Is the quest to eat healthy a route to enhancing consumer’s food security?

Background On an individual level, food security has multiple dimensions and consumers exhibit heterogeneity in the extent to which different attributes matter in their quest for enhanced food security. The aim of this paper is to explain how the quest for individual food security arises and its dynamic nature and its implications for how food security-enhancing attributes are defined and how they are signaled, and for the role of regulators and food supply chains in establishing credible signals. Results The paper finds that the quest for enhanced individual food security is a dynamic process that responds to the disequilibrium that change brings. The changing role of standards and grades as signals in food markets is discussed as a precursor to considering the implications for both market and non-market (regulatory) failure in determining the appropriate role for the public sector in regulating food safety and quality standards and labeling. The rise of private standards is examined, along with a consideration of how these standards differ in terms of scope and objective and their implications for international trade in increasingly globalized food supply chains. Conclusions Despite the growth of private standards, a clear role remains for mandatory public standards, yet challenges arise when these standards differ across countries.

Spatial Market Integration: A Case Study of the Polish–Czech Milk Market

Analyses of spatial market integration contributes to the knowledge about market efficiency and provides information to policymakers, as the spatial integration of markets contributes to competitiveness and economic development. Although the integration of agri-food markets is widely discussed in the economic literature, research on the dairy sector is relatively limited. This paper fulfils the research gap with an in-depth investigation of spatial milk and dairy product market integration between two neighboring countries—Poland and Czechia—using regional data, and including both production and processing levels. The econometric analysis of time series covering the period 2001–2021 reveals that only long-run milk and skimmed milk powder (SMP) price relationships are between the Czech Republic and Poland. The results of the study confirm that the factors influencing spatial price relationships between the Czech Republic and Poland are: strong trade ties, the common moment of accession to the EU, a close distance between markets, and region specialization.

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons Learned for Public Policies? The Case of Poland

COVID-19 has affected the functioning of food systems all over the world. This paper seeks to identify and analyse the economic, legal and institutional, as well as social effects of the pandemic’s outbreak on food systems, and the implications for the EU Farm to Fork Strategy whose main purpose is to put food systems on a sustainable path. Qualitative economic and social impact analysis was used to identify the above types of effect on the food system on a macroscale, using Poland as an example. Information was sourced from existing data and qualitative studies. Studies show that the consequences of the pandemic for individual elements of the food system in Poland in 2020 were related to numerous disruptions in functioning, leading to uncertainty, financial losses, and interrupted transactions. The crisis under analysis also revealed modifications in these actors’ behaviours in food markets, noticeable in changes in consumption patterns and in the ways demand for food was met. Nevertheless, an analysis of the gathered information and data testifies to the food system’s relative resistance to the effects of the pandemic, and also to the adaptive skills of the system’s entities, especially food producers and consumers. The paper’s discussion contains recommendations for public policies shaping the food system, pointing to actions that might reduce the negative effects of other potential exogenic crises in the future and aid the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy’s principles.

Determination of 3-Monochloropropanediol and Glycidol in Food Products

Due to the increasing globalization of food markets, there are evolving new challenges for maintaing food safety. The current problem is the development of analytical methods for 3-monochloropropanediol ester and glycidol ester, which are food contaminants of concern for the scientific community. The levels of 3-monochloropropanediol ester and glycidol ester in certain food products are controlled by the European legislation. However, the maximum allowed concentrations and uptake limits for various food products are permanently revised. Therefore, we aimed to determine 3-monochloropropanediol ester and glycidol ester in various food products, which may contain vegetable oils. We analyzed food samples obtained from local food shops, predominantly low-priced products, which are more likely to contain vegetable oils, and adulterated milk fat. The levels of 3-monochloropropanediol ester and glycidol ester were determined indirectly by analyzing free 3-monochloropropanediol and glycidol ester obtained by hydrolysis and derivatized with phenylboronic acid. Samples were analyzed by GC-MS/MS on a triple-quad mass spectrometer.

Improving Operational and Sustainability Performance in a Retail Fresh Food Market Using Lean: A Portuguese Case Study

This paper presents a real application of a lean–green improvement initiative conducted at a large Portuguese hypermarket store. It explores how lean tools and techniques may be used to not only improve the operational performance, but also sustainability. A case study was carried out in one store of a multinational retail enterprise, with the aim of enhancing both the operational and sustainability performance in the cold meat section, one of the most relevant areas of the fresh food markets. The Gemba Kaizen event approach, which comprises three main stages, was adopted. During the workshop stage, the structured problem-solving methodology was followed, and was recorded in an A3 format. As a consequence of this project, food waste in the cold meat market was reduced by half, whereas the out-of-stock index decreased by a third. In addition, the pilot store hit top performance within all stores of the company in Portugal, ranking first in all key indicators for the cold meat market. The lean–green scope and performance improvement procedures developed and implemented in the pilot store were later deployed to other stores of the company. This is one of the first publications regarding the application of lean management in the food retail sector for improving both the operational and sustainability performance.

Household Characteristics and Food Security in Low-Income Urban Areas of South Africa

In South Africa, food security at the household level is an issue still needing empirical attention. This study conducts an empirical analysis on the effect of household size, income of household head, gender of household head, location of the household, and distance from food markets on food security in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. A binary logistic regression model is estimated to analyze determinants of food security from 900 households randomly selected from three townships of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire, with food security measured by the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale. This study shows that the income of the household head promotes food security while household size and location of the household contribute to food insecurity. Our results also show that the gender of the household head is essential in maintaining sustainable levels of food security. Furthermore, it was found that the distance from food markets neither makes households food secure nor insecure. This study validates that matriarchal households exhibited comparatively greater food security than male-headed households. The findings of this study are essential in formulating policy on food security in low-income areas.

The concept of the development of wholesale and retail markets and its main objectives in ensuring food security of the country

Создание условий для развития продовольственного рынка и обеспечения продовольственной безопасности страны в условиях глобализации и недобросовестной конкуренции на внешнем рынке является стратегической задачей органов государственной власти и бизнеса. Важное место в решении этой задачи отводится разработке и реализации эффективных законов и государственных программ для формирования эффективной товаропроводящей инфраструктуры и обеспечения гарантированного сбыта отечественного продовольствия на внутреннем рынке по справедливой цене. Необходимым условием решения этой проблемы для реализации скоропортящейся продукции является создание эффективной системы оптовых продовольственных и розничных рынков. Основным преимуществом этих каналов сбыта является то, что они создают условия для развития добросовестной конкуренции между поставщиками продуктов питания на территории этих рынков и формированием справедливой цены на продукты питания. Как показывает зарубежный опыт, государственная поддержка этих каналов сбыта обусловлена их ролью в продовольственном снабжении населения городов и решением социально-экономических проблем общества. Для создания эффективной системы оптовых продовольственных рынков в субъектах Российской Федерации 27 сентября 2021 г. Правительством Российской Федерации утверждена Концепция развития оптовых продовольственных рынков и подготовлены законопроекты по внесению изменений в Закон о регулировании торговой деятельности в части развития розничных рынков. Creating conditions for the development of the food market and ensuring food security of the country in the context of globalization and unfair competition in the foreign market is a strategic task of public authorities and business. A ranking place in solving this problem is given to the development and implementation of effective laws and state programs to form an effective commodity distribution infrastructure and ensure the guaranteed sale of domestic food products on the domestic market at an equitable price. The necessary condition for solving this problem for selling perishable products is the creation of an effective system of wholesale food and retail markets. The main advantage of these marketing channels is that they create conditions for the development of fair competition between suppliers of food products in the territory of these markets and the formation of a fair price for food products. As foreign experience shows, the state support of these marketing channels is due to their role in the food supply of the population of cities and solving socio-economic problems of society. In order to create an effective system of wholesale food markets in the subjects of the Russian Federation, on September 27, 2021 by the Government of the Russian Federation approved the Concept of development of wholesale food markets and prepared the bills on amendments to the Law on regulation of commercial activities in terms of development of retail markets.

Postharvest Losses of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) in the Open Markets in Ibadan Metropolis

Postharvest losses of tomato pose serious threat on the economic viability of actors in the tomato production chain in Nigeria. Therefore, postharvest losses of tomato among marketers in Ibadan Metropolis of Oyo State Nigeria were investigated by the researchers. One hundred and twenty tomato marketers were chosen from the five food markets in Ibadan metropolis through a simple random sampling technique. The study adopted linear regression and descriptive statistics to analyze data. The outcomes of the investigation show that females were 92.5% and 88.3% were married. Capital is primarily raised through cooperative societies (57.5%). Postharvest losses of tomato accounted for 18.9% of purchase which represents ₦124,800/day. The major causes of PHLs are poor packaging (100%) and poor storage (100%) by the tomato marketers. Meanwhile, all the respondents (100%) adopted sorting to reduce PHLs of tomato. The regression analysis showed that education has a significant effect to reduce PHLs of tomato. The study concluded that huge postharvest and monetary losses of tomato are experienced by the tomato marketers. The study recommends provision of quality postharvest handling education to tomato marketers as a way of reducing PHLs of tomato in Ibadan.