Search results

I have four problems with food. First, I am middle aged and worry about food in relation to my heart, my bowels, spots and virility. Secondly, my wife is a very good cook. Thirdly, I have about one hundred and fifty bakery students in my department and there is a ready supply of goodies available and they get hurt if I don't sample them. Fourthly, I am a food microbiologist by training and very wary of eating out and if left to my own devices would try and live on a diet of well cooked steak and malt whisky. I realise that point four partially cancels out the other three but it hardly represents a balanced diet.

We are growing accustomed to shock tactics of the US Administration in dealing with toxic residues in food or additives which are a hazard to man, as well as the daily press infusing sensation, even melodrama, into them, but the recent action of the FDA in calling in from the food market several million cans of tuna and other deep sea fish because of the presence of mercury has had the worthwhile effect of drawing world attention to the growing menace of environmental pollution. The level of mercury in the fish is immaterial; it should never have been there at all, but it stresses the importance of the food chain in the danger to man and animal life generally, including fish beneath the sea. Without underestimating risks of pollution in the atmosphere from nuclear fission products, from particulate matter carried in the air by inhalation or even skin absorption, food and drink, which includes aqua naturale would seem to be the greatest danger to life. What these recent events illustrate in a dramatic manner, however, is the extent of pollution.

We invited two Ernst & Young consultants familiar with decision‐support software to test Alacrity's “expert system” for strategy development. Their review provides a detailed assessment of Alacrity's strengths and weaknesses to help you clarify your purchasing decision process.

The need for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to support evidence‐based services to improve outcomes for children is increasingly recognised by researchers and policy‐makers. However, this brings a pressing requirement to build research capacity for conducting RCTs and to address the concerns of practitioners who may be suspicious about the method. This article reviews a variety of texts on the subject, ranging from analyses of the historical and political context of RCTs, to concise introductions of the key methodological and practical issues, to more in‐depth discussions of complex designs and statistics. The article seeks to help readers navigate these resources by focusing on seven questions that seem particularly salient for those considering whether and how to commission, undertake, participate in or use results from RCTs.

A.—The following conditions apply to producers only :—

Wine exports from Australia are expected to double within the next five years and much of this growth has been forecasted to occur in the traditionally non‐wine drinking countries of the Pacific Rim. This paper, based on lengthy interviews with importers, agents, and buyers for various retail institutions in Thailand, uses a case study approach to argue that export strategies based on successful entry into the UK and US markets will be less efficient in the Pacific Rim. A detailed analysis of the market structure, including the types of wines and strategies of institutions from the top to the bottom end of the price spectrum is presented. The success of Australian producers entering the Thai market will be achieved only by changing the strategy they have used in the UK and US. A stronger focus on Australia must be made along with the use of fewer, but bigger agents and distributors. Marketing strategies for each type of retail institution are provided as well.

The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought within measurable distance the Regulations which were, in any case, promised for1975. The Group consider that the extension of voluntary open date marking systems will not be sufficiently rapid (or sufficiently comprehensive) to avoid the need or justify the delay in introducing legislation.

This paper aims to highlight the unique challenges posed to corporations by the explosion of political speech in the workplace and proposes best practices for handling them. The polarization of opinion taking place across many countries and the use of social media to propagate and debate these opinions has created huge new pressures for employers dealing with political speech in the workplace. Regulating political discussion in a work setting while preserving freedom of speech requires employers to walk a fine line, especially when that speech is critical of corporate policy. Enlightened consistency, clarity and common sense are key.

The author uses a variety of recent controversies on the subject of political speech in the workplace in different countries to suggest some rules for managing this increasingly contentious topic.

A review of real-world cases suggests that political speech in the workplace will always be messy, but employers can mitigate the damage that can be done by enlightened consistency and, above all, clarity about what is permissible.

By definition, the sample of incidents reviewed is limited, and the conclusions drawn are the subjective views of the author.

By following the principles proposed, employers should be able to regulate political speech in the workplace in ways that preserve individual freedoms without jeopardizing the enterprise.

In a world in which private and public personas are no longer separate, having sensible and effective rules about political speech in the workplace should lead to reduced tensions and a greater feeling of empowerment for people with strongly held beliefs.

While the subject of political speech in the workplace has received considerable attention, the author is not aware of any treatment that proposes new principles for employers in handling such speech.

The proceedings of a conference on the future of union catalogues, the recent Unesco guidelines on the compilation of union catalogues of serials and a book on future access to information and documents in France are discussed.

In last month's issue of the Journal we published an abstract of the Annual Report of the Public Analyst for the City of Salford, Mr. H. H. Bagnall, B.Sc., F.I.C., and we gave particular prominence to that portion of his report which related to the analyses of seven samples of toffee. The instances of gross exaggeration and falsehood in advertisements to which Mr. Bagnall calls attention are really very much akin to the misdescription of an article upon the label, and such procedure should undoubtedly be a punishable offence. It is an unfortunate fact that exaggeration or misrepresentation are not uncommon features of the claims made in advertisements of the present day, but if public attention is called to blatant examples of this kind, much may be done towards educating the purchaser to realise that laudatory statements made by a manufacturer in regard to his own goods are at best biassed and in many cases false and misleading. Unimpeachable and independent testimony is the only thing which can carry conviction to the purchaser.