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This research delineates the interdependencies between e-service quality (e-SQ), product quality (PQ) and food biosafety measures (FBM) in shaping consumer satisfaction and loyalty within the online food delivery services (OFDS) landscape. Anchored by the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the study integrates these frameworks to examine how perceived service efficiency, reliability, product appeal and biosafety protocols contribute to overall consumer trust and repurchase intentions.

Surveys were conducted on several 100 online food delivery app users, ages 20 to 64, in major cities in Colombia, which provided data for structural equation modeling analysis.

The analysis revealed that reliable, responsive service and appealing food presentation significantly influence consumer perceptions of behind-the-scenes safety protocols during delivery. Strict standards around mitigating contamination risks and verifiable handling at each point further engender trust in the platform and intentions to repurchase among users. The data cement proper food security as pivotal for customer retention.

Quantitatively confirming biosafety’s rising centrality provides an impetus for platforms to integrate and promote integrity, safety and traceability protection as a competitive differentiator.

The study’s originality lies in its comprehensive exploration of the OFDS quality attributes and their direct impact on consumer loyalty. Besides, it offers valuable insights for both academic and practical implications in enhancing service delivery and marketing strategies.

This paper seeks to provide an in‐depth discussion on the impact of agricultural biotechnology in developing and least developed countries (LDCs) as well as the concomitant biosafety concerns that might have an impact on trade and the environment whilst highlighting the importance of choosing development pathways that are conducive to the specific needs of these nations without endangering the biodiversity and affecting people's health.

The paper adopts a socio‐legal approach by undertaking a content analysis of decided cases, relevant treaties and existing studies conducted in areas related to agricultural biotechnology within the framework of sustainable development imperatives.

The paper suggests that developing countries venturing into agricultural biotechnology need to enrich the technology according to their needs and capabilities in order to be able to weigh the benefits against the risks in the production and import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) specifically via the implementation of the “precautionary principle” and viable “risk assessment” techniques which conform to their existing international law obligations in view of the findings that most of these nations have not formulated adequate legal and institutional frameworks supported with the necessary expertise to regulate, monitor, and ensure safety of agricultural GMOs produced and/or imported by them.

The issues and suggestions in this paper will enable the development process of developing and least developed economies to conform to the tenets of sustainable development and minimize the loss of Earth's biodiversity.

The paper is of practical use to stakeholders and policymakers alike venturing into agricultural biotechnology. It pools the findings of a cross‐section of studies to look at the implications therein and the arising biosafety and trade issues with special reference to developing and LDCs.

Transgenic crops have been increasingly adopted, produced and commercialized throughout the world. Correspondingly, the management of intellectual property rights concerning transgenic crops has gained importance. In this context, it is necessary to understand the status quo of transgenic crop production, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general scenario of transgenic crops and their growth around the world, especially in Latin America.

A literature review was carried out to determine the status of intellectual property protection, production and commercialization of transgenic crops.

Opinions concerning the risks and benefits of adopting transgenics are markedly divided. Its presence in the agricultural sector has undoubtedly taken a firm hold in different parts of the world. Nevertheless, there are some areas of the international transgenics industry that need further and ongoing discussion and assessment, such as biosafety, intellectual property, regulation and legislation, among others. Additionally, in developing countries, and especially in the case of Latin America, other relevant issues to be addressed are associated with the conservation of local plant varieties and the preservation of cultural values, as well as the development of endogenous technology to solve local problems and the integration of farmers and the society at large and their interests into the discussion.

The most significant limitation of the present study was the lack of available data. Future studies using larger data sets will allow for more robust statistical analyses. Additionally, country-specific studies focused on the most important crops, those that each country grows intensively, are necessary for a better insight into the global dynamics of the sector; these studies must stress the intellectual property mechanisms used and address biosafety and regulatory issues, among other areas.

The present study represents a starting point for establishing schemes to facilitate the proper development and management of transgenic technology based on regional interests and the guiding principles of ethics and biosecurity.

Globalization has affected science inevitably with a motto of ‘Knowledge conquers the mind’. However, global efforts and harmonization are needed and are established through international rules, laws, norms and standards. The potentially positive and negative results of globalization have altered the production relations and complicated the demographic scale.

Genetic modification (GM) has been called “the new biotechnology” and has been hailed as a leading enabling technology, facilitating major innovation in health care, as well as in the chemical, agricultural and food sectors. GM techniques facilitate the combination of DNA which would not occur naturally and, although there are no records of disease or accidents associated with GM work, potential risks do exist. Legislation designed to ensure that workers are adequately protected against hazards also limits the risk of environmental damage. Human error plays an important role in accident causation; therefore appropriate instruction, supervision and training for personnel working with GM/GMOs (genetically modified organisms) is essential. This article reviews the regulatory controls for GM work and discusses the findings of a preliminary study undertaken to identify the level, content, format and extent of biosafety training currently provided at sites undertaking GM work. While high levels of biosafety training were reported, the content, organisation and management varied between the establishments undertaking GM work. Recommendations are made regarding the management of biosafety training including the need to establish competency levels for all those working with, and supervising and managing work with, GMOs.

Modern new biotechnology has the potential to provide major economic and other benefits, but at the same time it poses potential hazards for human health, the environment, the “natural” biological order, and can have adverse socio‐economic consequences. The application of such technology frequently violates traditional ethical, moral and religious values. This paper, after outlining possible benefits of modern new biotechnologies, discusses the type of biosafety risks which they pose, their possible adverse consequences for the sustainability of biodiversity and agriculture and their potential impacts on socioeconomic welfare and traditional cultures. Particular concern is expressed about the possible consequences of such technologies for developing countries and the practice in some developed countries of issuing patents conferring very broad rights over the use of genetically engineered material. Because these rights are so broad, in some cases they have the potential to establish powerful multinational monopolies in the hands of private companies. Global debate about these issues suggests that more emphasis should be given globally to the socio‐economic consequences of such technology than in the past. The need for this is highlighted by the North‐South divide. Developing countries lag considerably in this new technological field, are placed in a dependent position and have weak institutional structures to control the application of such technology.

When genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were put into the international trade, people in many countries, especially European countries, became skeptical of them. A perception developed that they are harmful to human, animal, plant life and health, and destructive to the environment. It is true that if there is no safe use of genetically modified living organisms (LMOs), other species might be affected causing loss to the environment. So as to ensure safe use of LMOs and GMOs, the Cartagena Protocol and the SPS Agreement were, respectively, made. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine both the legal instruments and to explore ways to make them co‐existent, so that human, animal, plant life and health, and the environment are protected without affecting the international trade in LMOs and GMOs.

This paper undertakes a critical examination of the issues surrounding GMOs and LMOs.

The Cartagena Protocol and the SPS Agreement serve two different purposes. It is for this reason that some of their provisions are not co‐extensive. But the conflict in them can be resolved. It is suggested that the provisions pertaining to the precautionary principle of the SPS Agreement should be brought in line with that of the Cartagena Protocol. It is also suggested that importing countries should conduct their own risk assessment preferably by following the CODEX procedure. In no case, risk assessment done by producing companies should be taken as conclusive.

If suggestions offered by the paper are followed, the two will then protect the human, animal and plant health and the environment in the best possible way.

For achieving its object, the paper presents a comparative assessment of the cases decided under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Purpose – New genetically modified (GM) crops are novel but risky interventions, offering a variety of potential benefits but also the possibility of serious unintended consequences. I address the regulatory framework for GM crops, seeking protection from disproportionate risks without unduly stifling innovation.

Approach – Conditions that may justify precautionary interventions are identified, and an idealized regulatory protocol (screening, pre-release testing, and post-release surveillance, STS) is developed to provide protection, encourage research and learning, and focus-in quickly on the cases that pose serious threats of harm. This protocol is adapted to the case of GM crops, and compared with current regulatory practice in the United States, the EU, and Canada, as well as international agreements exemplified by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Two real-world cases are considered, Starlink® corn and Roundup-Ready® canola, and some speculations are offered as to how the stylized protocol might have handled them.

Findings for policy – Pre-release, US regulatory practice is more fragmented and incomplete than the stylized protocol; EU practice is more systematic and streamlined, but some critics perceive over-regulation; and Canadian regulatory practice is more consistent with the protocol. Only the EU performs systematic post-release surveillance. International agreements have various weaknesses, beginning with fragmentation: for example, food safety and biosafety are regulated separately.

Implications for further research – Embracing the STS framework opens a broad new avenue of research about to how the mix of pre-release testing and post-release surveillance might be streamlined to provide adequate protection while reducing further the costs and delays entailed.

Most research ethic review procedures refer to the principles of safety and security only as sub-criteria of other ethical principles such as the protection of human subjects in research, thereby ignoring the public good aspect of safety and security. In addition, Research Ethics Review Committees (RECs) are usually dominated by philosophers, ethicists, medical doctors, and lawyers with limited practical backgrounds in safety and security risk management. This gap of knowledge restricts ethics reviews in carrying out project-specific safety and security risk management and defers this responsibility to lawmakers and national legal authorities. What might be sufficient in well-regulated and well-understood environments, such as the safety of individuals during clinical research, is insufficient in managing rapidly changing and emerging risks – such as with emerging biotechnologies – as well as addressing the public good dimension of safety and security.

This chapter considers governance approaches to safety and security in research. It concludes that legal mechanisms are insufficient to cope with the complexity of and the fast progress made in emerging technologies. The chapter also addresses the role and potential of research ethics as a safety and security governance approach. It concludes that research ethics can play an important role in the governance of such risks arising from emerging technologies, for example through fundamental rights and public good considerations. However, in reality the current capacity of ethics in the safety and security governance of emerging technologies is limited. It is argued that in newly emerging areas of research currently applied legal compliance–based approaches are insufficient. Instead, inclusion of fundamental risk management knowledge and closer interactions between scientists, safety, and security experts are needed for effective risk management. Safety and Security Culture provide frameworks for such interactions and would well complement the current legal compliance–based governance approaches in research ethics.

Purpose – The chapter provides a comprehensive review of trade-related regulations of genetically modified (GM) food, identifies their main effects, and analyzes the main motivations behind their support.

Methodology/approach – The analysis is substantiated by (a) results from the literature on GM food regulations and (b) comparative statics results from a simplified three-country partial equilibrium welfare and political economic model.

Findings – The analysis shows that in a non-GM producing country, trade-related regulations will benefit producers, but not necessarily consumers. Producers' support is found to be instrumental to push for a ban, for information requirements on shipments, or for mandatory labeling of GM food products. Outside pressure groups will play the role of swing voters in cases where consumers and producers do not agree.

Research limitations/implications – The analytical model is based on simplifying assumptions on the groups and market effects of each regulation. Future research is needed to empirically validate some of the main results.

Originality/value of the chapter – The goal of the chapter is to inform economic and policy researchers on the effects of GM food trade-related regulations. The chapter provides an updated comprehensive overview of the key trade regulations of GM food. It uses a unique model to derive the main welfare effects of GM food regulations. By comparing the effects of GM food regulations in different types of countries for different pressure groups, the findings provide new insights in this area.