Assessment of artificial and natural sweeteners present in packaged non-alcoholic beverages (NABs) sold on the Singapore market

Background New Nutri-Grade labelling, aimed at reducing Singaporeans’ sugar consumption will be implemented for all pre-packaged non-alcoholic beverages (NABs) sold in retail outlets from end 2021 onwards. It is expected such labelling will have a major impact on sugar content of beverages, as well as the replacement of sugar with non-caloric alternatives. Methods This study used product label data obtained from in-store surveys to investigate sugar and sweetener composition of NABs present on the Singapore market. Using this data we calculated products prospective Nutri-Grade classification in order to compare the current market composition with relation to sugar and/or sweetener use. Results Over half of the NABs on market were sweetened with sugar (59%) and were associated with less healthy Nutri-Grades of ‘C’ and ‘D’. The use of natural sweeteners; Stevia and Monk fruit, remains low (6%). Conclusion With continuous efforts by the government in promoting public health nutrition, it is expected that there will be a greater usage of sugar substitutes among NABs in response to the upcoming implementation of Nutri-Grade and ever-fluctuating consumers’ demands. The data collected in this study provide a point estimate (July–September 2020) on market composition and use of both sugar and artificial sweeteners in beverages prior to integration of the mandatory labelling requirements.

Credit Composition and Economic Growth: Households versus Enterprises

Although numerous studies have been carried out on economic growth and credit expansion, very few studies have examined direct causality between growth and credit market composition. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, most previous studies have tested how credit market development affects macroeconomic variables by using aggregate data. The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the causal nexus between enterprise credit, household credit, and economic growth by using a sample of six OECD countries. The bootstrap panel Granger causality approach is utilized to detect the direction of causality. The results show that there is a unidirectional causality running from credit to economic growth in the case of the household sector and unidirectional causality running from economic growth to credit in the case of the enterprise sector in the most countries under review. The policy implication of the findings is that credits offered to households contribute to a greater extent to economic growth than credits offered to enterprises.

Intra-brand competition in a differentiated oligopoly

In this paper we consider a differentiated oligopoly with two product varieties that are supplied by two groups of firms. After computing the Cournot solution of the game, we study its sensitivity to different sources of competition, namely the degree of product substitutability and market composition. Market composition can change either via new firms entering one industry or via firms switching production techniques, thus modifying the intensity of intra-brand competition. After studying the welfare consequences of an intensification of competition, we identify the equilibrium market composition when firms are driven by profit considerations. All the results are expressed in terms of the degree of product substitutability and of what we define “weighted relative efficiency” (WRE), which is a parameter combining both firm characteristics and market conditions.

SIMULATION OF WATER EVAPORATION ON ULTIMONITORED THERMOMIX®: POTENTIAL APPROACH FOR STUDIES ON MILK EVAPORATION

It was simulated the industrial evaporation process using a multi-monitored Thermomix®. To validate the hypothesis that this equipment could act as a laboratory- scale evaporator, we evaporated water from milk to produce dulce de leche. Using this equipment, we were able to precisely determine mass changes throughout the process, observe the effect of the exhaust system on the evaporation, obtain dulce de leche with market composition, and determine the effect of sugar addition on water evaporation. The error between the observed boiling point temperature and that predicted by theory was ~ 2%; as a consequence, the equipment could be used to establish Dühring curves. It was found that the Thermomix® multi-monitored configuration was a simple and inexpensive equipment for simulate evaporation in industrial dulce de leche production.