British Food Journal

Rehman, Abdul; Deyuan, Zhang; Hena, Sehresh; Chandio, Abbas Ali

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-01-2019-0005

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and explore the connection between aquaculture and capture fisheries production and economic growth in Pakistan. Fisheries play an important role in Pakistan’s national economy, and Pakistan has sufficient fishery resources to be developed. Most of the population in the coastal areas depends on fisheries for their livelihood.Design/methodology/approachThis research was based on time series data of aquaculture and capture fisheries production and the analysis of their relationship with economic growth in Pakistan. The study used an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to check the dynamic causality between the study variables.FindingsThe results showed that aquaculture and capture fisheries production have had a positive effect on the economic growth in Pakistan.Practical implicationsBetter infrastructure for the fishing industry, increased government expenditure on facilities and financial support for the fish farmers could contribute to economic growth in the future. Recommendations for improvements in these areas have been made.Originality/valueBy using an ARDL bounds testing approach, this study contributes to the literature regarding fisheries production and economic growth in Pakistan.

Curi, Paula Nogueira; Albergaria, Francielly Corrêa; Pio, Rafael; Schiassi, Maria Cecília Evangelista Vasconcelos; Tavares, Bruna de Sousa; Souza, Vanessa Rios de

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-03-2019-0201

The purpose of this paper is to characterise eight different fig cultivars with respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compound content and to assess the influence of these cultivars on the physicochemical characteristics, rheological properties and sensory acceptance of the obtained jelly to identify cultivars with increased potential for processing when grown in subtropical regions.Design/methodology/approachThe analyses of fig fruits and fig jellies were performed in triplicate. To characterise the fig cultivars, analyses of antioxidant activity, phenolic compound content and ascorbic acid concentration were performed on fresh fruits. For the jellies, the total titratable acidity, pH, soluble solids, colour, texture profile and sensory attributes were analysed.FindingsWith respect to antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds, the Roxo de Valinhos displayed the highest antioxidant activity according to the ABTS method, ß-carotene and DPPH; the Três num Prato, Lemon and Brunswick cultivars presented the highest ascorbic acid values; and the Três num Prato cultivar also had the highest total phenolic content. Generally, the various fig cultivars yielded jellies with different physical and chemical characteristics and different rheological properties. This variation did not significantly affect acceptability. This study demonstrates that all of the evaluated cultivars have high potential for processing.Originality/valueThis study evaluated the processing potential of Roxo de Valinhos and other fig cultivars in the form of jelly, which in view of the food risk concerns of the dried fig, seems to be an interesting alternative for consumption of processed fig.

Neupane, Saugat; Chimhundu, Ranga; Chan, K.C.

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-03-2019-0178

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between consumers’ cultural values and their functional food perception.Design/methodology/approachThe research is qualitative in nature and uses the grounded theory method. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with three ethnic groups, Anglo-Australian, Chinese and Indian ethnic groups in Australia. The constant comparative data analysis approach was used to analyse the interview text.FindingsThe results indicate that there is a relationship between consumers’ cultural values and their functional food perception. Functional food perception depends upon the consumers’ predisposition towards their culture, their motives for functional food consumption and the level of perseverance towards functional foods.Research limitations/implicationsThe study includes only three ethnic groups and is qualitative in nature, which may limit its generalisability to the universe. The inclusion of more ethnic groups and additional sources of data could form directions for future research.Practical implicationsFunctional food marketers can assess the kind of cultural values the ethnic groups in Australia uphold and capture those values in their marketing strategies. The cultural values in the framework could be used for the segmentation of functional food consumers. In a multicultural setting like Australia, segmentation of consumers based on the standard values would be more feasible and effective to target consumers spread across different ethnic groups but who uphold similar values.Originality/valueThe research has attempted to fill the gap in the existing literature about the relationship between culture and functional food perception. The latent variables in the theoretical framework proposed by the qualitative enquiry can be a good starting point for understanding the influence of cultural values on functional food perception and the development of a more comprehensive theoretical framework for functional food behaviour.

Radzyminska, Monika; Jakubowska, Dominika

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-01-2019-0006

The purpose of this paper is to explore young consumers’ attitudes toward novel organic food products by analyzing their acceptability and perception.Design/methodology/approachA mixed method approach was applied to conceptualize (sensory profiling of organic bakery and confectionery products) and then to evaluate young consumer’s willingness to buy (consumer survey) innovative products: ten variants of rolls and ten variants of shortbread cookies made of certified raw materials originating from bio-farming, enriched with a combination of fresh and dried fruits and vegetables. Product recipes were free of saccharose, sweeteners and chemical pulverizing agents. To evaluate consumer orientation toward novel organic products, 200 consumers from Poland (Warmia and Mazury region) were surveyed regarding their hedonic opinion about these concepts. A Likert-type scale was used in the consumer survey to assess the perception and declared willingness to buy the evaluated products.FindingsResearch results demonstrate that the young consumers had ambivalent or negative attitudes to sensory attributes of many variants of the organic bakery and confectionery products. This could be explained by the taste of most of the products, which appeared unacceptable to consumers. It has been concluded that the choice of organic foods by young consumers is not strictly related to the concern over their health nor to the awareness of health-related attributes of these food products. Taste turned out to be the key factor affecting consumer attitudes toward organic foods and driving their willingness to buy these products.Originality/valueDespite the constant development of research in the area of the organic food market, the current scientific findings still have some cognitive gaps that concern attitudes and expectations of consumers, especially of young consumers, toward new ecological products. This study contributed to the young consumers’ behavior knowledge by analyzing their attitudes toward novel organic bakery and confectionery prototypes produced manually. The empirical findings from this study also have practical potential for organic food market applications. Information of this type is useful in understanding and predicting the demand for certain products, which helps managers develop effective strategies.

Bae, Dong-Ho

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-01-2019-0027

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the sugar contents of ready-to-eat foods distributed at amusement parks and suggested an appropriate food safety management strategy for children.Design/methodology/approachReady-to-eat food samples (n = 322) in 17 categories were collected from the major amusement parks in Korea, and their free sugar contents were determined. Substitution of sugars in high-sugar foods with appropriate artificial sweeteners is suggested to reduce sugar intake after comparing the estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of the sweeteners with the corresponding acceptable daily intakes (ADIs).FindingsSamples in three categories (tteokbokki, muffins and waffles) were classified as high-sugar foods. The substitution of all sugar in the high-sugar foods with aspartame or sucralose, among the predominant artificial sweeteners in Korea, would not increase their EDIs to higher values than the corresponding ADIs for both children and adolescents. Consequently, substitutions of sugars in high-sugar foods with aspartame or sucralose are suggested. Partial substitutions (45 and 40 per cent, respectively) of sugar are recommended for muffin and waffle, considering their baking properties and current sugar contents.Social implicationsThis paper reveals the necessity of an appropriate safety management system for ready-to-eat foods distributed at amusement parks.Originality/valueThe potential risks caused by sugar in ready-to-eat foods distributed at amusement parks and the substitution of sugar with artificial sweeteners has rarely been assessed. The approaches proposed in this paper minimise the risks posed by both sugar and artificial sweeteners simultaneously, and may be useful in the development of a food safety management system.

A.R., Abdul Rais; M.S.M., Zahari; C.T., Chik; M.H., Hanafiah

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-01-2019-0044

The purpose of this paper is to confirm the inter-relationship between healthy cafeteria attributes, perceived value, eating behaviour, satisfaction and post-purchase behaviour in the hospital setting.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model proposed comprises of five latent variables representing healthy cafeteria attributes, perceived value, eating behaviour, satisfaction and post-purchase behaviour. A total of 570 completed questionnaires were collected, and the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling.FindingsThis study found that eating behaviour and satisfaction significantly mediates the relationship between healthy cafeteria attributes and customers’ post-purchase behaviour. Meanwhile, customers’ perceived value weakly moderates the relationship between healthy cafeteria and eating behaviour.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first few which attempt to holistically measure the attributes that influence people to visit healthy cafeterias and the subsequent effect they have towards their post-purchase behaviour. The novelty of this study is portrayed through the inclusion of eating behaviour and the perceived value dimension in healthy foodservice study, which is still minimal compared to commercial foodservice.

Chaveesuk, Ravipim; Konjanattham, Natthamon

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-09-2018-0602

The purpose of this paper is to model the relationship between 11 frankfurter physical properties and their sensory scores to classify a release of frankfurter production batches to the market.Design/methodology/approachData from 209 frankfurter batches were collected. Market batch release classifications were based on 11 physical properties via predictive and direct classification models. The predictive models under study included a regression, backpropagation neural network (BPN) and radial basis function neural network (RBFN) whereas the direct classification models were logistic regression, BPN and RBFN. Model performance was evaluated via correct classification rate.FindingsThe 11-7-4 RBFN predictive model proved superior with a 90 percent correct classification rate and 0 percent producer risk while the 11-5-1 RBFN, as a classification model, outperformed with the same level of accuracy, 90 and 0 percent, respectively. Producers prefer the less time-consuming direct classifiers for evaluation. Furthermore, the 11-5-1 RBFN direct classifier revealed that color measurement greatly influenced frankfurter batch release. Increases in redness, yellowness and brownness increased batch release probability.Originality/valueThis research attempts to establish a novel production batch release model for sausage manufacturing. Key factors can then be optimized for improving batch release probability for implementation throughout the sausage industry.

Trivelli, Leonello; Apicella, Andrea; Chiarello, Filippo; Rana, Roberto; Fantoni, Gualtiero; Tarabella, Angela

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-11-2018-0747

Circumstances that are have a significant impact on it. In particular, environmental sustainability related to the increase of worldwide population, and market demand for agricultural products (with consumers more and more aware about cultivation and breeding techniques and interested in healthy and high-quality products) represent two of the key challenges that the agricultural sector is going to face in next years. In such a landscape, technological innovations that can support organizations and entrepreneurs to face these problems become increasingly important, and Industry 4.0 is the most striking example. Indeed, the Industry 4.0 paradigm aims to integrate digital technologies into business processes to raise productivity levels and to develop new business models. Accordingly, digital technologies play a similar role in the precision agriculture domain, and the purpose of this paper is to understand if the technologies at the basis of these two paradigms are the same or not.Design/methodology/approachThe present work investigates how the two domains of Industry 4.0 and precision agriculture are connected to one another by analyzing the most used technologies in both the fields in order to highlight common patterns and technological overlaps. To reach such goal, an approach combining manual and automated analysis was developed.FindingsThe research work generated three main results: a dictionary of precision agriculture technologies including 324 terms; a graph, describing the connections between the technologies composing the dictionary; and a representation of the main technological clusters identified.Originality/valueThese show how the two domains under analysis are directly connected and describe the most important technologies to leverage when approaching digital transformation processes in the agricultural sector.

Fernandez, Melissa Anne; Desroches, Sophie; Marquis, Marie; Lebel, Alexandre; Turcotte, Mylène; Provencher, Véronique

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-11-2018-0724

The purpose of this paper is to explore associations between different food literacy dimensions and diet quality among a sample of Canadian parents and examine differences in the prevalence of food literacy items between mothers and fathers.Design/methodology/approachParents responsible for food preparation (n=767) completed an online survey including dietary intakes and 22 items across five dimensions of food literacy (knowledge, planning, cooking, food conceptualisation and social aspects). Differences between genders for each item were analysed with χ2 tests. The healthy eating index (HEI) adapted to the Canadian Food Guide (CFG) was computed from a food frequency questionnaire. Associations between HEI scores and each item were analysed with linear regression models, controlling for sociodemographic variables and multiple testing.FindingsOf parents responsible for food preparation, 81 per cent were mothers. The mean HEI score was 76.6 (SD: 10.6) and mothers reported healthier diets in comparison to fathers (p=0.01). More mothers than fathers used CFG recommendations, selected foods based on nutrition labels, made soups, stews, muffins and cakes from scratch and added fruits and vegetables to recipes (p<0.05). More fathers reduced the salt content of recipes than mothers (p=0.03). Two knowledge items and seven food conceptualisation items were significantly associated with better HEI, after controlling for covariates and multiple testing. Planning items, cooking skills and social aspects were not significantly associated with HEI.Originality/valueThis study investigates multiple dimensions of food literacy and identifies knowledge and food conceptualisation as potential targets for future interventions involving parents responsible for household meal preparation. This study highlights the importance of considering gender differences in food literacy.

Oliveira, Gustavo Magalhães de; Cunha, Christiano França da; Caleman, Silvia Morales De Queiroz; Maia, Roberta Luiza Gomes

2019 British Food Journal

doi: 10.1108/bfj-01-2019-0041

The purpose of this paper is to investigate information asymmetry in cattle supply transaction in Brazil. While the literature traditionally explores the seller’s information asymmetry advantages, the authors, in turn, draw attention to buyer’s role. This paper aims to show what farmer characteristics present negative correlation with slaughterhouses’ information asymmetry advantages. By slaughterhouses’ advantages, the authors refer to slaughterhouses’ opportunistic appropriation of value due to hidden information, such as quality measurement and remuneration of difficult-to-measure attributes. In doing so, this paper addresses the following research question: what are the farmer’s characteristics with negative correlation with slaughterhouses’ information asymmetry advantages?Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs a logit model regression on a survey of 89 Brazilian cattle breeders. Drawing on transaction cost economics, this study empirically evaluates farmers’ technology level, level of education, family tradition, farm size and efforts to collect price information, to test which of these characteristics present negative correlation with slaughterhouses’ information asymmetry advantages.FindingsThe results illustrate that the cattle breeders’ level of education is negatively correlated with buyers’ information asymmetry advantages. Additionally, the authors find a controversial result presenting efforts to collect price information as positively correlated with this kind of information asymmetry advantages. Farmer’s farm size, family tradition and the level of technology were not influential. These findings suggest that a possible value appropriation from buyers’ information asymmetry is a problem for several types of producers, even varying size, family tradition in the activity or transaction costs to collect price information (e.g. lack of transparency). Initiatives should try to reduce this problem to these farmers to avoid value appropriation resulting from information asymmetry problems, especially in the lack of transparency.Originality/valueThis paper adopts a survey about information asymmetry in cattle supply transactions in Brazil, which is well known as one of the most relevant producer and consumer of meat. The main contribution is to shed light on the understanding of buyers’ information asymmetry advantages in farmer-slaughterhouse transactions to avoid potential conflicts. Given some singularities of the Brazilian cattle industry, the authors can empirically test buyers’, not sellers’, information asymmetry advantages.