Nordic Food Culture(s) - Thoughts and perspectives by way of introduction

The interest for the cultures of food in Nordic countries has become visible in culinary settings, in journalistic milieus, and through scientific studies over the last twenty years. The aim of this special issue of Anthropology of Food is to explore, to discuss, and to better understand the concept and the framework of Nordic Food Culture(s). This issue is based on two exploratory workshops initiated by the Joint Committee for the Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS). The workshops, held in Copenhagen and Oslo in 2010, had a multidisciplinary approach and gathered expertise on eating patterns, food ethnography, food history, food geography, food sociology, food anthropology, restaurants studies, nutrition and cultural studies in order to explore the developments and changes of the place of food and the culture of food in the Nordic countries. (The full program from the two workshops, with titles for papers and participants, can be found in the dessert menu of this issue.

A trans disciplinary and multi actor approach to develop high impact food safety messages to consumers: Time for a revision of the WHO - Five keys to safer food?

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Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective

There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed

Data on European kitchen layouts belonging to vulnerable consumers (elderly people and young families with children or pregnant women) and risk-takers (young single men)

The data presented here capture the structure of kitchen lay- outs belonging to consumers vulnerable to foodborne dis- eases and food risk-takers. Data were collected in the frame of the SafeConsume project by multidisciplinary research teams that visited consumers during preparing a meal and had the possibility to examine their cooking routines. Dis- tances between sink and stove, sink and refrigerator, stove and refrigerator, sink and working place (countertop or ta- ble), stove and working place were analyzed to correlate food safety practices applied during cooking with kitchen arrange- ments. The results arising from analyzing the ergonomics of kitchens versus potential cross-contamination events are presented in Mihalache et al., [1]. These data contribute to a better understanding of real kitchen layouts and can be used as a starting point for future research regarding food safety-oriented arrangements instead of ergonomics-focused designs, for food safety risk assessments, as study cases for explaining specific measures that can be established to im- prove food handling and hygiene practices in homes and for sociological research pointing consumers’ behavior during cooking.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Kitchen layouts and consumers’ food hygiene practices: Ergonomics versus safety

Our paper emphasizes the importance of the kitchen layout in facilitating consumers' food hygiene practices. A significant correlation was found between the sink placement (inside or outside the kitchen) and hygienic practices during food handling based on a survey performed on consumers from ten European countries, indicating that those who had the sink in the kitchen were more likely to perform proper hygiene practices than those who have not. The self-reported practices were supported by observed practices in 64 households from five European countries. The observational study combined with the examination of kitchen layouts revealed that the kitchen work triangle with its apexes represented by the kitchen sink, cooking stove and refrigerator, which is recommended for ergonomic reasons by architects and designers, did not necessarily support food hygiene practices in kitchens. Cross-contamination events were associated with the sink – countertop distances longer than 1 m. Based on this, a new kitchen triangle with its apexes represented by the kitchen sink, working place (usually countertop) and cooking stove, with the distance between the sink and the working place less than 1 m is proposed to be used as norm in kitchen designs for combining ergonomics with safety. This triangle is proposedly named the food safety triangle and is aimed to mitigate the risks of foodborne illnesses by creating an arrangement that facilitates hygiene practices. This study is the first to highlight the importance of implementing the concept of food safety in the kitchen design based on significant correlations between kitchen equipment placement and consumers’ food safety practices.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cross-contamination of lettuce with Campylobacter spp. via cooking salt during handling raw poultry

Campylobacter spp. are the most common bacterial pathogens associated with human gastroenteritis in industrialized countries. Contaminated chicken is the food vehicle associated with the majority of reported cases of campylobacteriosis, either by the consumption of undercooked meat or via cross- contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods during the handling of contaminated raw chicken parts and carcasses. Our results indicate that cooking salt (used for seasoning) is a potential vehicle for Campylobacter spp. cross-contamination from raw chicken to lettuce, through unwashed hands after handling contaminated chicken. Cross-contamination events were observed even when the chicken skin was contaminated with low levels of Campylobacter spp. (ca. 1.48 Log CFU/g). The pathogen was recovered from seasoned lettuce samples when raw chicken was contaminated with levels ≥ 2.34 Log CFU/g. We also demonstrated that, once introduced into cooking salt, Campylobacter spp. are able to survive in a culturable state up to 4 hours. After six hours, although not detected following an enrichment period in culture medium, intact cells were observed by transmission electron microscopy. These findings reveal a "novel"indirect cross-contamination route of Campylobacter in domestic settings, and a putative contamination source to RTE foods that are seasoned with salt, that might occur if basic food hygiene practices are not adopted by consumers when preparing and cooking poultry dishes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Landskap og rovdyr : Med blikket rettet mot rovviltkonfliktens landskap

I denne studien belyses spørsmålet om holdninger til rovdyr er forankret i landskapsforståelser. Ti fokusgruppeintervjuer av folk i Trysil med ulik tilknytning til naturbruk og utmarksnæring. Hver fokusgruppe, bestående av 4 – 8 personer, ble valg på bakgrunn av generelle likheter som aldre, utdannelse/arbeid, bosted, friluftsinteresser samt tilknytning til primærnæring. Gruppene ble således analysert som grupper, ikke enkeltpersoner. Den rovdyrberørte kommunen Trysil, har opplevd stor vekst i turistnæringen, samtidig som primærnæringen avvikles. Derav fokuserer jeg også på om slike endringer, som representerer endrede bruksmønster i naturen, har innvirkning på rovviltkonflikten. Spørsmålet mitt er derfor om holdninger til rovdyr er forankret i forståelse av landskap, og om opplevelse av endringer i landskap har innvirkning på rovviltkonflikten. Studien utgjør en del av et større forskningsprosjekt, Rovvilt og samfunn II (RoSa II) tilknyttet Norsk institutt for naturforskning, der formålet har vært å belyse holdningsmønstre rettet mot de fire stor norske rovdyr; bjørn, gaupe, jerv og ulv. Denne studien lan leses som en beskriver tre forskjellige forståelser av landskap som eksisterer samtidig. Ved å sammenligne fokusgruppene med hverandre, fant jeg at grupper av bønder, grendebeboere, skoleelever og industriarbeidere snakket mye om kulturlandskap. Hytteeiere fortalte gjerne om viddene, skogen og fjellene i Trysil, mens jegere snakket mye om ville dyr og jaktopplevelser. Ved å rendyrke tre former for tilegnelse av landskap, ”bruk”, ”tur” og ”jakt”, som gruppene jeg har intervjuet utøver, har jeg kommet fram til henholdsvis det tradisjonelle, det romantiske og det opplevelsesfokuserte blikket på landskap. Hvert landskapsblikk medfører bestemte syn på rovdyras plass, ved å frembringe idealer om det gode i landskap. Hovedbudskapet her er at på basis av praksis i landskapet oppstår idealer om landskapet. Når praksiser i landskapet endres, for eksempel ved at tradisjonell utmarksnæring forvitrer til fordel for mer moderne turistnæringer, utfordres landskapsidealene. Ved å fokusere på hvordan folk forholder seg til landskap har jeg synliggjort at bakenfor rovviltkonflikten er det en dyp uro og skepsis over endrede måter å bruke landskapet på. Rovviltkonflikten kommer med andre ord til uttrykk som ved at endringer i bruksmønstre i landskapet truer idealer om hva landskapet bør være

Oppdatering av kostnader til spedbarn. Vurdering av vare- og tjenestegrunnlaget i Referansebudsjettet

Denne rapporten er en rapportering av arbeidet med å oppdatere kostnader til spedbarn. Oppdateringen innebærer å sjekke om det som ligger inne i de ulike budsjettpostene til fremdeles er relevant og om det trengs endringer eller justeringer når det gjelder hvilke varer som skal ligge inne i budsjettet, hvilke mengder av varene eller tjenestene som ligger inne, når i spedbarnsfasen det er behov for varer eller hvor lenge varene kan brukes. En rekke informasjonskilder benyttes i oppdateringsarbeidet. Anbefalinger fra offentlig myndigheter, fra eksperter og fagpersoner innenfor de ulike forbruksområdene legger tydelige føringer for innholdet i budsjettposten. Videre benyttes informasjon samlet inn gjennom fokusgruppeintervjuer. Oppdateringsarbeidet har resultert i at en del varer har blitt lagt til og noen varer har blitt tatt ut og endringer er gjort når det gjelder mengder, varetyper og/eller forventet levetid for en rekke varer i budsjettposten. Flere varer i budsjettposten er uendret

European food safety: Mapping critical food practices and cultural differences in France, Norway, Portugal, Romania and the UK

Editor: Silje Elisabeth Skuland. Authors: (alphabetical): Borda, D., Didier, P., Dumitraşcu, L., Ferreira, V., Foden, M., Langsrud, S., Maître, I., Martens, L. Møretrø, T., Nguyen-The, C., Nicolau, A. I.Nunes, C., Rosenberg, T. G., Skuland, S. E., Teigen, H. M., Teixeira, P., and Truninger, M