This paper quantifies output from 11 annual conferences held by the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) in the period 2010–2020 on a range of themes in food science/technology, innovation, sustainability, valorisation, food safety, food and health, food properties, consumer aspects and related areas. Summaries of the 11 conferences have been published in a series of 11 reports published in Trends in Food Science and Technology. Collated outputs from the 11 conferences were 283 plenary/keynote lectures, 982 theme lectures, 3196 posters and 4710 attendees. This represents a very large dissemination effort by any standard and augers well for the status of food science and technology in Europe and also more globally. Special sessions are a feature of recent EFFoST conferences, consisting of discussion platforms/forums with chairpersons and ‘hot topics’ for debate. Two examples are (i) the OLEUM project which aims to better guarantee olive oil quality and authenticity, and (ii) the valorisation of side streams. Foremost among special sessions are those for young scientists. The Young EFFoST Day provides opportunity for young food professionals to expand their competencies and networking in food science. It is a day for young scientists managed by young scientists. Networking between conference attendees at posters sessions, coffee and lunch breaks is a key part of each conference, which facilitates information exchange and the framing of new collaborative projects.
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With contributions from over 30 international legal scholars, this topical Research Handbook on International Food Law provides a reflective and crucial examination of the rules, power dynamics, legal doctrines, societal norms, and frameworks that govern the modern global food system. The Research Handbook analyses the interlinkages between producers and consumers of food, as well as the environmental effects of the global food network and the repercussions on human health. Chapters explore the development of food law and governance strategies, the regulation of novel foods, including insects, and the application of technology and science in food production, such as genetically engineered food. The insightful contributions examine the legal challenges facing the global food system and suggest practical recommendations for future research and reform. Providing a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on the complex legal landscape of food production and consumption, this Research Handbook will be essential reading for students and scholars of food law, consumer law, public international law, and regulation and governance, as well as food system advocates, international lawyers, and policymakers.
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This publication follows and analysis the proces in the region Westerkwartier in the Netherlands in their effort to built a whole new regionale food chain. In this report there is a remarkeble role for the knowledge instutions on vocational and applied level.
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This paper provides a management perspective of organisational factors that contributes to the reduction of food waste through the application of design science principles to explore causal relationships between food distribution (organisational) and consumption (societal) factors. Qualitative data were collected with an organisational perspective from commercial food consumers along with large-scale food importers, distributors, and retailers. Cause-effect models are built and “what-if” simulations are conducted through the development and application of a Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) approaches to elucidate dynamic interrelationships. The simulation models developed provide a practical insight into existing and emergent food losses scenarios, suggesting the need for big data sets to allow for generalizable findings to be extrapolated from a more detailed quantitative exercise. This research offers itself as evidence to support policy makers in the development of policies that facilitate interventions to reduce food losses. It also contributes to the literature through sustaining, impacting and potentially improving levels of food security, underpinned by empirically constructed policy models that identify potential behavioural changes. It is the extension of these simulation models set against a backdrop of a proposed big data framework for food security, where this study sets avenues for future research for others to design and construct big data research in food supply chains. This research has therefore sought to provide policymakers with a means to evaluate new and existing policies, whilst also offering a practical basis through which food chains can be made more resilient through the consideration of management practices and policy decisions.
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Moral food lab: Transforming the food system with crowd-sourced ethics
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Final report of the Evidence-based Food System Design project (EFSD). This research project aimed at building a data-driven mapping of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Food System, as an evidence base for vision and scenario development, policymaking and other initiatives aimed at transitioning to a more sustainable regional food system.
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This study theorizes on the sociomateriality of food in authority-building processes of partial organizations by exploring alternative food networks (AFNs). Through the construction of arenas for food provisioning, AFNs represent grassroots collectives that deliberately differentiate their practices from mainstream forms of food provisioning. Based on a sequential mixed-methods analysis of 24 AFNs, where an inductive chronological analysis is followed by a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), we found that the entanglements between participants’ food provisioning practices and food itself shape how authority emerges in AFNs. Food generates biological, physiological and social struggles for AFN participants who, in turn, respond by embracing or avoiding them. As an outcome, most AFNs tend to bureaucratize over time according to four identified patterns while a few idiosyncratically build a more shared basis of authority. We conclude that the sociomateriality of food plays an important yet indirect role in understanding why and how food provisioning arenas re-organize and forge their forms of authority over time. Pascucci, S., Dentoni, D., Clements, J., Poldner, K., & Gartner, W. B. (2021). Forging Forms of Authority through the Sociomateriality of Food in Partial Organizations. Organization Studies, 42(2), 301-326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840620980232
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Purpose: Food waste occurs in every stage of the supply chain, but the value-added lost to waste is the highest when consumers waste food. The purpose of this paper is to understand the food waste behaviour of consumers to support policies for minimising food waste. Design/methodology/approach: Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a theoretical lens, the authors design a questionnaire that incorporates contextual factors to explain food waste behaviour. The authors test two models: base (four constructs of TPB) and extended (four constructs of TPB plus six contextual factors). The authors build partial least squares structural equation models to test the hypotheses. Findings: The data confirm significant relationships between food waste and contextual factors such as motives, financial attitudes, planning routines, food surplus, social relationships and Ramadan. Research limitations/implications: The data comes from an agriculturally resource-constrained country: Qatar. Practical implications: Food waste originating from various causes means more food should flow through the supply chains to reach consumers’ homes. Contextual factors identified in this work increase the explanatory power of the base model by 75 per cent. Social implications: Changing eating habits during certain periods of the year and food surplus have a strong impact on food waste behaviour. Originality/value: A country is considered to be food secure if it can provide its citizens with stable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The findings and conclusions inform and impact upon the development of food waste and food security policies.
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Citizens living in food poverty can easily get caught up in a vicious cycle. Socio-economically disadvantaged people often rely on food assistance and are more likely to suffer from diseases caused by unhealthy diets, such as diabetes. They may also experience isolation and lack social networks, as they do not have the financial means to participate in social life. Moreover, this group is often overlooked in decision-making processes regarding healthy and sustainable food environments. To create equitable food environments in urban areas, it is crucial to incorporate the everyday challenges and needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged people. In our collaborative research, we explore the needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged people regarding a healthy and sustainable diet in Switzerland and the Netherlands. The aim is also to develop, in a participatory way, ideas on how to create more socially just and inclusive food environments.Keywords: food poverty, food environments, social participation, participatory action research
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The transition towards a sustainable and healthy food system is one of the major sustainability challenges of today, next to the energy transition and the transition from a linear to circular economy. This paper provides a timely and evidence-based contribution to better understand the complex processes of institutional change and transformative social-ecological innovation that takes place in the food transition, through a case study of an open innovation and food transition network in The Netherlands, the South-Holland Food Family (Zuid-Hollandse Voedselfamilie). This network is supported by the provincial government and many partners, with the ambition to realize more sustainable agricultural and food chains, offering healthy, sustainable and affordable food for everyone in the Province of South-Holland in five to ten years from now. This ambition cannot be achieved through optimising the current food system. A transition is needed – a fundamental change of the food system’s structure, culture and practice. The Province has adopted a transition approach in its 2016 Innovation Agenda for Sustainable Agriculture. This paper provides an institutional analysis of how the transition approach has been established and developed in practice. Our main research question is what interventions and actions have shaped the transition approach and how does the dynamic interplay between actors and institutional structures influence institutional change, by analysing a series of closely related action situations and their context, looking at 'structure' and 'agency', and at the output-outcomes-impact of these action situations. For this purpose, we use the Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation (TSEI)-framework to study the dynamic interplay between actors and institutional structures influencing institutional change. The example of TSEI-framework application in this paper shows when and how local agents change the institutional context itself, which provides relevant insights on institutional work and the mutually constitutive nature of structure and agency. Above institutional analysis also shows the pivotal role of a number of actors, such as network facilitators and provincial minister, and their capability and skills to combine formal and informal institutional environments and logics and mobilize resources, thereby legitimizing and supporting the change effort. The results are indicative of the importance of institutional structures as both facilitating (i.e., the province’s policies) and limiting (e.g. land ownership) transition dynamics.
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