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Milk and yoghurt provide essential sources of nutrition throughout the life cycle in the Irish diet. Health claims on dairy product labels were popular in the 1980s, and since the introduction of the nutrition and health claims (NHC) Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 in 2007, many new regulated claims have been used to communicate product benefits. Meanwhile, COVID-19 and the Farm to Fork strategy have heightened consumer awareness of health issues. All of these factors have contributed to a change in our food environment and interest in health. In addition, the European Commission is working to introduce a legislative proposal on nutrient profiles (NP) to restrict the use of NHC on foods that are high in salt, fat or sugar. This qualitative study aims to research knowledge on adults’ attitudes, perceptions and behaviour towards NHC on dairy products.

The study used a thematic analysis using transcripts from a series of discussion groups, attended by adults (n = 24). The participants also completed an introductory questionnaire.

The study noted positive attitudes towards dairy protein. This attitude was common across age, gender or life stage. There were misperceptions regarding yoghurt composition and health benefits. There were negative perceptions of low-fat nutrition claims on yoghurt, which led to a preference for full-fat dairy products. This requires further insight and research.

Participants from a wider socio-demographic group could have broadened the research limits of this project.

These findings will interest policymakers, regulators, dieticians and the food industry.

In response to increasing public health concerns about processed meat consumption, many innovations in meat technology focus on health-oriented product reformulations. Processed meat is not a homogeneous food category. The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer perception of the “healthier” reformulation of different processed meat products using two approaches: salt and fat reduction; and enrichment with healthy ingredients.

Seven focus group interviews were carried out with 40 Irish regular meat consumers (30 female, ten male) who were solely or jointly responsible for food shopping. Two rounds of card sorting procedures were employed to reveal perceptions on reformulation of 20 different processed meat products. Thematic analysis was used for analysing transcripts.

Health and flavour concerns and product popularity were the main factors influencing participants’ perceptions. Some participants were unsure or had misconceptions about the healthiness of certain meat products. Participants suggested reducing salt and fat content in processed meat products they perceived as the least healthy ones (theme 1) and improving the healthiness of products which were favoured by children (theme 2) and those meat products which people consumed regularly as a source of protein (theme 3). Participants were not in favour of any reformulation of speciality-type products (theme 4).

Consumer insights identified in this study can inform future approaches to making processed meats healthier.

This study aims to investigate whether nutrition knowledge impacts on the credibility and purchase behaviour of foodstuffs that make health claims.

The UCD Food and Health Survey is a monthly online survey, which began in November 2008. In March 2009, participants were asked a series of questions pertaining to nutrition and health claims and 665 completed questionnaires were included for analysis. Participants' level of nutrition knowledge was measured using a combined and modified version of Parmenter and Wardle's General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (1999) and that of Hawkes and Nowak (1998). Perceived credibility was gauged using a semantic differential scale and the questionnaire was designed to also assess participants' purchasing behaviour of functional foods.

Females scored significantly higher than males for nutrition knowledge (p=0.004) but there was no significant difference in nutrition knowledge between age groups. “Reduces feelings of hunger” was deemed the most credible claim. With the exception of “This yogurt drink will strengthen your bones and teeth”, there was no difference in credibility between high and low nutrition knowledge groups. Health claims were more credible to participants when found on yogurt and breakfast cereal when compared with pasta and chocolate. Products claiming to reduce cholesterol were purchased more in the previous month than any of the other products and the same product was purchased statistically more often by those participants in the older age group.

A limitation of this study was that the panel were younger and more formally educated than the general public. They were also more likely to be female. The gender bias may be because the survey was food and health‐based and therefore may not have appealed to men as a more generally themed survey might have done. The results of this study should be considered therefore with this limitation in mind.

People do not consider products with health claims to be a uniform category of foodstuffs and participants' level of nutrition knowledge does not have a significant impact on their behaviour towards products carrying health claims.

Knowledge of nutrition does not impact on people's reactions to products with health claims and different foods demonstrate different levels of credibility as carriers for health claims.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer attitudes towards and interest in enriching processed meat with healthy ingredients (“functional processed meat”).

Seven focus groups across age and gender were conducted. Discussions were analysed using an inductive thematic approach.

Strategies that participants felt as important for improving the healthiness of processed meat mainly included the use of better quality meat and less salt, fat, preservatives and other additives. “Functional processed meat” was a new concept for participants. Four themes were constructed to reflect participants’ attitudes towards functional processed meat: opposing views on processed meat as a carrier of healthy ingredients; belief in the health benefits of functional processed meat; perceived value of functional processed meat for different consumer groups; and trust and perceived risk surrounding the functional food concept. A large proportion of the participants were unconvinced about the concept of functional processed meat; however many of the participants expressed an openness to purchase this food product if taste and price remained uncompromised.

The sample size of the current study is small. Complementary quantitative research with a more representative sample should be implemented. Adopting a quantitative approach, the findings from this study should be explored further to investigate their application in a representative sample of the population.

This study represents a first exploratory investigation of consumer views on functional processed meat. It can inform further consumer and market research in relation to the development of “healthier” processed meat.

The purpose of this paper is to review and compare the scientific and regulatory environments for nutrition and health claims on foodstuffs in the USA, Japan and the European Union.

A review of the literature and the relevant legislation in the three different countries is conducted. Regulations are reviewed and scientific evidence requirements are outlined in each country.

Full regulatory approval for claims across all three countries requires the support of robust scientific evidence. To obtain this, companies must submit comprehensive dossiers and detailed applications to the regulators with full descriptions of the tests and studies completed during product development. However in the USA and Japan, an alternative process exists. A health claim that is suggested but not supported by scientific evidence is known as a qualified health claim and is permitted in the USA and Japan, but not in the EU.

The paper demonstrates the difference in regulatory requirements in different countries which leads to different claims being permitted in different countries. It also leads to different levels of scientific support for similar claims which causes consumer confusion and develops an uneven playing pitch for the industry. Given that the industry operates in a global market place, it is imperative that a consensus is reached as to the level of scientific evidence required to approve a health claim. In that way, consumers can be safeguarded from being misled, consumer confusion will not be a concern and products can be globally distributed in line with the increasing liberalisation of trade.

This paper is of value to regulators and the food industry.

Based upon a six-year research study with a community street soccer programme, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the different faces of the researcher undertaking sensitive research – vulnerable, reflexive, reciprocal, and emotionally fatigued, in addition to the potential impacts on others, including research assistants and transcribers.

The paper draws on detailed notes and observations from a research journal kept throughout the project using an auto-ethnographic approach.

The paper discusses how the author attempted to nurture and protect himself as the person within the researcher, and managed the doubts and stresses faced by those undertaking sensitive research with vulnerable communities.

As more research is undertaken with vulnerable communities, and more researchers share their experiences, the self-care strategies, the author and others have employed may become standard practice for research training and practice.

Adults with intellectual disabilities are the most psychotropically medicated population of all. Non-medically trained care staff with whom these individuals spend the majority of their time are generally poorly trained in issues surrounding psychotropic medication. Much of the research related to the experiences of staff working in intellectual disability services has focused on medically trained professionals, and clients, and has been of a quantitative nature. Very little attention has been paid to care staff, their experiences, and through a qualitative approach. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

The current study employed a semi-structured interview methodology to explore the experiences of, and impact on, care staff in relation to psychotropic medication usage in adults with intellectual disabilities living in long-term residential care. Eight full-time, experienced care staff were interviewed and data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith et al., 2009).

The paper demonstrates an array of concerns for staff, such as the negative impact upon client quality-of-life, the ethical implications of the medications’ regime, and the relationship perceived by care staff with the organisation management; and a significant lack of training. The limited field of previous research demographically comparable to the present paper was analysed for findings.

The paper helps expand the current literature on experiences of care staff for people with intellectual disabilities from their own perspective, explores the emotional impact of the organisation's treatment of clients, and offers a range of recommendations in terms of theory, clinical practice and research.

Infanticide stands out as a crime which, in England and Wales, has been marked for at least 200 years by deep-rooted continuities in its representation and treatment by both the criminal justice system and the media, despite the massive political, economic, social, legislative and cultural changes that occurred over this period. Particularly remarkable about this long-standing discourse is its routine emphasis that the guilty mother is also a victim of tragic circumstances that led to the crime and deserving of sympathetic treatment. It also invariably sets infanticide apart as a ‘special case’ which does not necessarily fit with either medical or legal definitions of diminished criminal responsibility. Perhaps surprisingly, this framing of women who commit infanticide stresses not only their ‘normality’ prior to the offence but also their ‘respectability’, a sharp contrast to the sometimes overtly misogynistic representation of other types of women offenders. This chapter argues that it is above all ‘respectability’ that profoundly shaped the cultural script relating to infanticide in England and Wales between 1800 and 2000, and that this continues to exert a powerful legacy on the relatively small number of cases that now comes before the courts in the twenty-first century.