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The constant variation of people’s lifestyle has been linked to changes in people’s eating habits. The consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) food products, such as fresh vegetables, salads, dairy, pre-cooked meat, or pre-cooked meals, has increased in all western countries. This study aims at characterization of the Portuguese consumers’ attitude toward chilled RTE meat and dairy foods consumption. The study was performed using a questionnaire survey disclosed through an internet platform. The sample consisted of 350 individuals, who voluntarily answered the questionnaire. The survey included questions to characterize the Portuguese purchase and food safety attitudes related to dairy and meat RTE food products. The questionnaire also included questions for the sociodemographic characterization of the sample involved. According to the results, it is not clear to the customers as which is the safer refrigerated RTE food selling format, pre-packed or foods on request. The participants consider refrigerated RTE dairy and meat food products safer when purchased at the delicatessen department in the supermarket than those purchased at open markets or bazaars. With respect to the customers’ habits, they usually purchase RTE dairy or meat food products mainly from the supermarket, and in pre-packed format. Globally, the results reveal that Portuguese consumers are conscious and follow assertive attitudes toward food safety, contributing to maintain the refrigerated food chain, even when they take the product home.

The main aim of this study was to analyze hygiene practices in small-scale dairy plants (SSDPs) in Serbia. A total of 60 plants were included in the research. A survey questionnaire used for SSDPs was designed to obtain the main information about hygiene practices they perform, as well as the data about the SSDPs, their production portfolio, and improvement plans. For the purpose of this study, a good hygiene practice score (GHPS) was calculated showing that the average score is 75%, spanning from 71.4% to 80.3% depending on the type of dairy plant. This study showed that the biggest challenges for small-scale dairy plants are associated with adequate labeling and external analysis of their dairy products, followed by record keeping and use of appropriate food contact materials. As expected, registered and approved SSDPs had higher GHPS scores and more information on their labels than those still in the approval or registration process. This study confirms the need for supporting this type of dairy producer to improve two main pillars of their business—the infrastructure for where they produce dairy products and awareness/knowledge of food safety legislative requirements. At the same time, approved processors are significantly underutilizing their processing capacity, which implies the need for both policy change consideration and educational initiatives. The policy changes should aim to align regulations with small-scale dairy processing realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is banned in some countries but its use is still permitted in others. The global food supply chain is therefore challenged with the need to use rapid and reliable testing methods to either detect the presence of TiO2 or to quantify its concentration. The goal of this study was to determine the feasibility of using color, texture profile analysis, Raman microscopy, and X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy to detect and quantify TiO2 in fillings used in the pastry and confectionery industry. In this study, two types of fillings were investigated: vanilla based and chocolate based. All fillings were prepared in four different variations – without TiO2 and with three concentrations as follows: 0.25 g*kg‐1, 0.5 g*kg‐1, or 0.75 g*kg‐1 TiO2 per sample. The methods were selected for their ability to analyze the samples in a short period of time. RESULTS: All of the methods showed moderate to high potential for detecting TiO2 in the samples. The results reveal how TiO2 affects the food matrix color and texture. Use of Raman microscopy confirms its detectability, although concentrations of TiO2 do not follow a pattern. X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy showed the greatest potential as it can not only detect TiO2 but can also quantify its concentration in the samples. CONCLUSIONS: The highest potential for quantifying the concentration of this food additive was achieved with XRF. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to investigate how food fraud is perceived among consumers in Serbia and Montenegro. A total of 1264 consumers from the two countries participated in an online survey during the second half of 2022, using Google forms®. In the Serbian population, older or highly educated respondents are aware of different types of fraudulent activities such as substitution, mislabeling, concealment, and counterfeiting. Dilution is mostly recognized by women, the younger population, and students. Consumers believe that trust is the most important factor when purchasing food. The highest level of agreement regarding food fraud is that such activities may pose serious health risks to consumers, and that food inspection services are the most responsible actors in the food chain continuum. When it comes to purchasing food, open green markets are most trustworthy, followed by hypermarkets. Concerning the types of food, fish is most susceptible to fraud, followed by olive oil. This study builds upon existing knowledge of food consumers about food fraud in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Western countries, despite tight food safety legislation, food poisoning episodes are still quite frequent. According to the European legislation, it is mandatory for all European member states the annual reporting of information on food-borne outbreaks. In Portugal, the National Institute of Health (INSA) notifies each year the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) about the data of the foodborne outbreaks occurred in Portugal, namely information about the pathogenic microorganism responsible, the food products involved and the places where the contamination or consumption have occurred. The aim of this research was to evaluate the Portuguese consumer knowledge about food products commonly responsible for poisoning outbreaks, and witch pathogenic microorganisms are most associated to those food poisoning episodes. In 2017, the Department of Food and Nutrition (DAN) of INSA, carried out laboratory research on 18 outbreaks of food-borne infections that occurred in Portugal which caused 323 cases of illness and involved 145 hospitalizations, with no deaths being reported. Also, we were collecting information through a questionnaire, which was disclosed in the google forms online platform. Ethical issues were respected in the design and application of the questionnaire, and validated by the CERNAS Research Centre. The questionnaire was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, in June 2021 with reference 52/SUB/2021. The data was collected between June of 2021 and January of 2022, involving 350 adult participants that voluntarily answered the questionnaire. Data analysis was made using Excel. In the EFSA report of 2017, a total of 5,079 foodborne outbreaks were reported. In these events, Salmonella spp. was the commonest detected agent, causing one out of seven outbreaks. Also, Salmonella spp. in eggs and in meat and meat products were identified as the highest risk agent/food pairs. Concerning the place where the food was prepared or consumed, 75% were in public places (institutions, residential, canteens, school bars, schools, colleges, kindergartens, day-care centers, restaurants, hospitals, and nursing homes) and 25% at home, i.e. all the patients involved belonged to the same household. The major foodborne pathogens, associated food vehicles, include: Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. Listeria monocytogenes is able to grow at temperatures approaching 0 °C, and is responsible for outbreaks of listeriosis often associated to the consumption of ready to eat meat, dairy and fishery products. The results show that consumers are quite well informed about food contamination by pathogenic microorganism. They consider products like eggs, meat, and dairy products, as having the greatest risk to the health of consumers and identify the salmonella as the microorganism most associated to those contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives an overview of the food packaging process in seven food companies in the dairy and confectionery sector. A total of 23 production runs have been analyzed regarding the three packers' rules outlined in the Serbian legislation and process capability tests related to statistical process control. None of the companies had any type of statistical process control in place. Results confirmed that more companies show overweight packaging compared to underfilling. Production runs are more accurate than precise, although in some cases the productions are both inaccurate and imprecise. Education / training of the new generation of food industry workers (both on operational and managerial level) with courses in the food area covering elements of quality assurance and statistical process control can help in implementing effective food packaging.