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Free samples and loyalty cards are frequently used, but there is little rigorous empirical testing of their effects. We conducted a stepped wedge trial in 29 workplace food outlets to investigate their effects on sales of plant-based meals. Outlets were randomly assigned to three sequences that entered the intervention in the first, second, or third week of August 2022. Free samples of plant-based meals were given out in the first week of the intervention; loyalty cards were available throughout, entitling the bearer to a free meal after they had bought three. The intervention period ended in the last week of August for all outlets. The free meal could be redeemed until one month later. We did not find statistically significant effects of the interventions compared to the baseline period. Our process evaluation indicated that many participants preferred to eat their habitual meal or were unaware of the loyalty cards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays many processes in the food industry are monitored in an automatic way, with the purpose of minimising the need for workforce and of ensuring the proper control of the quality and safety of the foodstuff. All the sensors share data with a centralised management unit, where often a Manufacturing Execution System collects and evaluates them. As reported in recent research, however, a further step that can be undertaken, exploiting Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, is the implementation of digital twin approaches, with the additional aim to prevent possible issues during production. In line with these considerations, this work aims at showing two different digital twin models intended for improving the control of as many real food systems. Liquid and powder fluids are taken as examples for highlighting the differences in the optimization of the two food processes, as well as for fully exploring the potential of the digital twin approach. Finally, based on the real data taken from two pilot plants, a framework for the selection of the best digital twin tool in the food sector is delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of great changes in the food industry, the aim of this research is to investigate if and how the implementation of 4.0 enabling technologies can enhance the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the food sector. A systematic literature review, using a combination of 12 keywords, was carried out on Scopus database with defined inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to answer four selected research questions. Overall, 50 relevant papers were retrieved and analysed by Mendeley and Excel with descriptive statistics. VOSviewer was used for co-occurrence and co-authorship analysis. Results illustrate that the interest in the topic has grown, in particular in Italy, and resume the benefits achievable by the implementation of 4.0 technologies in food industries. Social impacts are new job positions, ergonomic design of workplaces, changes in educational institutions, improved nutrition and better animal welfare. Positive aspects are related even to economic growth, improving food chain performances and decreasing companies' costs. Finally, it allows energy, water, CO2 emissions and food savings. Overall, the work provides a helpful overview to food manufacturers and producers, recommending the introduction of I4.0 technologies to positively influence the sustainable development of the sector and remain competitive in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competition among Food & Beverage companies has substantially increased in today's age of digitization. Sales forecasting is one of their main challenges. Due to space limitations, employee shortages, and rising online demand, retail sales forecasting became extremely important for Food and Beverage companies. This research analyzed the sales data of a multinational Food & Beverage Company. It proposed a framework using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) clustering, Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC), and Random Forest algorithm for forecasting sales. This model analyzes the impact of the weekends, holidays, promotional activities, customer sentiments, festivals, and socio-economic situations in sales data and is able to forecast sales ranging from one to 15 months. An investigation of the suggested model's performance compared to numerous cutting-edge sales forecasting techniques is carried out to show its efficacy. Here, we demonstrate that the proposed hybrid model surpasses current predicting and computing efficiency methods. The results of this study can help retail managers to allocate resources and manage inventories in well-informed ways. The findings suggest that combining many strategies may produce the most precise forecasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the emerging Digital Twin (DT) paradigm under Industry 4.0 has been attracting more attention from both practitioners and academia due to its dynamic capabilities. Most DT studies are theoretical and deal with hypothetical analysis, whereas fewer studies are available on real-life empirical cases. Due to dynamic problem-solving capabilities, DT technologies are widely used in performance improvement analysis in food processing companies (FPC) despite limited implication's for business strategies. Our study incorporates the DT technologies with an implementation case study on FPC and accomplishes the real-life problem of the food processing company (FPC). Moreover, the proposed DT research framework demonstrates the various DT implementation stages, such as strategic mapping and physical-virtual space replica, with rigorous analysis. The results show that DT enhances the existing system's machine availability, allocation efficiency, technical efficiency, worker efficiency, utilization rate, effectiveness, step ratio, and throughput rate. The proposed physical-virtual interface model is executed using AnyLogic software with JAVA-enabled programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a real-world scheduling problem arising in the colour printing industry. The problem consists in assigning print jobs to a heterogeneous set of flexographic printer machines and finding a processing sequence for the jobs assigned to each machine. The machines are characterised by a limited sequence of colour groups and can equip additional components (e.g. embossing rollers and perforating rolls) to process jobs that require specific treatments. The process to equip a machine with an additional component or to clean a colour group takes a long time, with the effect of significantly raising the setup times. The aim is to minimise a weighted sum of total weighted tardiness and total setup time. The problem derives from the activities of an Italian food packaging company. To solve it, we developed a greedy randomised adaptive search procedure equipped with several local search procedures. The excellent performance of the algorithm is proved by extensive computational experiments on real-world instances, for which it produced good-quality solutions within a limited computing time. The algorithm is currently in use at the company to support their weekly scheduling decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a problem from a real-world application, in which a daily set of orders must be processed following two stages, consisting of preparing perishable products on benches and allocating them to conveyors to be packed in disposable trays. Daily decisions must be made regarding the number and start time of working shifts, the number of workers and their allocation to machines, and the scheduling of orders in a two-stage flexible flow shop environment. The flow shop environment of the studied problem is common in many industries of perishable products, making the problem very general. The problem involves a number of operational constraints, and three objective functions that are minimised in a lexicographic way. To solve the problem, we implement a constructive heuristic and embed it within three metaheuristics: a Random multi-start algorithm (MR), a Biased random key genetic algorithm (BRKGA), and a Variable neighbourhood search (VNS) based one. We perform computational experiments over a set of realistic instances, and present a lower bound obtained from a constraint programming model for the scheduling counterpart. The results of the experiments show that the BRKGA is the most effective in practice for the integrated problem of workforce allocation and scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety problems have become one of the most important public health issues worldwide. Therefore, the development of rapid, effective and robust detection is of great importance. Amongst a range of methods, nucleic acid isothermal amplification (NAIA) plays a great role in food safety detection. However, the widespread application remains limited due to a few shortcomings. CRISPR/Cas system has emerged as a powerful tool in nucleic acid detection, which could be readily integrated with NAIA to improve the detection sensitivity, specificity, adaptability versatility and dependability. However, currently there was a lack of a comprehensive summary regarding the integration of NAIA and CRISPR/Cas in the field of food safety detection. In this review, the recent advances in food safety detection based on CRISPR/Cas-integrated NAIA were comprehensively reviewed. To begin with, the development of NAIA was summarized. Then, the types and working principles of CRISPR/Cas were introduced. The applications of the integration of NAIA and CRISPR/Cas for food safety were mainly introduced and objectively discussed. Lastly, current challenges and future opportunities were proposed. In summary, this technology is expected to become an important approach for food safety detection, leading to a safer and more reliable food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of antibiotics had reached a plateau due to antibiotic resistance, overuse, and residue. Bacteriophages have recently attracted considerable attention as alternative biocontrol agents. Here, we provide an up-to-date overview of phage applications in the food industry. We reviewed recently reported phages against ten typical foodborne pathogens, studies of competitive phage-encoded endolysins, and the primary outcomes of phage encapsulation in food packaging and pathogen detection. Furthermore, we identified existing barriers that still need to be addressed and proposed potential solutions to overcome these obstacles in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoencapsulation has found numerous applications in the food and nutraceutical industries. Micro and nanoencapsulated forms of bioactives have proven benefits in terms of stability, release, and performance in the body. However, the encapsulated ingredient is often subjected to a wide range of processing conditions and this is followed by storage, consumption, and transit along the gastrointestinal tract. A strong understanding of the fate of nanoencapsulates in the biological system is mandatory as it provides valuable insights for ingredient selection, formulation, and application. In addition to their efficacy, there is also the need to assess the safety of ingested nanoencapsulates. Given the rising research and commercial focus of this subject, this review provides a strong focus on their interaction factors and mechanisms, highlighting their prospective biological fate. This review also covers various approaches to studying the fate of nanoencapsulates in the body. Also, with emphasis on the overall scope, the need for a new advanced integrated common methodology to evaluate the fate of nanoencapsulates post-administration is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for clean-label starch, perceived as environmentally friendly in terms of production and less hazardous to health, has driven the advancement of food physical processing technologies aimed at modifying starch. One of the key objectives of these modifications has been to reduce the glycaemic potency and increase resistant starch content of starch, as these properties have the potential to positively impact metabolic health. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent updates in typical physical processing techniques, including annealing, heat-moisture, microwave and ultrasonication, and a brief discussion of several promising recent-developed methods. The focus is on evaluating the molecular, supramolecular and microstructural changes resulting from these modifications and identifying targeted structures that can foster enzyme-digestion resistance in native starch and its forms relevant to food applications. After a comprehensive search and assessment, the current physical modifications have not consistently improved starch enzymatic resistance. The opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of modifications lie in (1) identifying modification conditions that avoid the intensive disruption of the granular and supramolecular structure of starch and (2) exploring novel strategies that incorporate multi-type modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology has a wide scope in various fields as an interdisciplinary science and provides innovative tools in the medical, industrial, agricultural, and food sectors. The unique properties of nanomaterials as compared to the conventional bulk materials because of their small size in the nanoscale have attracted researchers to explore their potential, especially in agriculture and food diagnostics. With the increasing concern over the protection of agricultural products from various threats and to increase agricultural yield, nanotechnology has proven to be an essential tool. The earlier detection of the adversely affecting factors like pathogens, undesirable chemicals, and adverse soil conditions can help in treatment well in time and prevent the undue loss of agricultural yield as well as adverse effects on the environment. Likewise, safe and contamination-free food products are the demand in the food industry not only for enhancement of shelf life of products and maintenance of nutrient quality but also for consumer satisfaction and health. Various nanomaterials have been used to sense these factors to provide eco-friendly and economic diagnostics. In this study, applications of various nanomaterials in the agriculture and food industry have been reviewed in terms of their use as nano-based sensors and biosensors to diagnose soil conditions, soil nutrients, pesticides, and pathogens in plants and food products. In addition, the role of nano-based sensors and biosensors in detecting the presence of various adulterants including heavy metals and other contaminants has also been summarised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthocyanins have attracted a lot of attention in the fields of natural pigments, food packaging, and functional foods due to their color, antioxidant, and nutraceutical properties. However, the poor chemical stability and low bioavailability of anthocyanins currently limit their application in the food industry. Various methods can be used to modify the structure of anthocyanins and thus improve their stability and bioavailability characteristics under food processing, storage, and gastrointestinal conditions. This paper aims to review in vitro modification methods for altering the molecular structure of anthocyanins, as well as their resulting improved properties such as color, stability, solubility, and antioxidant properties, and functional applications as pigments, sensors and functional foods. In industrial production, by mixing co-pigments with anthocyanins in food systems, the color and stability of anthocyanins can be improved by using non-covalent co-pigmentation. By acylation of fatty acids and aromatic acids with anthocyanins before incorporation into food systems, the surface activity of anthocyanins can be activated and their antioxidant and bioactivity can be improved. Various other chemical modification methods, such as methylation, glycosylation, and the formation of pyranoanthocyanins, can also be utilized to tailor the molecular properties of anthocyanins expanding their range of applications in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural animal-based flavors have great appeal to consumers and have broad applications in the food industry. In this review, we summarized findings related to bacon and Cheddar cheese flavors' components and their precursors, reaction mechanisms, influential factors, and characterization methods. The results show that free sugars, free amino acids, peptides, vitamins, lipids, and nitrites are precursors to bacon flavor. The conditions governing the formation of bacon flavor are thermally dependent, which facilitates the use of thermal food processing to generate such a flavor. For Cheddar cheese flavor, milk ingredients such as lactose, citrate, fat, and casein are reported as precursors. The optimum conditions to generate Cheddar cheese flavor from precursors are quite strict, which limits its application in food processing. As an alternative, it is more practical to generate Cheddar cheese flavor by combining key aroma compounds using thermal food processing. This review provides the food industry the comprehensive information about the generation of bacon and Cheddar cheese flavors using precursor molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the concept of "administrative-legal provision of food security," which is a relevant area of research in the context of global challenges and threats. Food security plays a key role in the stability of the state, ensuring the population's access to quality food products. In this regard, administrative and legal measures become especially significant, as they regulate and control food resources. The second aspect of the research focuses on defining the essence of administrative-legal provision as a complex system of measures, tools, and procedures aimed at implementing state policy in the field of food security. The author offers a critical analysis of existing approaches to understanding this category and provides a personal definition based on modern lega l doctrines. The study reviews the main legal acts regulating food security issues in Ukraine and analyzes international experience. Emphasis is placed on the importance of administrative control and oversight over the implementation of state programs that ensure the availability of sufficient food supplies and access to them for the population. Special attention is given to the problems of legal regulation in crisis situations, such as military conflicts, economic crises, or natural disasters. The author emphasizes that under such conditions, administrative-legal mechanisms must be flexible and adaptive to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the food sector. The article examines the administrative-legal category of "food security" as a key aspect of state policy, ensuring the resilience of food systems in the face of modern challenges. The author explores the essence of food security through the lens of administrative-legal regulation, focusing on the state's role in shaping effective management mechanisms for food resources. In particular, the article analyzes how legal norms affect various stages of agro-industrial production and the distribution of products, from land use to food safety control. In conclusion, the author argues that the administrative-legal provision of food security requires constant improvement in light of new societal challenges. A series of recommendations are proposed for improving legal regulation and enhancing the effectiveness of st ate control in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunger, food insecurity and the ill-informed use of natural resources are issues that concern the whole world, while the excessive use of chemicals, the increasing demands for food, climate change and political instability are posing significant challenges to existing food systems and sustainability. The Green New Deal (GND) seeks to resolve these problems and to support the positive transformation of the agriculture and food sectors. Turkey can be considered an ideal country for an analysis of the GND concept and for understanding its potential impact on the agricultural and food sectors, given its population in the region of 82 million, and its status as the second most populous Mediterranean country. The present study analyzes how the agricultural and food sectors will be affected by the GND, and clarifies the current status of the agricultural and food sectors in Turkey to understand what needs to be done to meet the GND goals. The adverse conditions in Turkey that are of particular note include the lack of R&D activity in the field of renewable energy; micro-scale food security issues; instability in agricultural policy; high inflation affecting food prices; and food losses and problems related to food fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study endeavoured to capitalize on prickly pear by-products for the optimization of molasses formulation, targeting elevated antioxidant capacities and superior sugar contents. Through robust statistical modelling, the optimal cooking parameters—temperature (70-80 °C) and duration (60–90 min)—were determined, guided by responses of antioxidant activity and Brix value. A D-Optimal mixture design further delineated the ideal proportions of molasses components (pulp, peel, and seeds). Characterization revealed that peel harboured the highest concentrations of total polyphenols (396.41 mg GAE/100g FW) and flavonoids (234.26 mg CE/100g FW), emphasizing its antioxidant potential (DPPH inhibition IC50: 12.72 µg/ml). The optimal cooking conditions were established at 78.35 °C for 79.70 min, with predictive equations guiding ingredient proportions (0.265 g pulp, 0.710 g peel, 0.025 g seed). Intriguingly, while peel inclusion enhanced total sugar content and antioxidant activity, seed incorporation exerted a contrasting effect by reducing total sugar content and limiting antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jack Bean tempeh, a highly nutritious protein source, is underutilized in the food industry. As a protein concentrate, the protein hydrolyzate has a limited shelf life, necessitating encapsulation for preservation. Encapsulation, mainly through freeze-drying, is a promising solution. This study, which explores the impact of different maltodextrin concentrations on the physical and chemical properties of encapsulated Jack Bean protein concentrate, has the potential to advance food technology and nutrition significantly. The methodology involved descriptive analysis and the addition of maltodextrin at three distinct concentrations: 10%, 20%, and 30% (w/w), relative to the weight of the ingredients. Meanwhile, the parameters investigated included protein content, yield, total solids, water and oil absorption, encapsulation effectiveness, and microstructure, which were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that the concentration of maltodextrin significantly influenced the encapsulation process. The protein content, water absorption, oil absorption, porosity, and encapsulation efficiency reached their peak at a maltodextrin concentration of 10%, with values of 27.26 ± 0.18%, 2.20 ± 0.05 g/g, 2.15 ± 0.02 ml/g, 0.52 ± 0.5%, and 73.19 ± 0.3%, respectively. Conversely, a 30% concentration of maltodextrin led to an increase in the yield to 61.33 ± 0.35% and the total solids to 92.52 ± 0.13%. The freeze-drying process resulted in non-uniform shapes in the microstructure in all treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amaranthus spp. was found a few centuries back as a highly auspicious plant species that might yield significant unsaturated fat, protein, and several other beneficial ingredients. Since that day, studies have mainly centered on different Amaranthus spp. Various journals with fundamental characteristics, including biological, pharmacological, technical, compositional, botanical along with health impacts have been published. This in-depth analysis focuses on constituents, anti-oxidant qualities, uses, and processing of amaranth. In addition to macro-components, the composition also contains vitamins, tocopherols, polyphenols, phytates, squalene, and other significant ingredients. Humankind has long been aware of the advantages plants have for supporting health. Amaranth is currently generating more scientific and commercial concern. This is because of its beneficial biological traits, diverse nutraceutical activity, and extensive phytoconstituents. Amaranth is a pseudo cereal plant that combines the qualities of a food and a health-improving commodity into one plant. This article addresses the most important biological and pharmacological activity of amaranth, in addition to its chemical makeup, status as a dietary ingredient, and effectiveness of its supplementation. The favorable biological features of amaranth formulations discussed in this work may serve as a catalyst for additional, deep scientific study in this area as well as for the advancement of new methods utilizing this pseudo cereal in the cosmetic & food sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starch is a prevalent functional component in food processing because due to its thickening capabilities. The aim of this study was to assess the potential stabilization effects of native, heat-moisture treated, and hydroxypropylated anchote starches in tomato sauce. Tomato sauce was made with different percentages (0%, 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%) of native and modified anchote starch. A maximum 3.97% decrease in moisture content was observed in tomato sauce concentrated with 1.5% heat-moisture treated anchote starch. Significance differences were observed among tomato sauce samples in their proximate composition. The maximum lightness (L*) value was 29.23% in tomato sauce concentrated with 1.5% hydroxypropylated anchote starch, while the lowest was 26.2% for tomato sauce without starch. With increasing levels of starch used for thickening, b* increased, while the a* value decreased insignificantly. Sauce samples with 1.5% native anchote starch had the highest titratable acidity (0.64%) and total soluble solids (8.97%). Increased storage time resulted in a decrease in vitamin C content of all sauce samples. The addition of starch to tomato sauce resulted in a significant change in pasting qualities, with the highest peak viscosity (11287.69 cP) achieved at 1.5% native anchote starch. The highest (6.2 cm) and lowest (3.7 cm) Bostwick consistency was recorded for the control sauce and for the sauce concentrated with 1.5% native anchote starch. In general, although few undesirable characteristics resulted, especially the addition of modified anchote starch resulted in considerable quality attributes, and can be used as an alternative thickening agent in food processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Ball‐milling is increasingly recognised as an efficient and environmentally friendly physical modification method in food processing. In this study, natural Litopenaeus vannamei protein (LVP) was subjected to ball‐milling treatment for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 min, respectively. Then, its structure and functional properties were investigated. Results indicated that proper ball‐milling treatment significantly enhanced the quality of LVP by influencing its structure. Specifically, ball‐milled LVP (BLVP) powder exhibited finer and brighter. BLVP subjected to 10 min demonstrated the highest solubility (22.80%), digestibility (64.50%) and foaming stability (93.69%), which were attributed to particle size and structure. BLVP processed for 15 min exhibited the highest oil holding capacity (1042.67%) and foaming capacity (17.11%), positively related to its surface hydrophobicity and sulfhydryl content. And its allergenicity decreased by 4.35%. These results provide a foundational framework for utilising ball‐milling to modify LVP, suggesting that this method may enhance the industrial applications of LVP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The proximate composition, selected amino acid composition, and chemical constituents of Spirogyra neglecta (Hassall) Kützing, a freshwater algae collected from Phrae province, Thailand was investigated. It was found to be a good source of protein (29.42% dry wt. basis) and fibre (6.70% dry wt. basis). The total amino acid content was 2611.85 mg/100 g edible. The chemical constituents were characterised by GC–MS, which demonstrated that it contained phytol (62.10%), ethyl 5,8,11,14,17‐icosapentaenoate (8.55%) among others. Based on its chemical composition results, it could serve as a potential ingredient with high nutritional values in the food and nutraceutical industry. Furthermore, the descriptive sensory profile consisting of 17 descriptors, namely, green colour, glossy, filamentous, aroma (algae, grassy, fishy, and earthy), flavour (algae, grassy, fishy, and earthy), sweet, bitter, and texture (fibrousness and softness), mouthfeel (entire mouth‐coating), and aftertaste (astringent), were successfully developed to allow characterisation of the sensory quality of this algae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Understanding the phase behaviour of biopolymer composites is vital for various technological applications, such as developing functional foods, nutraceuticals, encapsulation, isolation and fractionation of enzymes and proteins. The growing consumer demand for healthier food products pressures the food and nutraceutical industries to innovate while maintaining traditional texture and nutritional quality. This review critically examines various analytical techniques, including spectroscopic, microscopic, calorimetric, rheological, viscometry, and diffraction methods, used to study phase behaviour. Each technique provides unique insights into phase behaviour mechanisms at micro and macroscopic levels, with respective advantages and limitations discussed. The review advocates for a multi‐technique approach for a comprehensive understanding of phase behaviour and highlights the development of in situ probing techniques with minimal sample pre‐processing as a promising advancement. These innovations are expected to significantly enhance the practical applications of these techniques in the food industry, meeting current consumer demands without compromising traditional qualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an analysis of the organizational features of passing food objects as a commonplace embodied social practice to accomplish requests to another to taste food during joint cooking activities. Situated within the cognate frameworks of Conversation Analysis and Ethnomethodology, the sequential, multimodal analysis details and explains the formal features of passing food from hand to hand and from hand to mouth as distinct practices with distinct micro-sequential organizations. The study draws on a corpus of 14 hours of video-recordings of naturally occurring joint cooking activities in which the participants speak German, Swedish, and English. Focusing on the projectable aspects of bodily trajectories, the analysis reveals how the request sequences are achieved through the participants' early projection of how to pass the food objects and their stepwise mutual adjustments to their conjoint action trajectory. In progressively establishing who does what next and how during the food transfer, the participants orient to the relevance and distribution of interactional agency. When the normative organization of the step-by-step transfer is disregarded, an ambiguity emerges concerning what action the practice is doing, which prompts the participants to engage in significant interactional work to re-negotiate on what terms the transfer can resume. This shows how issues of interactional agency are exerted and exhibited in and through the sequential organization of social interaction. The results contribute to, and elaborate, prior findings on requests and advances our understanding for the close attention that participants to interaction pay to the detailed aspects of multimodally formatted actions and the normative expectancies that make up to their intelligibility, reflexively elaborating each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-food social-ecological systems (AFSES) embrace complex interactions and processes of food production, processing, and commercialization that are subject to constant changes. This study develops a heuristic approach using the adaptive cycle (AC) and a transformation potential measure to identify the historical trajectory of a coffee AFSES at a watershed scale in Copalita, Mexico, over 40 years from 1980 to 2020. Primary information was collected through semistructured interviews. The results show that the system interactions depend on economic, social, and environmental stressors and shocks affecting different temporal and spatial scales. The cumulative effects of driving forces and adaptive strategies have influenced the system to not complete the AC phases. Additionally, the results show that some adaptive strategies can become new stressors with time. Driving forces, adaptive strategies, tipping points, trade-offs and interactions within the AFSES could be identified as the main aspects defining system resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Nutrition Foundation convened a roundtable event in January 2024 entitled 'Meat and the Future of Sustainable Diets: Turning Challenges into Opportunities', bringing together multi‐sector stakeholders to discuss the social, nutritional, public health and environmental aspects of meat consumption within a sustainable food system. Participants explored the challenge of the complexity of balancing nutrition and planetary goals, emphasising the need to navigate trade‐offs between various dimensions of sustainability. Whilst recognising the global nature of the issue, the roundtable primarily focussed on a UK perspective. The discussion highlighted the urgency of transforming the food system to achieve net zero, whilst ensuring broader environmental benefits, nutritional adequacy and dietary and health equity across all life stages. Concerns about poor dietary patterns, particularly among vulnerable groups were raised, with participants stressing the need for policies that promote healthy, sustainable and equitable diets without worsening inequalities. These policies should also enhance livelihoods and community wellbeing, foster resilience and support local economies. On the supply side, participants called for better data within the agri‐food system, particularly at the farm level. They advocated for a multidimensional, holistic approach that goes beyond greenhouse gas emissions to encompass wider environmental impacts and whole‐farm benefits, such as enhancing soil health, promoting biodiversity, improving water management, supporting nutrient cycling and boosting farm‐level resilience through diversified cropping systems. Roundtable participants acknowledged existing recommendations to reduce meat consumption for both environmental reasons, such as land use and greenhouse gas emissions, and health concerns, as evidence links red, particularly processed, meat consumption with increased colorectal cancer risk. Given the variation in meat consumption globally and even locally between individuals, the discussion explored the potential of targeted campaigns to reduce high meat intake, along with the role of public food procurement and the food industry in decreasing processed meat consumption. The consensus was that dietary changes must be framed within the context of a balanced diet and broader sustainability concerns. Despite some differing viewpoints on implementation, participants agreed that transitioning to healthier, more sustainable diets is a priority. Collaboration across the entire food chain, from farm to fork, with investment in innovation, robust data collection and research, alongside policy support, was emphasised as essential to achieving this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Increasing the healthiness of food retail environments is an identified mechanism to help halt rising rates of diet‐related non‐communicable diseases. Previous studies on healthy food environment adoption report that retailers' perceptions of loss of profitability and higher food costs are often barriers to change. Despite this, actual changes to profitability and food costs have not been fully explored. This study aimed to systematically scope the evidence relating to changes to food costs or profitability when changes are made to increase the healthiness of food and drinks sold by food service retailers. Nine databases were searched, with studies included from settings that sold ready‐to‐consume items, with interventions to increase the healthiness of menus, and reporting food environment/nutrition outcomes, and cost/profit outcomes. Of the 12 studies included, the majority were conducted in the United States and in school settings. Most studies indicated that increasing the healthiness of food service retail environments resulted in neutral or favorable financial outcomes. Food costs and/or profit changes were most often monitored via simple accounting measures. While further research is needed to strengthen the evidence on financial outcomes of healthier food provision, this review indicates that some perceived barriers to change may not be warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioactive peptides (BPs) derived from agri-food side-streams display great potential as functional ingredients and nutraceuticals. However, BPs can be susceptible to environmental stressors and food processing conditions and typically exist as an aqueous mixture of various peptides, making their storage and use in foods very challenging. Microencapsulation offers a solution, utilizing suitable wall materials to create a protective matrix and transform them into powders for improved stability and application versatility. Here, we investigated the possibility of creating freeze-dried microencapsulated BP powders from bread waste using maltodextrin as the wall material to maintain their antifungal properties against Penicillum albocoremium, Eurotium herbariorum and Penicillium roqueforti fungi. The results were compared to those obtained from galactoglucomannans (GGM) and glucuronoxylans (GX) sourced from forest industry side-streams, aiming to explore their potential suitability as innovative materials for microencapsulating BPs. Maltodextrin microcapsules exhibited the highest inhibition rate on the tested fungi (10 − 44%), followed by GX (26 − 39%) and then GGM (9 − 14%) counterparts. Interactions between wall materials and BPs, as illustrated by FTIR analyses, were found to be the cause of variations in antifungal activities among BP microcapsules. The use of wall materials, especially wood hemicelluloses, facilitated freeze drying of BPs. However, their application in food products is restricted by the decline in the BP bioactivity resulting from the freeze drying process. For this reason, additional research on alternative drying methods is needed. The results of this study are expected to open new ways of production of stable functional ingredients from side-streams of the forest and food industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is a lipidic tri-layer structure rich in polar lipids and glycoproteins with promising health and technological benefits, which can be isolated from dairy industry by-products. The present research aims to understand the effect of the addition of an enriched MFGM concentrate on the milk coagulation process and on the structural behavior of ultrafiltered fresh cheeses (UFC). To this end, goat milk was ultrafiltered at 3 protein levels (10, 12, and 14%) and three MFGM contents were evaluated (0, 0.4, and 0.8%). UFC batches were manufactured and characterized using rheology. Coagulation kinetics revealed that ultrafiltration and MFGM addition increased the firmness of the cheese gel. Protein content was the primary factor contributing to gel firmness, and among the mixtures tested, those containing 14% proteins exhibited the highest elastic modulus values. Dynamic and static shear analyses showed that the combination of ultrafiltration and enriched MFGM concentrate supplementation had a synergic effect on cheese viscoelastic behavior. Loss factor (tan(δ)) may be a marker that can be monitored in cheesemaking when adding MFGM concentrate. Overall, MFGM concentrate would improve the rheological characteristics of fresh cheeses, being a promising ingredient for the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Penetration ability is one of the biggest concerns of light-emitting diode (LED) technology in the food industry, as most food matrices are usually in packaged conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the antifungal effects of LEDs on both pure culture and litchi fruit, which are packaged by nine commonly used commercial packaging films. Results showed that LEDs could penetrate these films with more than 88% energy transmittance. Under the same illumination condition, the inhibition rate in film packaged samples decreased by 8–35%. The difference might be due to the partial shielding of light by the films selected. However, when the illumination time was further extended, 410–420 nm LED still achieved complete inhibition of Fusarium sp. and Geotrichum candidum conidia in all tested films, particularly polyethylene (PE) 0.003 mm, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In vivo trials showed that LED illumination reduced the fungal populations on packaged litchi by ~ 99% with better physicochemical properties than the non-packaged ones. Although the presence of packaging films did affect the inactivation efficacy of LED, this study demonstrated that LED technology has the potential to be used for the decontamination of packaged litchi fruit and other packaged foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first study to produce cucumber pickles using both free and microencapsulated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum HL4 and Pediococcus parvulus HL14, and to investigate the probiotic viability, as well as the physicochemical (pH, total acidity, salt, and color), bioactive (total phenolic content and antioxidant activity) and sensory properties of the pickles during 15 days of fermentation and 9 weeks of storage. L. plantarum HL4 and P. parvulus HL14 were encapsulated with sodium alginate (as a coating agent) and inulin (as a prebiotic source) using an extrusion method. The encapsulation efficiency of L. plantarum HL4 and P. parvulus HL14 was 95.77 ± 6.21% and 94.94 ± 2.94%, respectively. Both free and microencapsulated cells were incorporated into prepared cucumbers at a rate of 1%. Probiotic cucumber pickles kept the highest microencapsulated cell count (> 6 log CFU/g) until the fourth week of storage. This study indicated that the probiotic survivability in samples can be improved by microencapsulation. During fermentation, the pH and total acidity of the samples varied in the range of 3.22–3.97 and 0.19-0.87%, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the samples ranged from 4.54 to 18.70% (DPPH) and from 51.92 to 88.06% (ABTS+). The total phenolic content of the samples varied between 142.83 and 2465.50 mg GAE/L. Moreover, CP-L (samples fermented with L. plantarum HL4) and CP-P (samples fermented with P. parvulus HL14) showed the highest general assessment scores of 6.90 and 6.95 at the end of storage, respectively. This study offers the opportunity for food companies to become competitive in one of the most innovative research areas in the food sector and to meet the requirements and needs of various consumer groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Green Deal, established by the European Commission, aims to make the European Union climate-neutral and sustainable by 2050. Although the Green Deal does not explicitly focus on the food sector, it recognises the significant impact of the food system on the environment, climate change, and public health. This review provides an overview of biopeptides and protein hydrolysates, their potential applications, and their alignment with the goals of the Green Deal. It aims to assist researchers and stakeholders in understanding the opportunities and challenges associated with utilising biopeptides to advance the objectives of the Green Deal. Currently, protein hydrolysates and bioactive peptides are mainly utilised for their functional, nutritional characteristics, and preservative properties. They could be produced on the basis of waste and by-products from food processing with their antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity and a potential source of functional food ingredients to combat non-communicable diseases. Therefore, the utilisation of active protein hydrolysates and biopeptides aligns with green politics by supporting sustainable sourcing, reducing waste, efficient resource utilisation, promoting health and well-being, and contributing to the development of sustainable food systems. However, there are some challenges including bitterness, allergenicity, and toxicity of peptides for industrial application. Addressing these obstacles allows for the potential of active protein hydrolysates and peptides in food technology, offering consumers novel and more nutritious food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary oils (DOs) from various sources are known to be beneficial functional bioactives in medicinal applications. However, DOs are highly susceptible to light, temperature, and oxygen, rendering them chemically unstable and prone to oxidation. As a result, their use in the food and pharmaceutical sectors is constrained. Nanoencapsulation techniques are widely regarded as highly promising tactics for augmenting the inherent properties and therapeutic impacts of DOs. This article is focused on the utilization of ultrasonically produced biopolymeric nanocarriers (UPNs), along with their advantages and disadvantages, which have demonstrated promising potential for encapsulating various DOs. Furthermore, a full discussion has been carried out on the advanced loading techniques of various DOs using UPNs, particularly protein/polysaccharide-coated nanoemulsions and nanoparticles. These nano-vehicles are considered promising candidates for protecting DOs due to their remarkable features and their capability to enable accurate and efficient delivery to targeted sites. The gastrointestinal fate of protein/polysaccharide-coated nanocarriers is mostly determined by their size, surface characteristics, and physical attributes. UPNs provide a range of desirable properties inherent to biopolymeric nanoparticles, enabling them to provide stability and effective dispersion of DOs in functional food products. Additional research is extremely needed to explore novel possibilities for utilizing DOs-loaded UPNs in the realm of food and beverage applications, with the prospect of eventual commercial viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need of media communications to promote healthy hydration policies and environments that encourage water consumption to reduce sugar beverage health risks. Topics include effect of the widespread marketing of branded sugary beverages on public health, advice to early career public health advocates to design effective media advocacy campaigns, and findings of a study that evaluated U.S. media campaigns from 1886 to 2021.

Objectives. To investigate food industry compliance with the display of front-of-package warning labels (FOPLs) on products that exceed regulatory thresholds for being high in calories, added sugars, sodium, or saturated fats after full implementation of Chile's Food Labeling and Advertising Law. Methods. In 2020, trained dietitians took pictures of nutritional information and FOPLs on packaged products in supermarkets. We categorized foods and beverages as requiring FOPLs (or not) using their nutritional composition and ingredients as set out in government guidelines. We compared these classifications with the actual display of FOPLs. Results. About 62.5% of packaged foods and beverages displayed any FOPL. The most frequent label was for energy (38.7%), followed by sugars (35.2%), saturated fats (26.2%), and sodium (22.6%). Compliance with FOPL display was high (93.6% for any "high-in" designation). Lower compliance was observed in nonsausage meat products (83.5%) and soups (84.5%). Candies and sweet confectionery and sausages contributed most to noncompliance with any "high-in" designation. Conclusions. Following the law's full implementation, the food industry complied with the display of FOPLs. Mandatory policies with clear guidelines and monitoring systems can contribute to ensuring and sustaining high compliance. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(12):1398–1405. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307843) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]