuels. It addresses the most recent advances in monomer, polymer and plastic filler productions and applications based on the development of viable biorefinery technologies. The exploration of strategies to unlock the potential of this biomass for fuel productions is also revised. Coffee by-products valorization is a clear example of waste biorefinery. Future applications in areas such as biomedicine, food packaging and material technology should be taken into consideration. However, further efforts in techno-economic analysis and the assessment of the feasibility of valorization processes on an industrial scale are needed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Gridina ◽  
Evgeniy Mozheiko ◽  
Emil Valeev ◽  
Ludmila P. Nazarenko ◽  
Maria E. Lopatkina ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The Hi-C technique is widely employed to study the 3-dimensional chromatin architecture and to assemble genomes. The conventional in situ Hi-C protocol employs restriction enzymes to digest chromatin, which results in nonuniform genomic coverage. Using sequence-agnostic restriction enzymes, such as DNAse I, could help to overcome this limitation. Results In this study, we compare different DNAse Hi-C protocols and identify the critical steps that significantly affect the efficiency of the protocol. In particular, we show that the SDS quenching strategy strongly affects subsequent chromatin digestion. The presence of biotinylated oligonucleotide adapters may lead to ligase reaction by-products, which can be avoided by rational design of the adapter sequences. Moreover, the use of nucleotide-exchange enzymes for biotin fill-in enables simultaneous labelling and repair of DNA ends, similar to the conventional Hi-C protocol. These improvements simplify the protocol, making it less expensive and time-consuming. Conclusions We propose a new robust protocol for the preparation of DNAse Hi-C libraries from cultured human cells and blood samples supplemented with experimental controls and computational tools for the evaluation of library quality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-153
Author(s):  
Burong Zeng

Non-taster is a photo essay exploring the elusive connections between the change of taste and the immigrant experience based on my story of losing taste at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The world, which used to be dirty, viscous, and alive has rapidly become hygienic, distanced, and virtual. I documented the packaging and food sauce for breakfast via a series of scanned images and photographs during the second and third lockdown in London. The photos of spicy sauce and food packaging reveal the desire to reconnect with the senses. Alongside apathy, nostalgia, and homesickness, Non-taster laments the changes of the senses and desires in the post-pandemic period.


Author(s):  
Vassya Bankova ◽  
Milena Popova ◽  
Boryana Trusheva

Propolis (bee glue) is a sticky resinous material applied by honey bees Apis mellifera L. as a building material in their hives and as a defensive substance against infections. Propolis has been used as a remedy in traditional medicine systems all over the world, mainly to treat wounds and burns, sore throat, stomach ulcer, etc. Modern science has confirmed the antimicrobial and antiviral action of propolis, and has discovered numerous other beneficial pharmacological properties of bee glue: immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antiobesity, antitumor, and many others. For this reason, significant number of products containing propolis have been developed and commercialised: medical devices, over-the-counter preparations, health foods and beverages, cosmetics. This review is not dealing with propolis applications in improvement and protection of human health. Instead, it is focused on some new and promising areas of propolis use and innovative propolis containing products, emerging in the last few years: improving growth performance of livestock, food preservation, food packaging, textile materials for biomedical application, etc.


SURG Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Sarah McGuire

This article uses key terms and concepts from Television Studies to “close read” the reality TV show Duck Dynasty in its visual form. This article questions not only how Duck Dynasty represents rednecks, but also how the representation of the “redneck” is understood by the TV audience. It explores the success of Duck Dynasty as a reality TV show and argues that it redeems “rednecks” from Hollywood’s previous portrayals of the overly caricatured redneck stereotype. The Robertsons have the ability to convey truth – even if it is through a partially fake/mediated realm – and what they actually represent is a more subdued, modern form of redneck identity in comparison to classic Hollywood depictions. However, viewers cannot trust reality TV to wholly or singularly inform how they understand other social groups despite how “real” reality may appear on reality TV shows. Instead of viewing the redneck jokes and portrayal on reality TV as offensive, Duck Dynasty’s jokes and portrayals can be powerful tools for exposing the absurdity of the stereotypes previously perpetuated by Hollywood and can help subvert them. Keywords: Duck Dynasty; Duck Commander; Buck Commander; Robertson; redneck (representations of); reality TV; television studies; hillbilly; Southern culture; stereotypes; sitcom; American dream; American television


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-387
Author(s):  
Priscyla Falkenburger Melleu ◽  
Murilo Scóz

A ingestão exagerada de alimentos ultraprocessados pode ocasionar diferentes riscos para a saúde uma vez que muitas doenças foram relacionadas à uma dieta inadequada. Além de diminuir a qualidade de vida da população, um aumento endêmico na incidência dessas doenças vem onerando o sistema público de saúde e abrindo um debate sobre o impacto da inclusão desses alimentos nas dietas familiares. Órgãos ligados à saúde pública e à defesa dos consumidores têm buscado discutir com membros da indústria alimentícia novas normas de rotulagem específica para as embalagens de alimentos industrializados, buscando dar um maior acesso à informação nutricional ao consumidor e contribuindo para que ele possa tomar escolhas alimentares conscientes. Sabendo que diferentes soluções de selos nutricionais frontais já foram adotados internacionalmente em busca de advertir a população sobre a composição de determinados alimentos, o presente artigo procura fazer uma análise semiótica de três modelos de sistemas em vigência, avaliando as diferentes nuances que podem assumir as funções de advertir e informar o consumidor. As análises discursivas, segundo a semiótica de Julien Greimas (1968), buscam organizar e avaliar o conteúdo descritivos da enunciação dos selos, discorrendo sobre as diferentes formas de trabalhar a advertência nas embalagens de determinados alimentos industrializados.*****Ultra-processed food may cause different health issues since its excessive consumption indicate an endemic and progressive increase in the number of diseases linked to an inadequate diet. This scenario is reducing the quality of life and life expectancy of the population living in big cities and burdens the public health systems around the world. As trying to encourage healthier eating habits, public health bureaus have been insisting on reviewing food labeling laws in order to make consumers more aware of their diet. Different options of front-of-pack nutritional labels have been adopted worldwide in order to warn the population about the composition of certain foods. This article offers a semiotic analysis – according to the theories of Julien Greimas (1968) – of three models of front-of-pack warning labels already in use, evaluating the different forms of warming the consumer about the packaging information.


Author(s):  
Aleksei V. Sosnin ◽  
◽  
Yuliya V. Balakina ◽  

The article examines the metaphor London-as-the-World in the structure of the London text of English linguistic culture (i.e., an emic or invariant text for a group of texts related to the British capital). Such an analysis makes it possible to update the most important dimension of the London text: its objects turns out to be a key component of Englishness, being conceptualized as a model of all-English and world processes, as an analogy of the civilized world and the universe. The metaphorical realizations of the London text are seen as the result of conceptual fusion. The research cited in the article is carried out at the junction of the cognitive and semiotic approaches, according to which socially significant mental entities are examined via a semantic analysis of corresponding supertexts. The integration of the cognitive and the semiotic is effected within the framework of unified semantics. Thereby a semiotic analysis of text consists in singling out propositions of diverse degrees of similarity in it, in the selection and classification of predicates with which characters and “things” are endowed in the text, and in the inclusion of individual entities from the text in the general categories, what reveals the picture of the world deep structure from the standpoint of that text. The article draws on the literary canon of New English, and a study into that material educes a continuity in the metaphors and the means of their linguistic expression that were used by the English-speaking community to structure the reality. The article thus postulates the relative stability of London text as a supertextual entity.


Author(s):  
Ferhat Yuksel ◽  
Aysun Durmaz

: The potato plant is an important food source produced all over the world and it provides a significant portion of daily energy intake in nourishment. In addition, a significant rate of vitamins, fibre, mineral matters, protein, and fat can be obtained by consuming potato. In this study, the production, consumption, and usage areas of potato, a crucial source of our diet, and the possibilities of using it as food additives with the nutritional properties of its peel have been investigated. Generally, potato is consumed after its peel is removed in the homes and industrial areas and many of these peels are disposed off as wastes. Studies show that potato peel has a high content of dietary fibre, protein, carbohydrate, mineral matters, vitamin, phenolic, and antioxidant. The use of potato peel as food additives have also been discussed in this study.


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