An analysis of food waste mitigation strategies in grocery retail: practices and lessons from the German market

Globally, one third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted or lost every year. This has serious economic, environmental and social consequences, namely in industrialized countries. As intermediaries between producers and consumers, food retailers such as supermarkets play a significant role in mitigating food waste. Further research is required to enable professionals to be effective in developing food waste mitigation strategies. The study's aim is to find the most effective food waste mitigation strategies in grocery retail and to develop a "Food Waste Strategy Framework" that combines knowledge from previous research with the experience of experts in Germany. In the context of qualitative content analysis, eight semi-structured interviews with food waste experts from supermarkets, food charities and other organizations in the German grocery retail sector were conducted. Data was coded and analyzed with a deductive-inductive approach. Results reveal five internal and five external causes driving food waste, plus sixteen strategy areas with forty-one possible food mitigation strategies. German experts suggested price reduction on dairy products and perishables, employee awareness training, customer campaigns about the best-before date, updated inventory control systems and donation to food charity organizations as the most effective strategies against food waste.A nível global, um terço dos alimentos produzidos para consumo humano é desperdiçado ou extraviado a cada ano. Particularmente nos países industrializados, isto tem enormes consequências económicas, ambientais e sociais. Enquanto intermediários entre produtores e consumidores, retalhistas alimentares, como os supermercados, desempenham um papel importante para mitigar o desperdício alimentar. Faltam estratégias de mitigação de desperdício alimentar para apoiar os profissionais do setor. O objetivo deste estudo é encontrar as estratégias mais eficazes de mitigação de desperdício alimentar no retalho de mercearia e desenvolver um "Quadro Estratégico para o Desperdício Alimentar" que combine o conhecimento anterior com a experiência de especialistas na Alemanha. No âmbito da análise qualitativa de conteúdos, foram conduzidas oito entrevistas semi-estruturadas com especialistas em desperdício alimentar de supermercados, instituições de caridade alimentar e outras organizações do retalho alemão. Os dados foram codificados e analisados através de uma abordagem dedutiva-indutiva. Os resultados revelam cinco fatores internos e cinco fatores externos que levam ao desperdício alimentar, bem como dezasseis áreas estratégicas com quarenta e uma estratégias possíveis para a mitigação do problema. Os especialistas alemães identificam a redução de preço em lacticínios e outros produtos perecíveis, formações de sensibilização para os funcionários, campanhas sobre data de consumo preferencial para os clientes, atualização de sistemas de controlo de inventário e donativos a instituições de caridade alimentar como as estratégias mais eficazes contra o desperdício alimentar

The character of demand in mature organic food markets: Great Britain and Denmark compared

We investigate the organic food market in two selected European countries, Great Britain and Denmark, identifying main differences and similarities. We focus particularly on consumer preferences and priorities, labelling schemes, supply and sales channels, as a basis for assessing market stability and prospects for future growth. We employ a unique set of household panel data that includes information on stated values and concerns, as well as registered purchasing behaviour. Most organic food on both markets is produced and processed by large-scale industrialised units and distributed through concentrated mainstream sales channels, consumer confidence being sustained at present by organic labelling schemes that appear to function well. However, a parallel market, based on various types of direct sales to heavy users, prevails. We find that organic food purchase decisions are primarily motivated by ‘private good’ attributes such as freshness, taste and health benefits, attributes that may be perceived as being compatible with modern production and sales structure. More traditional ‘public good’ organic attributes, such as environmental and animal welfare attributes, small scale production and local supply, are less compatible with current market structure, but are also accorded less priority by the majority of consumers in practice. Mature markets for organic foods nevertheless may constitute a source of consumer dissatisfaction, particularly in the group of organic heavy users

Perceptions, values and behaviour: The case of organic foods

This analysis of the Danish organic food market investigates the relationships between household purchasing behaviour and stated values, motives and concerns. Attention is also given to the importance of sales chan-nels and the functions of labelling. We identify the specific attributes that induce consumers to purchase or-ganic foods, distinguishing ‘private’ from ‘public’ valued attributes. Using household level information on stated values and concerns and data regarding real market purchases for approximately 2000 households dur-ing the period 1997-2001, the declared values and actual market behaviour of the same households are com-pared. We find that household propensity to purchase organic foods increases significantly with the declared importance accorded to ‘private good’ attributes, leading to the conclusion that these values determine the actual level of market participation. The weight that households assign to public good attributes does not contribute significantly to the explanation of household organic budget share. However, since almost all con-sumers who purchase organic foods do in fact acknowledge ‘public good’ attributes, these values may also constitute a prerequisite for purchasing organic products

Structuring Practice for Children’s Participation. Report I for the Participation Project: Mapping and Evaluating Organizational Guidelines

publishedVersio

Restorative Justice in Children

SummaryAn important, and perhaps uniquely human, mechanism for maintaining cooperation against free riders is third-party punishment [1, 2]. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, will not punish third parties even though they will do so when personally affected [3]. Until recently, little attention has been paid to how punishment and a sense of justice develop in children. Children respond to norm violations [4]. They are more likely to share with a puppet that helped another individual as opposed to one who behaved harmfully, and they show a preference for seeing a harmful doll rather than a victim punished [5]. By 6 years of age, children will pay a cost to punish fictional and real peers [6–8], and the threat of punishment will lead preschoolers to behave more generously [9]. However, little is known about what motivates a sense of justice in children. We gave 3- and 5-year-old children—the youngest ages yet tested—the opportunity to remove items and prevent a puppet from gaining a reward for second- and third-party violations (experiment 1), and we gave 3-year-olds the opportunity to restore items (experiment 2). Children were as likely to engage in third-party interventions as they were when personally affected, yet they did not discriminate among the different sources of harm for the victim. When given a range of options, 3-year-olds chose restoration over removal. It appears that a sense of justice centered on harm caused to victims emerges early in childhood and highlights the value of third-party interventions for human cooperation

Prognostic factors for tumor recurrence in patients with clinical stage I seminoma undergoing surveillance—protocol for a systematic review

Background: Testicular cancer is primarily treated with the surgical removal of the affected testis. About 50 % of testicular cancer patients present with a stage I seminoma. If no chemo- or radiotherapy as adjuvant treatment is initiated after orchiectomy, 15–20 % of these patients will develop metastases. Although adjuvant treatment is effective in reducing the relapse risk, there is rising concern about overtreatment of these patients. Prognostic factors at primary diagnosis might have the potential to identify patients at higher risk of tumor relapse, allowing to guide individual therapy and to avoid overtreatment. Therefore, we aim to synthesize the available evidence on tumor or patient characteristics as possible prognostic factors for cancer recurrence in patients with clinical stage I seminoma. Methods/design: We will conduct a broad systematic review to analyze what prognostic factors predict cancer recurrence in patients with a first time diagnosis of clinical stage I seminoma, who received no adjuvant chemo- or radiotherapy after orchiectomy. The literature search will comprise MEDLINE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and the conference proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Urologic Association (AUA), and European Urologic Association (EAU) Annual Meetings. Prospective and retrospective longitudinal studies reporting on prognostic factors for cancer recurrence will be considered. We will consider the wealth of any candidate clinical or pathological prognostic factor reported in the literature. Our outcome of interest will be tumor recurrence at a minimum of 2 years follow-up. Study screening, data extraction, and quality assessment will be done by two reviewers independently. Hazard ratios will be used to measure the relationship between the potential prognostic factor and tumor recurrence. Meta-analyses will be conducted with sufficiently homogeneous studies and separately with respect to study design, by using the random-effects generic inverse variance model. Discussion: Limitations and strengths will be discussed in our review, and the results will be put into context with other studies in this field. Our results will help to guide evidence-based decision-making on patients with clinical stage I seminoma, allowing a better adjustment of therapies with regard to the individual patient’s risk. Our findings will furthermore help to formulate recommendations for future research. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD4201400943

Evaluation of dried amorphous ferric hydroxide CFH-12® as agent for binding bioavailable phosphorus in lake sediments

Metal hydroxides formed from aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) salts can be used as phosphorus (P) adsorbents in lake restoration, but the application entails problems in low-alkaline lakes due to acid producing hydrolysis and potential formation of toxic metal ions. Therefore, we tested the potential of applying CFH-12® (Kemira) – a dried, amorphous Fe-oxide with no pH effect – in lake restoration. Since Fe3+ may become reduced in lake sed- iments and release both Fe2+ and any associated P we also evaluated the redox sensitivity of CFH-12® in com- parison with freshly formed Fe(OH)3. CFH-12® was added to undisturbed sediment cores from three Danish lakes relative to the size of their mobile P pool (molar Fe:PMobile dose ratio of ~10:1), and P and Fe fluxes across the sediment-water interface were compared with those from untreated cores and cores treated with freshly formed Fe(OH)3. Under anoxic conditions, we found that CFH-12® significantly reduced the P efflux from the sediments (by 43% in Lake Sønderby, 70% in Lake Hampen and 60% in Lake Hostrup) while the Fe 2+ efflux remained unchanged relative to the untreated cores. Cores treated with freshly formed Fe(OH)3 retained more P, but released significantly more Fe 2+ , indicating continued Fe3+ reduction. Finally, experiments with pure phases showed that CFH-12® adsorbed less P than freshly formed Fe(OH)3 in the short term, but was capable of adsorbing up to 70% of P adsorbed by Fe(OH)3 over 3 months. With product costs only 30% higher than Al salts we find that CFH-12® has potential for use in restoration of low-alkaline lakes.The study was supported by Junta de Andalucía (project P10-RNM- 6630, Spain), MINECO CTM (project 2013-46951-R, Spain) and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Funding was also ob- tained from the Danish Centre for Lake Restoration (a Villum Centre of Excellence).The study was supported by Junta de Andalucía (project P10-RNM- 6630, Spain), MINECO CTM (project 2013-46951-R, Spain) and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Funding was also ob- tained from the Danish Centre for Lake Restoration (a Villum Centre of Excellence)

Hypothesis testing in Bayesian network meta-analysis

Background: Network meta-analysis is an extension of the classical pairwise meta-analysis and allows to compare multiple interventions based on both head-to-head comparisons within trials and indirect comparisons across trials. Bayesian or frequentist models are applied to obtain effect estimates with credible or confidence intervals. Furthermore, p-values or similar measures may be helpful for the comparison of the included arms but related methods are not yet addressed in the literature. In this article, we discuss how hypothesis testing can be done in a Bayesian network meta-analysis. Methods: An index is presented and discussed in a Bayesian modeling framework. Simulation studies were performed to evaluate the characteristics of this index. The approach is illustrated by a real data example. Results: The simulation studies revealed that the type I error rate is controlled. The approach can be applied in a superiority as well as in a non-inferiority setting. Conclusions: Test decisions can be based on the proposed index. The index may be a valuable complement to the commonly reported results of network meta-analyses. The method is easy to apply and of no (noticeable) additional computational cost