Consumer acceptability studies in shelf-life estimation of rapeseed and sunflower oils

Shelf-life of plant oils is determined by oxidative stability. The consumers use their own criterion to assess oil’s quality. The occurrence of perceptible changes in oxidized food provides information that the product is no longer safe and should not be accepted. The present study was aimed to determine the shelf-life of rapeseed and sunflower oils in terms of consumer acceptance. The results of sensory consumer acceptability tests followed by survival analysis were integrated with conventional chemical marker of oils’ quality and shelf-life (peroxide value).The important finding is that consumers sometimes do not recognize the advanced oxidative processes in food. This may increase the safety risk because of the harmful effect of oxidative processes on human health. Consumers differentiated quality of oils with similar state of oxidation: the rapeseed oil with peroxide value on the level 5 meq O2 kg−1 was rejected by three quarters of consumers, sunflower — by only 3%. It proves that the consumer perception of oxidative changes is specific to the product and does not coincide with the accepted chemical criterion of shelf-life

SEMA and MESD Leakage of TinyECC 2.0 on a LOTUS Sensor Node

TinyECC 2.0 is an open source library for Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) in wireless sensor networks. This paper analyzes the side channel susceptibility of TinyECC 2.0 on a LOTUS sensor node platform. In our work we measured the electromagnetic (EM) emanation during computation of the scalar multiplication using 56 different configurations of TinyECC 2.0. All of them were found to be vulnerable, but to a different degree. The different degrees of leakage include adversary success using (i) Simple EM Analysis (SEMA) with a single measurement, (ii) SEMA using averaging, and (iii) Multiple-Exponent Single-Data (MESD) with a single measurement of the secret scalar. It is extremely critical that in 30 TinyECC 2.0 configurations a single EM measurement of an ECC private key operation is sufficient to simply read out the secret scalar. MESD requires additional adversary capabilities and it affects all TinyECC 2.0 configurations, again with only a single measurement of the ECC private key operation. These findings give evidence that in security applications a configuration of TinyECC 2.0 should be chosen that withstands SEMA with a single measurement and, beyond that, an addition of appropriate randomizing countermeasures is necessary

The system of date labelling in the food supply chain - the weak links from the perspective of final consumers

Background: Open date labelling influences the role that final consumers play as actors in the food supply chain in waste prevention and reduction. The aim of this study was to examine the date labelling system from the perspectives of consumers’ experience taking into consideration both technical aspects of date labels readability as well as their understanding of the concept of the shelf-life dates. Methods: The face to face interview method (n=1145) was applied with the use of the interview questionnaire. Research was conducted in Poland. Results: Despite declared interest in date labelling, consumers of food products experience difficulties with the system in force. Identified problems cover the physical layer of food packaging such as the font size, the presence of information, its readability and accessibility, and the occurrence of two date types on the basis of food quality and safety concept. Problems with correct interpretation of ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates were more often observed in the group of youths and with vocational education. The difficulties with too small font of the date information were more often claimed by the elderly food buyers. Conclusions: Actions for improvement should be undertaken by FBO’s, legislators and educators in order to achieve economic, environmental and social benefits from clear and consumer-friendly date labelling system. The actions should be matched to a given population group because different sub-groups face separate problems with the dates on food packaging

Practical Results of ECC Side Channel Countermeasures on an ARM Cortex M3 Processor

This paper presents implementation results of several side channel countermeasures for protecting the scalar multiplication of ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) implemented on an ARM Cortex M3 processor that is used in security sensitive wireless sensor nodes. Our implementation was done for the ECC curves P-256, brainpool256r1, and Ed25519. Investigated countermeasures include Double-And-Add Always, Montgomery Ladder, Scalar Randomization, Randomized Scalar Splitting, Coordinate Randomization, and Randomized Sliding Window. Practical side channel tests for SEMA (Simple Electromagnetic Analysis) and MESD (Multiple Exponent, Single Data) are included. Though more advanced side channel attacks are not evaluated, yet, our results show that an appropriate level of resistance against the most relevant attacks can be reached

Consumer opinions on the causes of food waste – demographic and economic conditions

Reducing the quantities of food lost or wasted will be an emerging challenge in coming years. The sector contributing the most to food waste is households. The aim of this study is to evaluate consumer behavior on the food market in the context of wastage identification and assessment of consumer opinions in Poland regarding the causes of the problem of food waste in households. A quantitative study was carried out using individual direct questionnaire interviews (N = 1,145). Results showed that Polish consumer opinions regarding reasons for wasting food vary according to demographic and economic conditions. The least educated consumers and families with several children were found to be guided by economic premises in their purchases more often than other groups and plan their purchases more rationally. The causes of food wastage related to irrational behavior were more often named by consumers with higher standards of living and by the younger generation

Shelf-life labelling system in the opinion of food market participants in Poland

Purpose: The aim of the study was an assessment of the European shelf-life labelling system from the perspectives of food producers and consumers in Poland in the context of its possible impact on food waste. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to conduct the study among key food market participants. Individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted among senior managers in 18 key food producing companies, an eye-tracking study (ET) involved 30 purposefully selected consumers, and a quantitative survey using the face-to-face interview was undertaken among food consumers in Poland (n = 1145). Findings: The existing regulations regarding date labelling do not support the policy of establishing sustainable food chains. Even though the date label is one of the most eye-catching elements on the food packaging, a great number of Polish consumers are not able to correctly interpret the information – 39% have problems with proper understanding of ‘best before’ date.Less educated consumers more often admit that the information on the date label is difficult for them to comprehend. Food business operators have adopted the date labelling system as a mandatory requirement, although they consider it to be complicated. Research limitations/implications: The research results are partially declarative. It would be interesting to examine the interpretation of the date labels in the purchasing and consumption process. Practical implications: Consumer misunderstanding of the ‘best before’ date contributes to food waste. Point of view of food market participants differ what should be taken into account with regard to the final itineration of the date labelling system. Social implications: Consumer interest in shelf-life dates should be treated as an opportunity in efficient education and building food waste prevention behaviour. Originality/value: Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods was applied which allowed for a comprehensive assessment the shelf-life labelling system