Customer knowledge and behavior on the use of food refrigerated display cabinets: A Portuguese case

This article presents a study on customer knowledge and habits regarding the use of refrigerated display cabinets (RDC). The study was carried out on a sample of Portuguese retail stores’ customers, using a questionnaire survey available through an Internet platform. The sample consisted of 136 individuals, who voluntarily participated in the study. Questions included the characterization of the sociodemographic population involved. The questionnaire included different questions to related with RDC, namely customer knowledge about the appearance of each RDC equipment, questions to evaluate the respondents’ perception about the advantages and disadvantages related to open or glass-door closed RDC, questions to assess the participants’ habits and behavior when purchasing food products from glass-door closed RDC (frequency and duration of door open), questions to characterize the consumers’ habits on purchasing food products from RDC, and also questions to characterize the consumers’ shopping attitudes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. The results seem to indicate that customers prefer closed RDC; for example, 61.8% of participants prefer products preserved in glass-door closed RDC, against 6.6% that admit to preferring products preserved in open RDC. Therefore, we can deduce that the existence of doors does not appear to be an obstacle to purchasing food products. Regarding the use of glass-door closed RDC, 80.1% of the participants say they just open the door once, and 53.7% of the costumers believe they keep the door open in the interval [4‒6 s]. This indicates that Portuguese customers are quite well informed about food safety issues and seem to follow assertive attitudes when purchasing food products from RDC. This study reinforces the benefits of replacing open RDC by closed glass-doors allowing significant energy savings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development and validation of a multivariable prediction model of spontaneous preterm delivery and microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in women with preterm labor

BACKGROUND: Early spontaneous preterm delivery is often associ- ated with microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity and/or intraamniotic inflammation. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to develop and validate clinically feasible multivariable prediction models of spontaneous delivery within 7 days and microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in women admitted with diagnose of preterm labor and intact membranes below 34 weeks. STUDY DESIGN: We used data from a cohort of women admitted from 2012 to 2018 with diagnosis of preterm labor below 34 weeks who had undergone amniocentesis to rule out microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity. The main outcome was spontaneous delivery within 7 days from admission. The secondary outcome was microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity, defined by a positive culture and/or 16S ribosomal RNA gene in the amniotic fluid. The sample (n 1⁄4 358) was divided into derivation (2012e2016) and validation cohorts (2017e2018). Logistic regression models using a stepwise selection of variables were developed for the outcomes evaluated. We explored as predictive variables ultrasound cervical length measurement at admission, maternal C-reactive protein, gestational age, amniotic fluid glucose, and interleukin-6 (expressed as log units). Models were developed in the derivation cohort and applied to the validation cohort and diagnostic performance was calculated. RESULTS: The derivation cohort included 263 women and the valida- tion cohort 95 women. One hundred five of the women (39%, 105 of 268) spontaneously delivered in the following 7 days and 68 (19%, 68 of 358) had microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity. For spontaneous delivery within 7 days after admission, 4 predictors were identified: cervical length at admission, gestational age, amniotic fluid glucose, and interleukin-6. The diagnostic performance of the model was assessed in the validation cohort using the receiver operating characteristic curve and showed an area under curve of 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.77e0.95) with a detection rate of spontaneous delivery within 7 days of 87%, a false- positive rate of 33%, a negative predictive value of 80%, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.1908. For microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity, 2 independent predictors of the amniotic cavity were identified: amniotic fluid glucose and maternal C-reactive protein. The receiver operating characteristic curve and an area under curve in the validation cohort was 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.70e0.96) with a detection rate of 76%, a false-positive rate of 8%, a negative predictive value of 93%, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.2591. CONCLUSION: In women with preterm labor, we propose 2 clinically feasible prediction models to classify as low vs high risk of spontaneous delivery within 7 days and of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity. The models showed a high diagnostic performance and could be of value to optimize clinical management

Habits of portuguese consumers on the acquisition and consumption of chilled and frozen food products

The consumption of cold-chain products, such as dairy, meat, fish, fresh juices and vegetables, ready to eat meals or desserts, is very meaningful in the context of the whole food supply chain since these products are pivotal in most western households. The consumption of cold-chain products in Portugal is still unexplored. Hence, this work aimed to carry out a questionnaire survey to characterize the Portuguese consumers' habits on the acquisition of fresh, refrigerated and frozen food products. Also, the buying frequency of different types of refrigerated food products was investigated, as well as the buying in different food retail stores: local convenience neighbourhood stores, small/medium supermarkets or large retail stores. The data was collected between 20th of June and 6th of July 2020, using an internet platform. The sample size consisted of 136 individuals, all adult citizens, who voluntarily answer the questionnaire. The result showed that Portuguese consumers purchase refrigerated and frozen foods mostly in shopping centre supermarkets or small/medium supermarkets. The neighbourhood stores or outdoor markets are rarely used to purchase this type of product. Regarding refrigerated products, Portuguese consumers buy them mostly every week in case of dairy products (59.4%), charcuteries (42.3%), fresh fish (52.9%) and meat (54.7%) and also fresh vegetables - IV gamma products (51.4%). The refrigerated pre-prepared meals are purchased very rarely (44.9%) or not at all. In Portugal, due to the influences of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, there is a tradition of eating fish daily. Concerning the frozen food products, the frequency of purchasing is lower as compared with refrigerated foods, being a monthly frequency for most types of products. It was also observed that Portuguese consumers demonstrate preferences for fresh products instead of refrigerated or frozen ones when it comes to their nutritional and textural quality (94.2%), but prefer the later when it comes to their conservation capacity and longer shelf-life (53.2%). Some recognize that canned foods offer some advantages, particularly related to the convenience of storage (35.0%), shelf-life (37.7%) or reduced storage costs (33.1%). Finally, these results indicate a great level of confidence of Portuguese consumers in the refrigerated (87.5%) and frozen (83.8%) foods stored in supermarket's display cabinetsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio