Food: Not Only Safety, but Also Sustainability. The Emerging Trend of New Social Consumers

Consumers’ purchasing choices are no longer based only on economic factors but also on ethical reasons related to environmental sustainability and food safety. However, nutritional information on food labels is underused by consumers. Often the lack or incompleteness of information available on the market obstructs the complex transition towards sustainable consumption patterns. This empirical study analysed a sample of 359 consumers from an area in Southern Italy (city of Naples) to identify homogeneous consumer clusters with respect to the assessment of the level of consumer attention to sustainable environmental, social behaviours in daily life, and also to safety attributes. The most important sources of information influencing the consumers’ choices, food safety knowledge, and future purchasing behaviour were analysed. The research sample was self-selected, and the questionnaire for the survey was administrated through a non-probability sample from a reasoned choice. The results indicate that the ideal solution is a five-cluster partition that confirms a good level of attention to intrinsic attributes, in particular food expiry, transparency of food information, food traceability, and seller confidence. In addition, the research could provide an opportunity to consider collaborative actions between policy makers and industries to increase consumer awareness of environmental attributes.

Nitrosamines and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Smoke-Cured Bacon (Larou) of Artisanal and Industrial Origin

The aim of this study was to compare the nitrosamines (NAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) of Chinese smoke-cured bacon (Larou) of artisanal and industrial origin. The results showed that the average pH and Aw values of family-made Larou products were lower than those of industrial Larou, which was opposite to the TBARS level. The contents of residual nitrite and PAH4 in two artisanal Larou were significantly higher than those of the other groups (p < 0.05). The highest NA content (10.78 μg/kg) was found in family-made Larou. A correlation analysis indicated that the relationships between residual nitrite contents and total PAH8 contents (τ = 0.692, p < 0.01) and total NAs contents (τ = 0.805, p < 0.01) were characterized with a positive correlation. A principal component analysis indicated that the Larou from the industrial sources had similar safety attributes, and was more stable than the Larou processed in an artisanal manner. Our data suggest that Larou produced in industrial conditions is suitable for consumption.

Implicit and explicit safety evaluation of foods: The importance of food processing

Identifying beneficial foods in the environment, while avoiding ingesting something toxic, is an overlooked, yet crucial task humans face on a daily basis. Here we directly examined adults’ implicit and explicit safety evaluations of the same foods presented with different degrees of processing, ranging from unprocessed (raw) to processed (cut or cooked). Moreover, we investigated whether individuals’ characteristics (e.g., Body Mass Index, hunger, food neophobia) modulated their evaluations. We hypothesized that adults would associate the processed form of a food with safety more than its unprocessed form since processing techniques, which are ubiquitously applied in different cultures, often reduce the toxicity of foods and signal previous human intervention and intended consumption. Adults (N = 109, 43 females) performed an implicit Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT) online, assessing the association between safety attributes (words associated with safety or toxicity) and food images differing on their degree of processing (unprocessed raw fruits and vegetables, the same foods cut-up and cooked into a puree); both unfamiliar and familiar foods were used. Then, each food was explicitly evaluated via Visual Analogue Scales (VAS). Results revealed that overweight and obese individuals rated cooked foods as the least safe overall at the explicit level (VAS results) while having a strong association between these processed foods and safety attributes at the implicit level (GNAT RTs results). Yet, at the explicit level, when looking at unfamiliar foods only, processed foods were rated safer than unprocessed foods by all participants (VAS results). Our results are the first evidence that directly highlights the relevance of the degree of processing in food safety evaluation and suggest that thinking of the important tasks humans face regarding food selection enriches our understanding of food behaviors.

Consumers' willingness to pay for food safety attributes of tomato

PurposeConsumers are giving greater attention to the selection of food due to the improvement in income and urbanization. Meanwhile, in recent years, the vegetables' farmers in Malaysia have been reported using an excessive quantity of pesticides. The vegetables exported to Singapore and China have been rejected in 2018 and 2017 due to the presence of excessive levels of pesticides. Such incidences have created massive concern to improve the safety standard of the vegetable industry. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumers' willingness to pay for food safety attributes of tomato.Design/methodology/approachDiscrete choice experiments has been used, and 490 respondents have completed the survey.FindingsResults suggested that consumers were willing to pay RM4.18 more for wholesome tomato relative to slightly damage tomato. Consumers also were willing to pay RM2.75 more for organic tomato relative to inorganic tomato. They were also willing to pay RM2.30 and RM1.29 more for certified and tomato sold at supermarket relative to uncertified and tomato sold at the wet market, respectively. The willingness to pay for safety attributes of tomato also varied according to the income, age and education level of the consumers.Research limitations/implicationsIf the farmers can respond effectively to the changes in consumers demand, it can be translated into business opportunities.Originality/valueThis research able to provide relevant information related to the consumers' willingness to pay for food safety attributes of tomato in Malaysia.

Virtual Fence System Based on IoT Paradigm to Prevent Occupational Accidents in the Construction Sector

Many occupational accidents in construction sites are caused by the intrusion of a worker into a hazardous area. Technological solutions based on RFID, BIM, or UWB can reduce accidents, but they still have some limitations.The aim of the current paper is to design and evaluate a new system of “virtual fences” based on Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) to avoid intrusions. First of all, the system was designed using a number of beacons, a Bayesian filter, a finite state machine, and an indicator. Secondly, its safety attributes were evaluated based on a scientific questionnaire by an expert panel following the staticized groups’ methodology. Results showed that the proposal is inexpensive and easy to integrate and configure. The selected experts evaluated positively all the attributes of the system, and provided valuable insights for further improvements. From the experts’ discussions, we concluded that successful adoption of this “virtual fence” system based on BLE beacons should consider the influence of factors such as cost savings, top management support, social acceptance, and compatibility and integration with existing systems, procedures, and company culture. In addition, legislation updates according to technical advances would help with successful adoption of any new safety system.

Willingness to Pay for Enhanced Mandatory Labelling of Genetically Modified Soybean Oil: Evidence from a Choice Experiment in China

This study investigates consumers’ preferences for mandatory labelling conveying the health and safety attributes of genetically modified soybean oil. The enhanced mandatory labelling includes allergen presence labelling, nutrient and compositional change labelling and traceability codes. The data were collected from a consumer survey in the eastern, central and western regions of China, with a total sample size of 804 respondents. We evaluated consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for enhanced mandatory labelling using a choice experiment approach. The results show that Chinese consumers are most favorable to traceability codes with a WTP of RMB 8.92, followed by allergen presences labelling, with RMB 6.57. Eastern consumers would like to pay a higher premium for the three types of enhanced mandatory labelling information, while central consumers only show a positive preference for traceability codes. The results imply that the efforts and policy strategies for enhanced mandatory labelling will benefit residents. Further studies can be expended to other genetically modified (GM) foods. This study provides information for the agency to improve mandatory GM food labelling management. This paper contributes to the growing body of the GM food literature by explicitly investigating consumer preference and WTP for mandatory labelling conveying the health and safety attributes of the GM foods.

Use of Connected Technologies to Assess Barriers and Stressors for Age and Disability-Friendly Communities

Background: The benefits of engaging in outdoor physical activity are numerous for older adults. However, previous work on outdoor monitoring of physical activities did not sufficiently identify how older adults characterize and respond to diverse elements of urban built environments, including structural characteristics, safety attributes, and aesthetics.Objective: To synthesize emerging multidisciplinary trends on the use of connected technologies to assess environmental barriers and stressors among older adults and for persons with disability.Methods: A multidisciplinary overview and literature synthesis.Results: First, we review measurement and monitoring of outdoor physical activity in community environments and during transport using wearable sensing technologies, their contextualization and using smartphone-based applications. We describe physiological responses (e.g., gait patterns, electrodermal activity, brain activity, and heart rate), stressors and physical barriers during outdoor physical activity. Second, we review the use of visual data (e.g., Google street images, Street score) and machine learning algorithms to assess physical (e.g., walkability) and emotional stressors (e.g., stress) in community environments and their impact on human perception. Third, we synthesize the challenges and limitations of using real-time smartphone-based data on driving behavior, incompatibility with software data platforms, and the potential for such data to be confounded by environmental signals in older adults. Lastly, we summarize alternative modes of transport for older adults and for persons with disability.Conclusion: Environmental design for connected technologies, interventions to promote independence and mobility, and to reduce barriers and stressors, likely requires smart connected age and disability-friendly communities and cities.