Nanotechnology in the context of organic food processing

Nanotechnology, the science of the ultra small, is up-and-coming as the technological platform for the next wave of development and transformation of agri-food systems. It is quickly moving from the laboratory onto supermarket shelves and our kitchen tables (Scrinis and Lyons, 2007). Therefore we investigated in a literature review and a comparison of the findings with the EU regulation of organic farming to what degree nanotechnology can be applied in organic food production. The regulations do not restrict the use of nanotechnology in general. Because little is known about the impact on environment and human health, precaution should be taken when it comes to applying this technology in organic food production

Angaben zur Klimarelevanz als Bewertungsgrundlage für unterschiedliche landwirtschaftliche Produktionsverfahren und Nachfrageorientierungen

Zusammenfassung: Das Konzept der Klimarelevanz wird vorgestellt und auf die Analyse der Sektoren Landwirtschaft und Ernährung angewendet. Einige Ergebnisse werden gezeigt, die u.a. die systematische Unterschätzung von Anteilen der Landwirtschaft an der Klimabeeinflussung belegen. Es wird auch gezeigt, wie mit der Inblicknahme des Gesamtsystems der Aspekt der Landnutzung einbezogen werden kann und wie Veränderungen in den Versorgungssystemen sich dort bemerkbar machen

A New Definition of Food Quality

Six criteria should be used to identify important components of quality (which are especially important for organic products): - Authentic - Functional - Biological - Nutritional - Sensual - Ethica

Ökologische Lebensmittelqualität und Ernährungskultur

Lebensmittelqualität und Ernährung haben auch eine kulturelle Seite und hängen vom Wertesystem einer Gesellschaft ab. Das Empfinden für gesunde, umwelt- und sozialverträgliche Lebensmittel zu wecken und zu schulen, ist eine gesellschaftliche Aufgabe

Development of a framework for the design of minimum processing strategies which guarantee food quality and safety - Principles, concepts and recommendations for the future

Principles of processing of organic and ‘low input’ food have been analysed in the EU funded QLIF project. A literature survey showed that some of the principles are generally accepted (e.g. the use of certified organic ingredients, a certified production chain and minimal use of additives), others are shared broadly (e.g. more careful processing methods, naturalness) and some principles are in discussion mainly in the private sector (e.g. environmental management concepts, social requirements, regional focus). Recent studies showed that consumer associate organic food with the following dimensions/attributes: health, high quality, the use of natural raw materials, welfare orientated animal husbandry as well as environmentally friendly land use and processing techniques. The challenge will be to consider such wider consumer perceptions and expectations, in particular when revising the EU regulation No 2092/91 on organic food and farming. In the current draft for revised regulation, agreed generally by the EU Council on 19-20 December 2006, some of these elements are included, but not all. How detailed such aspects should be regulated in implementation rules is seen quite differentiated by processors and non-processors which were asked in a Delphi Survey, depending on the different areas. At the EU regulatory level, the top priority mentioned was the minimal use of additives, followed by minimal and careful processing. Quality/sensory aspects, however, were not seen as primary objectives at the EU level, because companies should have the chance to develop individual sensorial profiles for their products. However, regarding the minimum use of additives this is clearly perceived to be an EU level issue. There is also a tendency to prefer additives of certified organic origin, both among ‘processors’ as well as ‘non-processors’ points of view. The challenge in the future will be to develop regulations with the right balance between authenticity, health orientation and convenience to maintain the confidence of consumers and credibility of the products in the use minimum and careful processing strategies permitted under organic farming standards

A Platform-independent Programming Environment for Robot Control

The development of robot control programs is a complex task. Many robots are different in their electrical and mechanical structure which is also reflected in the software. Specific robot software environments support the program development, but are mainly text-based and usually applied by experts in the field with profound knowledge of the target robot. This paper presents a graphical programming environment which aims to ease the development of robot control programs. In contrast to existing graphical robot programming environments, our approach focuses on the composition of parallel action sequences. The developed environment allows to schedule independent robot actions on parallel execution lines and provides mechanism to avoid side-effects of parallel actions. The developed environment is platform-independent and based on the model-driven paradigm. The feasibility of our approach is shown by the application of the sequencer to a simulated service robot and a robot for educational purpose