Search results for "Food processing"
showing 10 items of 164 documents
Consumers' perceptions of sustainably produced food: a focus group study
2009
The purpose of this study is to provide information on consumers' perceptions of sustainably produced food products and the main product attributes that influence consumers' buying behaviour in the case of organic, Fair Trade and locally produced food. The paper draws on data from four focus groups. The results provide empirical insight into the motivating as well as the restricting factors that influence consumers' purchasing behaviour in the case of sustainably produced food and introduce the emerging key themes associated with the attributes of sustainably produced food products.
Innovation and networks in rural areas. An analysis from European innovative projects
2014
Abstract Innovation is a central factor for the development of rural areas, both in terms of diversification and increased competitiveness, also related to new structures of governance. The creation, adoption or adaptation of innovations is particularly complex, requiring the right combination of local knowledge (often tacit and implicit) with expert knowledge (often more explicit and formalised), as well as the support of extensive networks. This paper analyses a number of innovation projects in several European rural areas, through the data collected via in-depth interviews. It examines the projects' contributions and the role played by stakeholders in each stage of the projects. On the o…
Innovation Capabilities in Small Catching-Up Economies: Evidence from Food Production and Tourism Sector SMEs
2011
This chapter presents the results of the study of the innovation capabilities of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Estonia, Latvia and two catching-up regions in Poland and Germany. We distinguished between various capabilities, such as a company’s basic assets (e.g., human, technological, and financial resources) and competencies (e.g., available knowledge and skills, and the ability of the company to use its basic assets and develop an innovation-facilitating culture), and aimed to identify their relationship with the company’s past and planned innovations and performance, and to compare results across countries. We interviewed 245 top managers from SMEs involved in tourism (m…
Early detection of contamination and defect in foodstuffs by electronic nose: A review
2017
Abstract Electronic nose (e-nose) has emerged as a potential instrument in various areas of food safety assessment for rapid early detection of contamination and defect in food production chain. E-nose is an innovative measurement system designed for detecting and discriminating complex odors through mimicking the working mechanism and the principal building blocks of the mammalian olfactory system. This paper describes a literature update of the applications of the e-nose for ensuring health and safety in the food industry. Finally, its future trend, perspectives and challenging problem are also mentioned.
Analysis of enniatins and beauvericin by LC-MS/MS in wheat-based products
2017
Due to the matrix complexity for wheat-based products, a comparative study of different rapid extraction procedures was performed for the extraction of enniatins (ENA, ENA1, ENB, ENB1) and beauvericin in flour, pasta, breakfast cereals, and biscuits. Three different approaches were studied during the extraction and purification steps (shaker, Ultra-Turrax, and QuEChERS) for each matrix. Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with electrospray source working in a positive mode was used. For the analysis of the five mycotoxins, the three methods were tested in terms of recovery, matrix effect, and sensibility, concluding that Ultra-Turrax extraction was the most …
Bibliometric insights into the spectroscopy research field: A food science and technology case study
2019
The food industry is in need of analytical solutions to maintain high quality and safety standards during the entire food production chain. Spectroscopy applications are targeted as a major solution due to its cost-effective, simple, efficient and multiparametric nature. Bibliometric studies provide a critical evaluation of the status of a research topic through the quantification of measurable outcomes of research activity. The main aim of this study was to use a bibliometric approach to the evaluation of the current status of the spectroscopy research applied to food science and technology. The critical evaluation of the results showed the most commonly used spectroscopy applications as w…
Life cycle assessment of Italian citrus-based products. Sensitivity analysis and improvement scenarios
2009
Though many studies concern the agro-food sector in the EU and Italy, and its environmental impacts, literature is quite lacking in works regarding LCA application on citrus products. This paper represents one of the first studies on the environmental impacts of citrus products in order to suggest feasible strategies and actions to improve their environmental performance. In particular, it is part of a research aimed to estimate environmental burdens associated with the production of the following citrus-based products: essential oil, natural juice and concentrated juice from oranges and lemons. The life cycle assessment of these products, published in a previous paper, had highlighted sign…
Low-Intensity Ultrasounds
2012
Ultrasonics, showing increasing use in the food industry for both the analysis and modification of food products, is a rapidly growing field of research. The sound ranges employed can be divided into high-frequency, low-energy diagnostic ultrasounds and low-frequency, high-energy power ultrasounds. The former is usually used as a nondestructive, rapid, easy-to-automate, and relatively inexpensive analytical technique for quality assurance and process control with particular reference to physicochemical properties, such as composition, structure, and physical state of foods. Nowadays, power ultrasound is considered to be an emerging and promising technology for industrial food processing. Th…
Sicilian potential biogas production
2013
This study is aimed at predicting the Sicilian potential biogas production, using the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), animal manure and food industry by-products, in a region where only one biogas plant using MSW and one co-digestion plant are nowadays available. The statistical data about OFMSW, the number of animals bred in medium and large farms and the amounts of by-products of food processing industries were evaluated, in order to compute the Sicilian potential biogas and energy production. The OFMSW produced in Sicily, that is 0.8 million tons ca. per year (37% of MSW), could be used in a bio-reactor, together with other raw materials, for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) p…
Fusaproliferin, beauvericin and enniatins: occurrence in food – a review
2012
The present review summarises data on the prevalence and concentration of fusaproliferin, beauvericin and enniatins in small grains, maize and processed grain-based foods. These fungal secondary metabolites possess interesting biological activities and are presently often referred to as 'emerging mycotoxins'. They have been considered as less important since they are likely not of acute toxicity. However, their high prevalence in foodstuffs, occasionally in higher mg/kg concentrations, warrants an assessment of their true importance for food (and feed) safety. Thorough surveys that determine the contamination of raw and processed foods with fusaproliferin, beauvericin and enniatins are sti…