Menu Audit of Vegetable-Containing Food Offering in Primary School Canteens in Sydney, Australia: A Preliminary Study

Children’s vegetable intakes are too low, and school canteens could provide an equitable environment to improve their intake. This study aimed to develop and apply a systematic method to quantify the proportion and variety of vegetable-containing items on primary school canteen menus and examine differences between schools of different socio-economic statuses, sizes and types. Online canteen menus from 112 primary schools in Sydney, Australia, were collected, and data were extracted on a total number of items and vegetable-containing items across different menu categories. Further, data on preparation type and variety were extracted. Differences in the proportion of vegetable items between socio-economic status, school size and type were tested. On average, 80.4 ± 34.0 items were listed, with 30% of items containing vegetables. Most sandwiches (60%) and hot foods (54%) contained no vegetables. The variety of raw vegetables (4.9 ± 1.8 types) was greater than for cooked vegetables (1.3 ± 1.2 types; p < 0.01). Limited differences were observed by socio-economic status and school type. Small schools offered fewer vegetable-containing items than large schools. While primary school canteen menus listed a large variety of items, only one-third contained vegetables. Data from this study can be used to track changes and to develop new opportunities to increase the vegetable supply in schools.

Food Offering Culture at Chinese Rituals in Semarang Chinatown Coastal Community

Food offering culture in Chinese ritual activities is a form of local wisdom in the religious system and as a medium of communication with Gods and ancestors. Food offerings in Semarang Chinese coastal community rituals are knowledgeable to increase people's awareness of religious consciousness, religious tourism, and culinary culture, especially local language, environmental and cultural identity. The research purpose is to describe various food names and offerings at Chinese ceremonies and ritual activities. It is descriptive qualitative research and refers to the theory of naming systems and meaning as symbols. The research applies observing, collecting, processing, and analyzing data. The research findings describe ritual and cultural ceremonies and celebrations in Semarang Chinatown, such as Chinese New Year, Ceng Beng ritual, festival rebutan, and eating Bakcang celebration. Food offerings imply specific meanings. Kue moho in the Cap Go Meh celebration is a symbol of much luck and fortune. Bakpao symbolizes joy and gentleness. Kue keranjang is a symbol of prosperity. Eating rice cake symbolizes long life and prosperity. Sweets are symbols of the sweet life. Citrus fruits symbolize harmony, and bananas are symbols of prosperity.

Microbiology of Sandwiches: “Street – Foods” and “Fast – Foods”

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality and the presence of pathogens in sandwiches from different snack bars. Study Design: Foods ready for consumption present a composition which facilitates their deterioration and care from production to consumption ensures its quality. The sandwich is a product of high consumption for its easy acquisition and despite its immediate consumption the sandwich can be considered a food offering risk to the consumers because it is composed of different ingredients that require excessive manipulation. Place and Duration of Study: Food Microbiology Laboratory - University of Uberaba. Methodology: For this study, 30 samples of this product were collected from the popular snack bars, street-foods and reputable fast-foods chains in Uberaba trade. The samples were transported to the Laboratory of Food Microbiology of the University of Uberaba in isotherm boxes filled with ice where they were kept under refrigeration until the time of analysis. The microbiological analyses were done according to the methods proposed by Vanderzant and Splittstoesser (1999) and Silva et al. (2007). Results: From the total of the samples analyzed, 36.6% presented fecal coliforms and Salmonella sp.; 46.6% presented coagulase-positive Staphylococcus and 30% Bacillus cereus. There was no presence of sulphite-reducing clostridium. Conclusion: The presence of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus indicates the lack of hygiene by food handlers because it is a living microorganism from the nasopharynx and the presence of Salmonella sp. and fecal coliforms indicate poor hygiene and sanitary handling. The improper handling and lack of care in relation to good practices favor the food poisoning.

Reconstruction of the burial № 2 destruction process at the Chernyakhiv culture cemetery Komariv-1

The article is devoted to the analysis of burial 2 from the Chernyakhiv culture cemetery Komariv-1 (Kelmentsy district, Chernivtsi region). The northern burial, destroyed in ancient time, belonged to a woman. The text provides a description of the archaeological complex, the reconstruction of the original appearance and the gradual reconstruction of the destruction process. Based on the known data about the costume of the bearers of the Chernyakhiv culture, the peculiarities of the funeral rite, the peculiarities of the placement of the grave goods, it was possible to reconstruct the original appearance of the completely destroyed burial. Thanks to anthropological determinations of the position of individual human bones in the burial, it was possible to determine the sequence of destruction of the skeleton and grave goods. After entering the grave pit, the skull was separated. The skull was then placed face down in the center of the grave. After that, the chest was destroyed. The bones of the legs were inserted in a certain sequence (crossed bones, inverted bones, mirror-embedded bones). The last stage of the destruction of the burial was the destruction of the skeleton of the sheep (food-offering) and turning over and breaking the utensils in the burial. After the burial was destroyed, the burial pit remained open. According to the information received, the burial was destroyed after the decomposition of the soft tissues of the body, but before the decomposition of the leather elements of the suit. According to the results of the study, the following conclusions were made: • Even a completely destroyed burial can be reconstructed to its original appearance. • Different areas of the skeleton were subjected to different manipulations. The thorax is destroyed, the skull and bones of the legs are re-inserted in a certain (non-anatomical) order. • Part of the inventory (at least one silver fibula) was removed from the burial, but the main purpose was not looting but the destruction of the burial. • Burial occurred between the decomposition of the soft tissues of the body and the leather elements of the suit. Key words: Chernyakhiv culture, funeral rite, destroyed burials, reconstruction of funeral rite, post-funeral rite.

God, Gods, and Humankind (Worldview)

The chapter gives a working definition of the concepts of God/gods in ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures and describes the character of the Israelite god YHWH against this background as a participant in the temple cult on the basis of Biblical texts. As a deity that was above all imagined as a king, YHWH received ritual gifts, which he reciprocated through the effects of his salvific presence for Israel. The sacrificial practice in the temple cella (“food offering” on a table) and in the courtyard (burnt offering on the altar) signaled the acceptance by God while it preserved his transcendence. For the imagination of the human participants, the gracious reception by the king YHWH must have been as real as other social facts. The “anthropomorphism” of the worldview expressed by biblical texts should be specified as “sociomorphism,” since the ritual encounter with the divine followed primarily social (courtly) rules.

End-of-Dinner Food Offering: A Three-Way Contrastive Study

This paper presents a three-way contrastive study of the structure of the end-of-dinner food offering event – hosts asking guests to eat more food when the latter have indicated that they have finished eating – across three population groups: Chinese residents of the City of Xi’an as of 1995 (as reported in Chen, 1996), American residents of Southern California as of 2019, and Chinese residents of Xi’an as of 2019. It is found that, in 2019, Americans living in Southern California only infrequently offer their guests more food at the end of a dinner, while the Chinese residents of Xi’an (the Xi’an Chinese) offer their guests food much less often than in 1995, although still more frequently than their American counterparts. The difference observed between the Chinese and American groups is attributed to the different notions of politeness that are held in the two cultures: the Xi’an Chinese still maintain elements of hospitality and warmth as key notions of politeness, in a similar way to Libyan Arabic speakers, as discovered by Grainger, Mansor and Mills (2015), while the offering behaviour of Southern Californians is motivated by the respect they hold for another person’s freedom of action. The noticeable change in the way food is offered at the end of a Chinese dinner between 1995 and 2019 – which can be seen to be a process of ‘deritualisation’ (Kádár, 2013) – is due to the influence of Western cultures. The significance of our work thus goes beyond the understanding of both food offering in Chinese and Chinese politeness: it adds to the scant literature on the structure of the offering event across cultures and places Chinese politeness in the context of other languages; it brings insights from language contact into the field of pragmatics, a decades-long research paradigm; and it demonstrates the value of diachronic contrastive pragmatics, a direction that will no doubt aid the advancement of contrastive pragmatics in particular and, as a consequence, pragmatics in general.

Interactions of Blood Serum, Urine and Fecal Metabolites of Cats Fed by Different Dietary Protein and Carbohydrate Levels

Objectives Because dietary protein and carbohydrate levels impact the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome and host metabolism, this study evaluated their effect on serum, urine and fecal metabolites. Methods Three complete and balanced isocaloric foods (mean 3940 kcals/kg) were used. Their protein (P) and carbohydrate (CHO) levels were: LP (P: 25.84%, CHO: 46.9%), MP (P: 32.0%, CHO: 39.9%) and HP (P: 50.67%, CHO: 21.2%). The study used 30 adult healthy cats and a balanced Latin-Square design. Food offering was adjusted to maintain weight; cats were fed for 80 days before receiving the next food. This study was reviewed and approved by IACUC and all cats included in this study were allowed routine social activities. Serum (S), urine (U) and fecal (F) samples were collected at the end of each treatment period and analyzed for non-targeted metabolomics by Metabolon Inc. (Morrisville, NC). Data analysis was performed by using JMP v14.0. Variables with significance at P &lt; 0.05 are reported. Results PCA analysis of S, U and F metabolites together shows that the cats fed HP clustered separately from the cats fed LP and MP foods. Independent PCA analysis of S, U and F metabolites revealed that F metabolites show clear separation from the cats fed HP compared with LP and MP foods. However, S and U metabolites did not show this. Fecal samples showed that carbohydrates, acylglycerols, endocannabinoids and bile acids metabolism was significantly impacted by HP when compared with LP and MP foods. This resulted in elevations of a number of toxic metabolites (e.g., 3-indoxyl sulfate, p-cresol sulfate and trimethylamine N-oxide). The F concentration of these metabolites was positively correlated to that of S and U. This positive relationship in all three sample types was not observed for acylglycerols, endocannabinoids and sugars suggesting that those metabolites were not absorbed and excreted as were the mentioned toxins. Conclusions Dietary P and CHO levels influence cat's GI metabolism with impacting specific urine and serum metabolites. Cats fed HP food had F increases of toxic metabolites related to renal and cardiovascular disorders and these metabolites were positively associated with S and U concentrations. Dietary P and CHO levels may directly impact renal and cardiovascular disorders. Funding Sources Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.

The workplace meal: a migrant workers' perspective

PurposeEmployees eat at least one meal per day in the workplace on a regular basis, carrying implications for their physical and emotional well-being. For migrants, this can be challenging, owing to food culture differences. This study explores migrant workers’ perceptions of the food eaten in the hospitality workplace.Design/methodology/approachEleven in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were carried out with migrant workers in three- and four-star hotels in the southwest of England.FindingsThe findings show that the food eaten in the workplace is perceived as unhealthy and fattening and therefore unappealing. This partly informs a decision to eat home country food away from work.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed across many more organisations to investigate whether this would actually have the positive impact on employee well-being (migrant or home national) and employer reputation.Practical implicationsProviding additional “off-menu” meals for migrant employees is recognised. However, staff turnover within the hotel environment may mean that dishes acceptable to one nationality may not be acceptable to another. Alternatively, it may be that attention to such details and the provision of a food offering that is seen as fit for purpose by staff may reduce turnover and demonstrate “care” on the part of the employer. An annual staff survey could be conducted to gauge employee opinion.Social implicationsThis study helps to show the significance of food for migrant well-being. It highlights that in increasingly globalised workplaces, food provision is important for both emotional and physical health. The study's findings have relevance to other multicultural workplaces where the food provided to staff may have consequences for employee well-being.Originality/valueLittle research has focused on the link between the food consumed in the hospitality workplace and migrant worker well-being. This study therefore makes an important contribution to knowledge by exploring feelings about the food eaten at work from the perspective of migrant workers themselves.

Effect of Breed and Diet Type on the Freshness and Quality of the Eggs: A Comparison between Mos (Indigenous Galician Breed) and Isa Brown Hens

Eggs are a nutritious food, offering a balanced source of essential amino and fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins. Genetic and diet factors can modify hen egg traits. Thus, the effects of breed and feed on egg quality using two laying hens, Mos (autochthonous breed) and Isa Brown (commercial hybrid), and three feeds, commercial fodder (CF), corn/pea/triticale (CPT) and corn/wheat (CW), were investigated. Freshness parameters (egg weight, eggshell weight and thickness, albumen height, Haugh units and yolk color), chemical composition, color and textural parameters, as well as fatty acid profile, were assessed on a total of 288 eggs, from the two breeds. The samples were divided in 96 eggs, corresponding to each of the three dietary treatments. There were significant differences (p < 0.001) in albumen height and Haugh units, obtaining the highest values for Isa Brown genotype; meanwhile, laying hens fed with CF had the highest weight, as well as the greatest eggshell thickness. Cooked yolks of Isa Brown eggs presented the highest values of luminosity, while the yellowness was higher for Mos eggs. Regarding the texture of eggs, genotype was again the parameter having the greatest impact, obtaining higher values in hardness, gumminess and chewiness in those eggs from the Mos breed. Concerning egg chemical composition, it was affected by breed and diet type, but Mos eggs were characterized by a significantly (p < 0.001) higher contents of fat (9.53% vs. 7.58%), protein (12.31% vs. 11.66%) and ash (1.10% vs. 1.04%) than Isa Brown ones. Finally, diet type influenced the fatty acid profile, mainly affecting oleic and linoleic acids, which showed significantly (p < 0.05) highest values (42.90 and 14.66 g/100 g of total fatty acids) in CW and CF diets, respectively. Overall, breed and bird diet factors had a strong effect on egg quality and nutritional profile. Moreover, eggs from Mos hens had more attractive nutritional indices, and they could even be improved more by changing the diet.