Öko-Geschmacks-Siegel – Entwicklung, Implementierung und Kommunikation eines sensorischen Bewertungsmodells für ökologische Lebensmittel

Die Ergebnisse des Projektes „Öko-Geschmacks-Siegel“ sind auf großes Interesse bei Händlern, Produzenten, Verbänden, Bewertungsgesellschaften und Presse gestoßen. Es handelt sich um die erste größere wissenschaftliche Untersuchung zu sensorischen Unterschieden zwischen ökologisch und konventionell verarbeiteten Produkten und deren Ursachen. Die Fragestellung zu diesem Projekt kam aus der Praxis. Naturkostläden und Produzenten stellten fest, dass Konsumenten von konventionellen Lebensmitteln ökologische Produkte als sehr ungewohnt, z. T. sogar als verdorben empfinden. Alles was von ihren normalen sensorischen Eindrücken abweicht, empfinden Verbraucher als ungewohnt, unnatürlich oder künstlich. Dies hat teilweise auch Einfluss auf die Vorgehensweise der Bewertungsgesellschaften. Das Projekt verfolgte daher die Intention, die Unterschiede zwischen ökologisch und konventionell erzeugten Lebensmitteln aufzuzeigen und die Unterschiede darstellbar zu machen. Die deskriptive Analyse hat sich als effektivste Methode zur Ermittlung der sensorischen Unterschiede erwiesen. Die Darstellung in Spiderwebs ermöglicht eine direkte Gegenüberstellung der sensorischen Profile von ökologischen und konventionellen Lebensmitteln. Diese Beschreibungen können von Händlern zur Beratung eingesetzt werden. Die gefundenen technologischen Ursachen erlauben den Herstellern, ihre Produkte zu optimieren. Aus den Spiderwebs lassen sich auch sensorische Bewertungsschemen ableiten. Zum Aufbau der Bewertungsbögen können daraus die Begriffe für die Produktbeschreibungen und die Intensitäten entnommen werden, in der die Produkte als akzeptiert gelten. Ein Training der eingesetzten Prüfer ist notwendig, wenn diese nicht über Erfahrungspotenzial mit ökologisch erzeugten Produkten verfügen. Dieses Vorgehen ermöglicht eine deutliche Objektivierung der Produktbewertung führen und die Marktposition der ökologisch erzeugten Lebensmittel nachhaltig verbessern

KINEMATIC ANALYSIS IN TEAM-HANDBALL JUMP THROW

The purposes of our study were to determine the proximal-to-distal sequence of the linear joint and angular velocities and to measure the influence of maximal angular velocities and performance level to ball release speed of the jump throw, which is the most applied throwing technique in team-handball (Wagner et al., 2008)

Anbaubedeutung von Kartoffeln im Ökologischen Landbau, Vermarktung und zukünftige Entwicklungen

Die Anbaufläche von ökologisch erzeugten Kartoffeln hat in Deutschland seit Ende der 90er Jahre deutlich von 4.750 ha auf 8.350 ha zugenommen, was einer Steigerung um 75% entspricht. Diese Entwicklung wzrde begünstigt durch den Einstieg der Discounter seit dem Jahre 2000, wo erste Testverkäufe durchgeführt wurden

Summary report on sensory-related socio-economic and sensory science literature about organic food products

Organic food’s initial attraction to the public was that it was perceived to be healthier and tastier, but scientists and policy makers have mainly stressed the benefits to the environment of organic and sustainable farming. Scientific support for marketing actions addressed to those who want to be healthier and who want to enjoy better taste, and are willing to pay more for these benefits is scarce. Past research has produced little clear evidence about the importance of sensory characteristics such as taste, smell, appearance etc in consumers’ preferences with regard to organic food. The Ecropolis project, funded by the E.U., was set up with the aim of investigating the role of the senses in consumers’ preferences regarding organic food, and leading to research into how best to satisfy those preferences. This deliverable is aimed at providing a solid basis for such research with an in-depth review of, and two reports on, the relevant scientific literature. The first report (Annex I) regards what consumers expect from organic products in terms of taste, smell, appearance, etc and how these expectations are (or are not) met; the second is about the science of the senses (Annex II). The first project tasks included creating and agreeing on a glossary of terms, deciding on search criteria (key words, etc.), setting up a bibliographical data base, preparing then circulating the above-mentioned reports, and finally preparing a summary of the reports. The report on consumers expectations highlights the suggestion that while organic food has traditionally been marketed through specialized retailers, its market share will only grow significantly if it is promoted by multiple retailers. Research literature from all over the world seems to agree in indicating that consumers’ choices are largely motivated by health, the environment, price and social status. Other considerations include ethics, the localness of the product and lifestyle choices. The literature also indicates that the organic market will expand significantly only if consumers are more willing, and able, to recognize quality, but this presents serious issues. When buying the product they cannot personally verify its quality and genuineness and thus must rely on regulation and inspection bodies. The recognition of quality can also be encouraged by effective communication by producers and retailers through appropriate branding, labelling and presentation. There are connections between this information and questions of sense perception, but researchers disagree about how important the latter is in influencing the customer, and in which ways it does so. The following report focuses, in fact, on the science of the senses, which tries to analyze in detail people’s responses to food, despite the many potential pitfalls in carrying out the research which might influence the reliability of the results. There is broad agreement on two points: - there is no proof that organic food is more nutritious or safer, and - most studies that have compared the taste and organoleptic quality of organic andconventional foods report no consistent or significant differences between organic and conventional produce. Therefore, claiming that all organic food tastes different from all conventional food would not be correct. However, among the well-designed studies with respect to fruits and vegetables that have found differences, the vast majority favour organic produce. Organic produce tends to store better and has longer shelf life, probably because of lower levels of nitrates and higher average levels of antioxidants. The former can accelerate food spoilage, while antioxidants help preserve the integrity of cells and some are natural antibiotics. The first conclusion may, however, depend on factors not directly connected to organic farming, such as harvesting and storage methods and the type of land used for growing the food. About the second finding it must be considered that measuring organoleptic quality is difficult and inherently subjective and evaluations may be clouded by the influence of numerous factors on the consumer’s perceptions of the food and not just its appearance and taste. Experimental research indicates that the information that a food is organic confers upon it a “halo effect” (making it seem better sense-wise simply because it is organic) which might make consumers like it more. Ecropolis researchers will analyze in detail which senses are indeed impacted on, and how, and try to match them to consumer needs and expectations in order to be able to offer suggestions for future policy, including how the food is stored, transported and presented, which is also essential for maintaining sensory properties. The workpackage WP1 has also produced a specific report on how organic food sensory aspects are regulated. International standards, with some important exceptions, are largely in line with European ones. Differences in standards usually regard whether there is orientation towards freshness “per se” as opposed to increasing shelf-life, or quality standardization as opposed to quality differentiation. Differences in regulations regard such aspects as ingredients, additives, processing aids and methods, packaging, storage and transport. The lack of harmony among the different regulatory systems often reflects different traditions and market conditions, however, more complicated compliance procedures result in higher costs for importers. Greater homogeneity would not only reduce such costs but would also increase consumer confidence in international standards. Ecropolis will also investigate the effect of different regulations on how people perceive organic goods sense-wise. The work done to date is seen as a starting point for future research aimed at producing practical results in the organic food market. Ecropolis will try to bring together separate strands of research concerning how organic goods are regulated and marketed with regard to taste, appearance, etc., and how consumers themselves are affected by such factors. The aim is to find optimal matches between the two, and thus to greatly increase organic food’s share of the food market

Linking social capacities and risk communication in Europe: a gap between theory and practice?

Although both improved risk communication and the building of social capacities have been advocated as vital ways to increase societies' resilience towards natural hazards across the world, the literature has rarely examined the ways in which these two concepts may integrate in theory and practice. This paper is an attempt to address this gap in a European context. It begins with a conceptual discussion that unites the literature on risk communication with the literature on social capacity building. We then use the insights from this discussion as a basis to conduct a review of 60 risk communication practices from across Europe. This review indicates a gap between theory and practice because, whilst the literature highlights the importance of integrated and coordinated communication campaigns featuring both a one-way transfer and a two-way dialogue between the public, stakeholders and decision-makers, the majority of the communication practices reviewed here appear to be relatively disparate initiatives that rely on one-way forms of communication. On the basis of these findings, we conclude by making some recommendations for the way in which such practices could be improved in order to be more supportive of social capacities across Europ

"Genapa" - der genetische Papa

Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit beschäftigt sich im Kern mit der Frage, inwieweit eine emotionale Bindung zwischen einem Genapa und einem mittels seiner Spende gezeugten Kind nachweisbar ist. Im Rahmen der Verwandtschaftsterminologie (Radcliff-Brown) wurde das vom Autor kreierte Kunstwort Genapa eingeführt, welches sich aus den Worten „Gen“ und „Papa“ zusammensetzt. Die Datenerhebung zur Forschungsfrage wurde mittels quantitativer (Fragebögen) und qualitativer (Interviews) Methoden durchgeführt. Um der Forschungsfrage nachzugehen, fand das sozialanthropologische Konzept der „Relatedness“ Anwendung. Zur Erörterung medizinischer Fragen wurden auch Interviews mit ExpertInnen Wiener Fertilitätskliniken durchgeführt

Interpretation ausgewählter sensorischer Ergebnisse von Bio-Kartoffeln durch den Vergleich der Werte mittels Boxplots

Um Zusammenhänge zwischen fehlerhaften sensorischen Partien und Anbauparametern aufzudecken, wurde mittels Boxplots die Lage der Werte, die Streuung sowie die Extremwerte und Ausreißer bestimmt. Da von diesen Werten nur eine geringe Anzhal vorlag, konnten erste Annahmen, aber keine signifikanten Aussagen getroffen werden. Aufgrund der Anzahl der erfassten Anbauparametern und Inhaltsstoffe auf die sensorische Qualität der Kartoffeln ließen sich nur wenige Hypothesen ableiten. Ein Zusammenhang zeigte sich zu den Witterungsbedingungen und der dadurch verkürzten Wachstumsphase auf die sensorischen Parameter der Sorte Princess

Organic Sensory Information System – a European project that cares about organic taste at BioFach 2009

At the session at BioFach 2009 the following papers were presented: - ECROPOLIS (EU 7FP): Introduction and goals (Gabriela S. Wyss, co-ordinator, FiBL) - Sensory research and organic products (Kirsten Buchecker, WP leader sensory analysis, ttz) - Market potential of organic products through sensory research (Achim Spiller, WP leader market needs and solutions, University of Göttingen) - Regulatory framework and effect of taste (Otto Schmid, Co-WP leader market needs and solutions, FiBL) - Experiences in Germany and impact for SME/SME Associations (Elke Röder, WP leader dissemination and training, BNN