Public Say Food Regulatory Policies to Improve Health in Western Australia Are Important: Population Survey Results

Objective: To investigate the level of support among Western Australian adults for food control policies to improve diet, reduce obesity and protect the environment. Methods: Attitudes towards government food control policies on food labelling, food advertising, and the supply of environmentally friendly food data were pooled from two Nutrition Monitoring Survey Series telephone surveys of 2,147 adults aged 18–64 years collected in 2009 and 2012. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted using survey module of STATA 12.Results: The majority of adults believe it is important that government regulates food policy options under consideration: nutrition information on food labels (97% versus 2% who think it is not important);health rating on food labels (95% versus 3%); food advertising (83% versus 11%); and the supply of environmentally friendly food (86% versus 9%).Conclusions: Community perception is that government control or regulation of food labelling, food advertising and the supply of environmentally friendly food is important. Implications: Curbing excess weight gain and related disease burden is a public health priority. Australian governments are considering food regulatory interventions to assist the public to improve their dietary intake. These findings should provide reassurance to government officials considering these regulatory measures

Controlling occupational cancers in Australia

Lin Fritschi, Renae C Fernandez, Deborah A Vallance, Terry J Slevin, Alison Reid, Timothy R Driscoll, Deborah C Glas

Public expectations of critical infrastructure operators in times of crisis

Maintaining a minimum level of service and recovering quickly after a shock are key components of critical infrastructure (CI) resilience. Nevertheless, recent literature indicates that there is an ‘expectation gap’ in relation to the services CI operators should provide to members of the public in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. However, few of these studies have empirically investigated what members of the public expect. As such, this paper explores this under-researched area by drawing on key themes that emerged from a literature review, results from an online questionnaire-based study (N = 403), and analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews with CI operators and other relevant stakeholders. Results indicate that the public appear willing to tolerate reductions in service during crisis. The public also expect CI operators to keep them informed about progress to restore these services and answer direct queries via both traditional and social media. Based on these findings, resilience recommendations are presented

The link between dietary glycemic index and nutrient adequacy

BACKGROUND: Low-glycemic index (low-GI) diets may be less nutritious because of limited food choices. Alternately, high-GI diets could be less healthful because of a higher intake of refined carbohydrate. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to investigate the association between dietary GI, intakes of carbohydrates from high-GI (CHO(high GI)) and low-GI (CHO(low GI)) sources, and the risk of nutrient inadequacy in children and adolescents. DESIGN: Children, aged 2-16 y, who provided 2 plausible 24-h recalls in a national survey were included (n = 4140). The ORs of not meeting the Australian Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) were calculated by logistic regression. RESULTS: Subjects with higher intakes of CHO(high GI) were found to be at risk of not meeting the NRVs for a wide range of nutrients, including calcium and iodine (both P-trend \u3c 0.001). In comparison with subjects in the lowest quartile of CHO(high GI), those in the highest quartile had 3 times (adjusted OR: 3.13; 95% CI: 2.47, 3.97; P-trend \u3c 0.001) the risk of not meeting the Estimated Average Requirement for calcium. For iodine, the risk increased \u3e5-fold (adjusted OR: 5.45; 95% CI: 3.97, 7.48; P-trend \u3c 0.001). On the other hand, subjects with higher intakes of CHO(low GI) were less likely to meet Adequate Intakes of unsaturated fatty acids (all P-trend \u3c 0.001), despite having lower risks of not meeting the NRVs for most nutrients. CONCLUSION: Children and adolescents who consume more CHO(low GI) are more likely to meet most nutrient recommendations than those consuming higher GI diets

Managing international trade of food products: A survey of German and Australian companies

The major obstacles encountered in the management of international marketing are higher transaction costs and risks relative to home market business activities. More specifically, for food products there are six main problem areas, which arise from the literature: (1) education and training of export staff (including foreign language skills and knowledge of foreign business partners' mentality); (2) trade fair activities; (3) special food product logistics and marketing problems; (4) trade terms, export documentation and billing, and foreign exchange risk management; (5) provision of foreign market information; and (6) government assistance. Results from a questionnaire-based survey of companies from Germany and Australia engaging in exporting and|or importing of food products suggest that staff education|training and logistics are the most important factors affecting success in international markets. Implications of this study are that agribusinesses must give special attention to staff recruitment and training and to the mastering of food product logistics if they want to compete successfully internationally. [EconLit citations: F140, Q130, Q170]. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 20: 61-80, 2004.