Apollo experience report: Food systems

Development, delivery, and use of food systems in support of the Apollo 7 to 14 missions are discussed. Changes in design criteria for this unique program as mission requirements varied are traced from the baseline system that was established before the completion of the Gemini Program. Problems and progress in subsystem management, material selection, food packaging, development of new food items, menu design, and food-consumption methods under zero-gravity conditions are described. The effectiveness of various approaches in meeting food system objectives of providing flight crews with safe, nutritious, easy to prepare, and highly acceptable foods is considered. Nutritional quality and adequacy in maintaining crew health are discussed in relation to the establishment of nutritional criteria for future missions. Technological advances that have resulted from the design of separate food systems for the command module, the lunar module, The Mobile Quarantine Facility, and the Lunar Receiving Laboratory are presented for application to future manned spacecraft and to unique populations in earthbound situations

Food-specific decentering experiences are associated with reduced food cravings in meditators: a preliminary investigation

This study examined the association of food-specific decentering experiences with food cravings in a sample of meditators. Decentering refers to viewing one’s thoughts as transient mental events and thus experiencing them as less subjectively real. This process has been suggested to be a key mechanism underlying the effects of mindfulness and many contemplative practices. Although most earlier studies have focused on the effects of decentering with regard to negative affect, some studies have shown that brief inductions of decentering among non-meditators reduce food cravings as well as unhealthy food choices. Here, we report a preliminary investigation of whether the food-specific decentering experiences that meditators have in daily life are associated with fewer food cravings. A small sample of meditators (N = 33, female = 15) answered a number of questions about decentering experiences with regard to thoughts about food, and they completed the short version of the Food Cravings Questionnaire–Trait and a measure of meditation experience. Results confirmed that both more meditation experience and more food-specific decentering experiences were associated with fewer food cravings in daily life. In addition, results suggested that when participants had stronger decentering experiences, they experienced fewer food cravings, regardless of their level of meditation experience. Exploratory analyses further revealed that decentering was more strongly associated with reduced cravings in women than in men. These preliminary findings suggest that food-specific decentering experiences indeed help meditators deal with food desires, and thus extend the evidence for decentering effects into the domain of reward. Future research might investigate this in larger samples, validate a food-specific measure of decentering, and consider the broader implications of decentering experiences in daily life

Food as Experience A Design and Evaluation Methodology

This research, conducted for Frito Lay-North America, Inc, demonstrates how new product designs, package designs, concepts, and prototypes can be created based on the social, emotional, cognitive, and sensory information gathered through a combined methodology based on activity theory, Kansei Engineering and the ZMET process. The study examines how activity theory can be used to observe situational settings mediated by products for the purpose of collecting significant social and behavioral data. It also examines how Kansei methods can be used to evaluate sensory experiences and how the ZMET process can be used to gather demographic and marketing data. The outcome of this research concludes that activity theory, Kansei engineering, and ZMET are each useful, however, none of these methods used in isolation are sufficient to inform all aspects of marketing, new product development, and package design decisions. However, as a combined design and evaluation methodology they can provide more useful data for these processes. Keywords: Experience Design, Kansei Assessment, Food, Activity Theory</p

A Measure for Ending Hunger in the United States

Hunger is a persistent problem in the United States. In 1999, three percent of U.S. households (more than 7.5 million people) were food insecure with hunger.2(p7) An additional seven percent of households (more than 23 million people) were food insecure without hunger. In all, 31 million Americans, including 12 million children, did not have enough food to meet their basic needs.In response, PARTNERS IN ENDING HUNGER (a grass-roots organization with over 17 years of experience) has declared itself an organization accountable for providing communities with the tools and training necessary to create and implement effective action plans for ending hunger (see Appendix A). Two essential tools for this work are: (1) a direct and accurate way to measure hunger in a community and (2) criteria that define when hunger has ended.The hunger measure PARTNERS has chosen is the U.S. Household Food Security Measure. It is a survey instrument and severity scale developed under the joint leadership of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS). It has been used to measure the extent of hunger at national and state levels since 1995 and was specifically designed to be used at the local level as well.Building on distinctions and definitions presented in the U.S. Household Food Security Measure, PARTNERS has established criteria that define when hunger in a community has ended. According to PARTNERS' criteria, a community has ended hunger when, for two consecutive years, the results of the U.S. Household Food Security Measure show that none of the community's households have members who experience hunger and four percent or fewer of the community's households experience food insecurity. PARTNERS asserts that when communities meet these criteria and sustain these results over time, they have ended the persistence of hunger. These communities will then serve as models and catalysts for other communities to do the same

Pupils’ Conception of Organic Foods and Healthy Eating in School. Qualitative insights from focus group interviews with 5th and 7th grade pupils in a Copenhagen elementary school

Adult habits, including unhealthy eating patterns, are largely established during a person´s childhood and early youth. In this connection, public schools are important health promoting platforms due to their potential for encouraging interest, knowledge and learning about health related issues. The main aim of the study was to shed light on primary and lower secondary school pupils´ everyday experience with food, nutrition, ecology and health in connection to public organic school food, using the municipality of Copenhagen as a case. We have examined how a procurement and provision strategy that primarily originates from “backstage agents” such as engaged politicians and civil servants and governed by administrative priorities, is perceived among agents at the front stage arena - the school. Furthermore we have investigated to which degree the pupils experience a connection between the “organicness” of the food program and the underlying organic supply chain principles, and to which degree the pupils experience a connection between the “organicness” of the food program and classroom initiatives in subjects related to ecology and health. In February 2008, we approached a public school which proved willing to participate in our study. Subsequently, over a period of four weeks, we designed an interview guide used to conduct focus group interviews with pupils from grades 5 and 7, which were then transcribed. In general, pupils were very interested in ecology as a subject. However it seems that they do not see a very strong connection between the healthy, organic meals offered at school and class room activities related to health and ecology. The pupils did not feel that they had been involved in the decision to establish organic and healthy food procurement. As a result they held that they did not feel very committed or engaged in the school provision initiative, and the organic and healthy food procurement was not highly sought after on the part of the pupils. This appears to justify a distinction between the perspective that front stage actors have, including pupils, and the perspective of politicians and planners that operate back stage. The distance between these two stages, which tends to increase in large scale municipal school food systems, is an important challenge to address when planning school food interventions. There seems to be a potential for linking organic school food service more closely with curricular activities, and for linking issues of healthier eating and organic food supply. There is also a need for greater involvement of the pupils and other front stage actors when the food service system and food related curricular activities are planned

Technical Capacity, Policymaking and Food Standards: An Overview of Indian Experience

The SPS Agreement in the WTO gives legal validity to the CODEX\ud standards. Since the developed countries have been at the forefront of\ud setting the food standards in the CODEX, the developing countries have\ud been increasingly engaged in the CODEX, and also in the WTO, with an\ud objective to increase their exports of the agricultural and food products.\ud But such objective and desire have often been stymied by the lack of\ud institutions which can sustain the intense technical negotiations at the\ud CODEX. If these participations are not qualitatively satisfactory, the very\ud objective of such participations is not fulfilled. But since most of the\ud developing countries are lacking in such high technical capacity, they are\ud unable to influence or qualitatively shape the negotiations in the CODEX.\ud This also impacts their exports of agricultural and food products.\ud India has been an active member of the WTO. But whether it has been\ud able to influence or respond to the play of events internationally and\ud concomitantly balance it with the domestic imperatives that are embedded\ud in the international legal and technological regimes, institutional capacity\ud constraints and other social issues. This paper examines such issues, and\ud also examines some bilateral trade agreements which demonstrate the\ud mounting pressure on the developing countries to conform to the food\ud standards of the developed countries

Tackling Household Food Insecurity: The Experience of Vietnam

This paper is a systematic review of the facts and figures related to the issues of food security in Vietnam. Based on a comprehensive definition of food security as “access by all people at all times to enough, nutritionally adequate, and safe food for an active and health life†(Kennedy 2002), it describes and analyzes food security in connection with poverty or macro policies, in order to identify and understand thoroughly the problems related to food security. It shows that poor households are, per se, food-insecure, and that policies which target rapid economic growth using a socioeconomic approach help alleviate poverty and food insecurity. Its findings mainly confirm that household food security─specifically issues concerning food safety, availability, access, adequacy, and vulnerability ─ is still a vital concern in Vietnam.

Nutrition in Early Childcare Programs: The Benefits and Barriers

Introduction: 1 in 5 Vermont children experience food insecurity. Inadequate nutrition threatens cognitive, social, and emotional development in the first years of life. 49.1% of Vermont children arrive at kindergarten underprepared. It has been shown that undernourished children have reduced activity levels and withdraw from their environment, removing them from critical learning opportunities and social interactions. Supporting the provision of healthy food in early childcare programs may help address the issue of food insecurity and promote healthy childhood development. Currently, there are no existing data on both Vermont childcare providers and parents of these children on their perceptions of the importance of providing food in early childcare programs as well as the associated benefits and barriers to do so.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1228/thumbnail.jp

Food prices and inflation in emerging markets

The experience of the past decade illustrates the sensitivity of inflation in emerging markets to rapidly rising food prices.Inflation (Finance) ; Food prices ; Emerging markets

The inflation experience of older households

Recent increases in inflation have been accompanied by concerns over the extent to which official figures match the 'true' household experience of inflation. Rapid increases in the prices of household fuel, petrol and diesel and, more recently, of food have brought considerable attention to the fact that inflation will be different for different households according to their expenditure patterns. Any measure of inflation, such as the Retail Prices Index (RPI) or Consumer Prices Index (CPI), is necessarily only an average of the experience of different households and may not be especially representative of what is happening for any household in particular. Using data from the Expenditure and Food Survey, this Commentary looks at the inflation experience (based on the RPI) for different groups of households, examining how the average inflation rate they face has varied over time and making comparisons across the groups, focusing in particular on pensioner households