387 research outputs found
Food waste in Italian households during the Covid-19 pandemic: a self-reporting approach
Food waste prevention and reduction are an economic, social and environmental concern included among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The third target under SDG 12 (Target 12.3) on Responsible Production and Consumption aims to halve food waste by 2030 at retail and consumer levels, considering that more than half of its quantity is generated by final consumers, both indoor and outdoor. However, the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak at the beginning of 2020 imposed several food consumption behaviors and lifestyle changes: food service facilities (e.g., restaurants, pubs, cafĂ©s, hotels, resorts) have been closed roughly all over the world, generating a sharp domestic consumption and an expected increase in household waste. The authors conducted an explorative research through the food diary approach. The purpose of this paper is to have a better understanding of household food consumption and wastage trends during Covid-19 pandemic testing, as well as food diary methodology strengths and weaknesses. Food diaries, even with their intrinsic limitations and biases, represent a valuable technique to obtain detailed qualitative and quantitative knowledge on daily food consumption and consumersâ behavior. Through the limited but significant results achieved, the authors highlight the logistics of the methodology and the food waste generation trends among a small sample of Italian families during the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, healthier workâlife balances, adequate time management and smart food delivery seem to be good opportunities for food waste reduction in households
Food waste measurement toward a fair, healthy and environmental-friendly food system: a critical review
PurposeâGiven the importance of food waste in the economic, social, health and environmental dimensions,the purpose of this work is to detect, through a systematic and configurative literature review on food-waste-measurement methodologies, the global approaches, characteristics, limitations, opportunities and resultsapplied within the literature. The analysis of these papers provides useful information about how far we arefrom international action plans and, therefore, how we need to direct programs and policies to measure andreduce food waste and ensure food security and food safety.
Design/methodology/approachâThe authors have conducted a systematic, configurative literature reviewon food waste measurement methodologies applied only within empirical studies published in academic peer-reviewed scientific journals. Based on the Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 of May 3, 2019(OJEU, 2019) regarding common methodologies and minimum quality requirements for the homogeneousassessment of food waste quantities and composition, the authors investigated the issue on Web of ScienceCore Collection (WoS) from June 2000 to June 2020. The authors researched keywords within article titles,abstracts and author keywords by utilizing 34 different research strings.
FindingsâThe proposed review particularly refers to following topics: measurement methodologies appliedaccording to the Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597; editorial placement and publication timeline;geographical area; food supply-chain stage and publication journals; and the main features, limitations,opportunities and results for each measurement methodology as presented by authors. Among the first 48,000results, only 58 academic articles are perfectly in line with the aim of the review, highlighting the lack ofstandardized methodologies, the limits of those proposed and the deficiency of comparable results to achievesustainable international goals.
Originality/valueâThe proposed review is one of the few concerning food waste measurementmethodologies. Food waste measurement is essential to rebalance the actual inadequate food system and toswitch it toward a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly one, thereby (1) managing the human nutritionsystem paradox of hungry, undernourished and over-weight people; (2) reducing food insecurity; (3) ensuringeach living beingâs access to healthy, nutritious and sustainable food; and (4) reducing environmental impacts(neutral or positive impact) and the loss of biodiversity and mitigating climate change
Hidden flows assessment in the agri-food sector: Evidence from the Italian beef system
Purpose â The study proposes Material Flow Analysis (MFA) methodology as a tool to measure and qualify
food waste in the Italian beef supply chain in each stage of the food supply chain, from farm to fork. In
particular, the authors attempt to: (1) measure resources consumption and waste generation toward companiesâ
and policymakersâ sustainable evaluations; (2) enhance consumersâ education in the field of agri-food resilience
and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach â MFA is applied to the entire Italian sector of beef consumed as packaged
fresh product in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis regards bovine, which represent roughly
one-third of the national meat flow. To collect data, bottom-up and top-down mixed approach is applied.
Subsequently, MFA results are used to calculate the wastage-related losses in terms of embedded natural
resources (e.g. water, energy).
Findings â In 2020, it results that the Italian meat industry slaughtered more than 1.15 Mt of bovine to produce
approximately 0.29 Mt of fresh meat, 0.69 Mt of by-products and over 0.015 Mt of food waste at households,
while 0.15 Mt of beef meat is destined to catering services and food industry (out-of-boundaries). In terms of
hidden natural resources, it emerged that, on average, more than 94bn m3 of water, approximately 101,000 TJ of
energy and over 11,500 t of PET and PE trays are required to sustain the entire beef system.
Originality/value â This research is one of the few studies proposing MFA methodology as a tool to measure
food waste and hidden associated flows in the agri-food sector. This analysis shows its utility in terms of
natural resources (water, energy, materials) and waste quality/quantity evaluation, hidden flows accounting
and development of new educational strategies toward food waste minimization and sustainability at
household consumption
Halal Food Sustainability between Certification and Blockchain: A Review
Islam is the second-largest religion on a global scale. All around the world Muslims are estimated to comprise more than 1.9 billion people. Therefore, the demand for Halal commodities is expected to reach a high growth rate: thus, it is crucial to increase its global marketâs reliability and traceability. Based on these grounds, the scope of this paper is to assess Halal food sustainability, examining the barriers and opportunities offered by the certification and blockchain tools. To this purpose, the authors carried out an integrative literature review, selecting 54 contributions in the Web of Science platform. Despite several limitations, such as the lack of a standardized framework or universally accepted and reliable certifying authorities, the implementation of blockchain technology has emerged as an interesting instrument to increase the trustworthiness and traceability of Halal foods. This tool could also help the development of protocols and standard procedures, ensuring hygienic and permitted products that may boost food safety and security. Besides, the enhancement of the Halal certification and the blockchain tool, even if several efforts are required in terms of innovation and cooperation by local authorities, industrial associations and leading consumers, could enhance fair trade, ethical business, green animal breeding and environmental economics, and hence sustainable development
Cooperative Scattering by Cold Atoms
We have studied the interplay between disorder and cooperative scattering for
single scattering limit in the presence of a driving laser. Analytical results
have been derived and we have observed cooperative scattering effects in a
variety of experiments, ranging from thermal atoms in an optical dipole trap,
atoms released from a dark MOT and atoms in a BEC, consistent with our
theoretical predictions.Comment: submitted for special issue of PQE 201
How to manage and minimize food waste in the hotel industry? An exploratory research
Purpose â The hospitality industry is responsible for significant amounts of waste, more than one-third
of which is food waste. Through the comparison between an Italian and a Romanian hotel, this paper
aims to provide a better understanding of food waste management trends in the hotel industry as well
as to highlight hotel kitchens and hotel food services weaknesses and opportunities to minimize food
waste.
Design/methodology/approach â In-depth interviews, personal communication and observations were
conducted to investigate food service planning, food procurement and food waste management, as well
as to better comprehend current individualsâ understanding and attitudes, infrastructures, legislative
culture and opportunities either from the managerial and the employeesâ perspective. Data were
analyzed according to a content analysis approach.
Findings â Three critical hot spots emerged from the analysis: prediction and check of guestsâ
attendance, communication and transparency with local suppliers and among departments within the
unit and purchasing frequency and perishable food provisioning. The accurate forecasting of the number
of guests and their nationality is fundamental in avoiding food waste at food service, as well as
implementing transparency and communication with local suppliers.
Originality/value â Although academia and authorities have recognized the crucial importance of food
waste management, food waste research in the hotel industry remains under-researched. The present
exploratory research contributes to the scarce empirical studies about hotelsâ food waste, giving
theoretical and managerial recommendations for supporting further studies, highlighting the need for
formal deals between hotels and local suppliers (food procurement), as well as the importance of foodnetworks
that holds together companies, retailers and charities (food donation)
Observation of a Cooperative Radiation Force in the Presence of Disorder
Cooperative scattering of light by an extended object such as an atomic
ensemble or a dielectric sphere is fundamentally different from scattering from
many point-like scatterers such as single atoms. Homogeneous distributions tend
to scatter cooperatively, whereas fluctuations of the density distribution
increase the disorder and suppress cooperativity. In an atomic cloud, the
amount of disorder can be tuned via the optical thickness, and its role can be
studied via the radiation force exerted by the light on the atomic cloud.
Monitoring cold atoms released from a magneto-optical trap, we
present the first experimental signatures of radiation force reduction due to
cooperative scattering. The results are in agreement with an analytical
expression interpolating between the disorder and the cooperativity-dominated
regimes
Enhancing the Sustainability of the Aviation Industry: Airlinesâ Commitment to âGreenâ Practices
The aviation industry represents an important polluter, being responsible for increasing
environmental impacts on global scale. Aiming to approach the adoption of suitable policies
in the aviation industry towards the achievement of the national and international
sustainability goals, the present research tackles airlinesâ commitment to aviation-related
environmental issues, as well as their willingness to adopt sustainable aviation fuel (i.e., bio
jet fuel) and sustainable development strategies, focusing on those companies operating
flights in the Karol WojtyĆa Airport (Bari, Italy). The paper adopts the Ï2 test and the logistic
regression to investigate three different hypotheses related to airlinesâ headquarters, carriersâ
typology (i.e., low-cost or not, flag carriers or not) and years of service. Results outline that
traditional airlines, either flag carriers or not, as well as South and North American
companies, are more likely to be aware of aviation environmental consequences, publishing
environmental reports and offering to passengers the chance to participate to climate change
reduction (e.g., through online carbon offset programs or more expensive ticket to produce
bio jet fuels). In addition, airlines transiting in Karol WojtyĆa Airport show a small
willingness to share information through environmental reports and are scarcely intentioned
to make use of bio jet fuels, confirming that low-cost companies are still less attentive
towards aviation environmental issues. The present research contributes to the empirical
studies on sustainable aviation and carriersâ commitment to environmental strategies,
highlighting the need to enhance carbon offsets programs and digital technologies as the
online compensation of CO2 emissions
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