Price Determinants in Top Quality E-Auctioned Specialty Coffees

The US specialty coffee industry has grown from $1 billion in 1990 to$11 billion in 2006 and is expected to continue to grow into the foreseeable future. This growth particularly depends on prices coordinating the specialty coffee supply chain through two-way information exchange between roasters and producers. We analyze the determinants of specialty coffee prices by estimating a hedonic price function for specialty Central and South American coffees traded at e-auctions. We hypothesize that since specialty coffee is a differentiated product, prices will be determined by both sensory and reputation attributes. The results show that prices are influenced by the quality rating, which is a sensory variable, and by the quality rankings established in the cupping competition previous to the auction, the country of origin and the coffee variety, which are reputation variables. In addition, the macro variables, harvest year and commodity price were found to be significant.Specialty coffee, hedonic price analysis, differentiated food pricing, sensory attributes, reputation attributes, Demand and Price Analysis,

What Adds Value in Specialty Coffee? Managerial Implications from Hedonic Price Analysis of Central and South American E-Auctions

We analyze price and quality information at the procurement level in the specialty coffee supply chain using data from small and large volume e-auctions. Hedonic price equations reveal that the Cup of Excellence auction is a more differentiated market disclosing more information about coffee values associated with ratings, rankings, quantities available, and country reputations whereas information in the Q auction is more limited and tends to be remunerated to a lesser extent. These results indicate that there are different business models and valuation of product characteristics within the specialty coffee industry. Management implications are drawn for specialty coffee producers and roasters.specialty coffee, e-auctions, hedonic analysis, business models, Demand and Price Analysis,

To See or Not to See: Do Front of Pack Nutrition Labels Affect Attention to Overall Nutrition Information?

Citation: Bix, L., Sundar, R. P., Bello, N. M., Peltier, C., Weatherspoon, L. J., & Becker, M. W. (2015). To See or Not to See: Do Front of Pack Nutrition Labels Affect Attention to Overall Nutrition Information? Plos One, 10(10), 20. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139732Background Front of pack (FOP) nutrition labels are concise labels located on the front of food packages that provide truncated nutrition information. These labels are rapidly gaining prominence worldwide, presumably because they attract attention and their simplified formats enable rapid comparisons of nutritional value. Methods Eye tracking was conducted as US consumers interacted with actual packages with and without FOP labels to (1) assess if the presence of an FOP label increases attention to nutrition information when viewers are not specifically tasked with nutrition-related goals; and (2) study the effect of FOP presence on consumer use of more comprehensive, traditional nutrition information presented in the Nutritional Facts Panel (NFP), a mandatory label for most packaged foods in the US. Results Our results indicate that colored FOP labels enhanced the probability that any nutrition information was attended, and resulted in faster detection and longer viewing of nutrition information. However, for cereal packages, these benefits were at the expense of attention to the more comprehensive NFP. Our results are consistent with a potential short cut effect of FOP labels, such that if an FOP was present, participants spent less time attending the more comprehensive NFP. For crackers, FOP labels increased time spent attending to nutrition information, but we found no evidence that their presence reduced the time spent on the nutrition information in the NFP. Conclusions The finding that FOP labels increased attention to overall nutrition information by people who did not have an explicit nutritional goal suggests that these labels may have an advantage in conveying nutrition information to a wide segment of the population. However, for some food types this benefit may come with a short-cut effect; that is, decreased attention to more comprehensive nutrition information. These results have implications for policy and warrant further research into the mechanisms by which FOP labels impact use of nutrition information by consumers for different foods

Adaptive Evolution of Escherichia coli to an α-Peptide/β-Peptoid Peptidomimetic Induces Stable Resistance.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and synthetic analogues thereof target conserved structures of bacterial cell envelopes and hence, development of resistance has been considered an unlikely event. However, recently bacterial resistance to AMPs has been observed, and the aim of the present study was to determine whether bacterial resistance may also evolve against synthetic AMP analogues, e.g. α-peptide/β-peptoid peptidomimetics. E. coli ATCC 25922 was exposed to increasing concentrations of a peptidomimetic (10 lineages), polymyxin B (10 lineages), or MilliQ water (4 lineages) in a re-inoculation culturing setup covering approx. 500 generations. All 10 lineages exposed to the peptidomimetic adapted to 32 × MIC while this occurred for 8 out of 10 of the polymyxin B-exposed lineages. All lineages exposed to 32 × MIC of either the peptidomimetic or polymyxin B had a significantly increased MIC (16-32 ×) to the selection agent. Five transfers (≈ 35 generations) in unsupplemented media did not abolish resistance indicating that resistance was heritable. Single isolates from peptidomimetic-exposed lineage populations displayed MICs against the peptidomimetic from wild-type MIC to 32 × MIC revealing heterogeneous populations. Resistant isolates showed no cross-resistance against a panel of membrane-active AMPs. These isolates were highly susceptible to blood plasma antibacterial activity and were killed when plasma concentrations exceeded ≈ 30%. Notably, MIC of the peptidomimetic against resistant isolates returned to wild-type level upon addition of 25% plasma. Whole-genome sequencing of twenty isolates from four resistant lineages revealed mutations, in murein transglycosylase D (mltD) and outer-membrane proteins, which were conserved within and between lineages. However, no common resistance-conferring mutation was identified. We hypothesise that alterations in cell envelope structure result in peptidomimetic resistance, and that this may occur via several distinct mechanisms. Interestingly, this type of resistance result in a concomitant high susceptibility towards plasma, and therefore the present study does not infer additional concern for peptidomimetics as future therapeutics