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We discuss food security within the context of welfare economics. We review models of commodity price stabilization brought about by government storage, and/or the private sector. We use data on the stocks of major commodities to discuss the implications of storage models on food security.

The impact of storage on food security is discussed within the context of welfare economics.

Storage is not necessarily a solution to solving long-term world food problems. Also, at times in history, countries such as the United States have accumulated large stocks of commodities such as wheat, which turned out to be a costly policy.

While food insecurity is a major issue worldwide, the solution does not entirely lie in governments being heavily involved in managing and owning food stocks. The private sector manages stocks as a part of commercial transactions. The government’s role is to provide food from stockholdings in times of emergency situations.

Consumer food handling behaviour is important in preventing food borne disease and this paper proposes examining consumer behaviour and knowledge concerning food storage and disposal.

Interviews and observations were used to investigate the storage methods and the storage durations of various categories of food products as well as the consumers' motives when they decide to throw away food products. The temperature of their refrigerators was also measured.

The results demonstrate that consumers deal with meat and dairy products relatively hygienically, but the storage of products in other categories is more likely to lead to risks; especially because of high storage temperatures. The study also shows that the elderly handle food differently from younger people.

Knowledge of the recommended storage methods and the consequences of consuming out‐of‐date foodstuffs have not been investigated. This could be dealt with in a supplemental research.

The elderly have a different purchasing policy. The older consumer of the future is likely to act differently to the present day elderly with respect to the disposal of food products.

Reveals that consumer education about food safety, in particular food storage and food handling is recommended.

The aim of the paper is to shed light on the use of chitosans and chitooligosaccharides as biopreservatives in various foods animal. Foods of animal and aquatic origin (milk, meat, fish, eggs, sea foods, etc) become contaminated with a wide range of microorganisms (bacteria, molds and yeasts) during harvesting, transporting, processing, handling and storage operations. Due to the perishable nature of these foods, their preservation is of utmost importance. Though many synthetic chemicals are available, yet their use is quite restricted due to their hazardous effects on human health.

Within the domain of food industry, traditionally chitosan is used for biopreservation of foods, which is well known for its nutritional and medicinal properties in human nutrition. However, chitooligosaccharides also possess a number of nutraceutical and health promoting properties in addition to their preservative effect and shelf-life extension of foods. In this study, the comparative effects of both chitosan and chitooligosaccharides on preservation of foods of animal and aquatic origin have been summarized.

Though chitosan has been extensively studied in various foods, yet the use of chitooligosaccharides has been relatively less explored. Chitooligosaccharides are bioactive molecules generated from chitosan and have several advantages over the traditional use of chitosan both in food products and on human health. But unfortunately, little or no literature is available on the use of chitooligosaccharides for preservation of some of the foods of animal origin. Notable examples in this category include cheese, beef, pork, chicken, fish, sea foods, etc.

This paper focuses on the effects of chitosans and chitooligosaccharides on the processing and storage quality of foods of animal and aquatic origin, which offers a promising future for the development of functional foods.

Students living in university residence halls often have refrigerators for food storage, and are often living alone and handling food for the first time in their lives. Therefore, an investigation of their safe food storage practices is important to help prevent food-borne illness in this population. This research seeks to evaluate the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices related to food storage and refrigeration among undergraduate students at a university campus.

A cross-sectional study was conducted by administering a questionnaire to undergraduate students (n = 93) living in two residence halls on a university campus.

Many respondents (43.3 percent) were unaware of the maximum temperature a refrigerator should be set at to prevent microbial growth, while 83.7 percent reported ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ checking the temperature of their refrigerator using a thermometer. Many respondents (43.1 percent) incorrectly ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that the smell and appearance of food can be used as an indicator for food safety, and 64.1 percent self-reported often or always using this practice. Respondents that were born outside of Canada had more positive food storage attitudes, while those that identified as Caucasian had higher knowledge scores. A positive correlation was identified between knowledge and attitude scores (r = 0.217) but neither were significantly associated with practice scores.

The study revealed gaps in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of university students living in residence halls related to safe food storage. Hence, there is a need to increase awareness and education in this population on key food storage practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the food storage temperature in Swedish household refrigerators, to determine whether students use the best-before-date label to determine food edibility, and to examine if the study increased the students’ interest and knowledge regarding these issues.

In total, 1,812 students, enrolled at 72 Swedish schools, analysed the temperature on different shelves in their family refrigerator using thermometers (Moller-Therm (+0.5/−0.1 °C) and instructions provided by their teachers. A questionnaire dealing with the issues of date labelling, food safety, refrigerator storage and food wastage was completed by the teachers.

The temperature at the back of middle shelves was coldest (average 4.8 °C; SD 3.1). A relatively high proportion of food items were stored at higher temperatures than recommended. The use-by date had been exceeded for 30 per cent of products, but the students did not rate these as inedible. According to the teachers, the investigation increased interest and knowledge among their students of date labelling, food hygiene, refrigerator storage and food waste.

Thermometers were used to measure air temperature on different shelves in the family refrigerator. Data collection was not controllable, as the students measured without supervision.

The teachers reported that the study increased interest and knowledge among their students regarding cold food storage.

This way of teaching food safety would meet the aim of generally increasing food safety knowledge in society, which might have a positive impact on public health.

The use of school-children as data collectors to determine refrigerator temperatures in private homes is a novel approach, which was an efficient way of teaching relevant facts as well as collecting large amounts of data.

The utilisation of food waste/by‐products helps to increase produce recovery and enhances nutrition in low‐cost food without any appreciable increase in product cost. The storage behaviour of the product must be studied before commercialisation of the product. This paper aims to focus on this process.

Extrudates (25 g) prepared under optimised conditions of proportion (rice flour, pulse powder and carrot pomace), moisture content, screw speed and die temperature, were sealed using a polythene sealing machine in LDPE bags and aluminium laminated LDPE bags. The bags were then stored for six months in an incubator at temperature of 38±2°C to evaluate the stability of the product. The extrudates were analysed for change in colour, hardness, moisture content and sensory characteristics.

Zero‐ and first‐order models were fitted for prediction purposes. The minimum overall change in color ΔE value, minimum increase in moisture content and minimum increase in hardness was observed in aluminium laminated LDPE bags. The zero order model better predicted the variation of L*, b*, ΔE, moisture content and hardness during storage, whereas first order model was better fitted for the a* value.

The carrot pomace has the potential to be used as a food ingredient that enhances the nutritional attributes of products along with a reduction in cost. Extruded products were successfully developed in the laboratory using carrot pomace as one of the ingredients. This study evaluates the kinetic changes during the storage of carrot pomace based extruded snacks.

This paper aims to review scientific contributions that are essential to reduce the challenges to food security in Africa through food processing and appropriate storage technologies.

Several literature studies on the role of food processing and appropriate storage technologies in ensuring food security and food availability in Africa were critically reviewed.

The study revealed that the world faces multiple challenges to food security including under nutrition and overconsumption, rising food prices, population growth, rapid diet transitions, threats to agricultural production, inefficient production practices and supply chains and declining investment in food system research. Many people lack adequate amounts of foods that are rich in the nutrients needed for a healthy and productive life. According to FAO, 1996, chronic undernutrition affects 43 per cent of the Africa’s population or some 215 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Food security is highly instrumental to the economic growth and sustainability of any country. The use of simple but effective on- and off-farm storage facilities and agro-processing technology should be promoted to add value to products and increase their shelf-life. The Strategic Grain Reserve Scheme should be modernized, strengthened and upgraded to a National Food Reserve Program, which will enable it to handle all staples and essential food products. This will help in attainment of national food security goal. It is also crucial to promote and develop agro-processing in the various African countries for the evolution of virile agro-allied industries and rural micro-enterprises.

The paper reviewed the role of food processing and appropriate food storage technologies in ensuring food security and availability in Africa. There are insufficient data and information on adoption of new food processing and appropriate storage technologies in Africa. Although, there have been some instances where the introduction of modern techniques has resulted in products rejection by consumers.

The paper helps in reviewing food situation in Africa and how to make food available for the people and Africa food secured.

This paper revealed strategies that could be used to improve food security and ensuring food availability in Africa.

This review paper is of value to policymakers, government agencies responsible for food quality control and assurance and consumers to make food available and affordable for the people.

Foodborne illnesses are often related to raw and cooked poultry and meat, eggs, and their products. Consumer practices related to these foods have been studied in many countries, however, little comparison has been made among different countries. The purpose of this paper is to characterize consumers’ purchase, storage, handling, and preparation of poultry products and eggs in four European countries: Russia, Estonia, Italy, and Spain.

Approximately 100 selected consumers in each location completed a questionnaire that included sections about poultry products and eggs purchase temperatures and locations, storage locations such as refrigerator, freezer, or cabinet, and preparation such as washing eggs and poultry before cooking, and the use of cutting boards.

Although educating consumers in European countries is common, some food safety aspects may need to be additionally addressed. The results indicated differences in purchase and storage practices of raw eggs. In Russia and Estonia consumers who participated in the study purchased both refrigerated and room temperature eggs whereas in Italy (84 percent) and Spain (87 percent) eggs typically were purchased at room temperature. However, almost all consumers in all countries stored eggs in the refrigerator. In Russia 70 percent of the consumers who participated in the study immediately froze raw meat, poultry, or seafood after purchase; while in other countries about a quarter of the consumers froze the raw meat.

This research was limited by the number of respondents in each country that does not allow extrapolation of results.

Food preparation practices revealed behavior that supports cross-contamination during cooking, such as washing raw poultry and eggs. A uniform approach to food safety practices related research, such as presented in this study, would help define overlapping critical points in consumer behavior and create educational messages based on the information gathered.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for mapping the Indian Public Distribution System (PDS) using multi-agent system (MAS). The entire PDS supply chain from purchase to the distribution is mapped in detail by integrating stages of PDS supply chain.

Literature related to PDS, food grain supply chain (FGSC) and MAS is reviewed and critically assessed. Based on this a framework is proposed which will help in improving functioning of PDS.

The PDS has many shortcomings arising from its complex structure and practices which are used to implement it. The authors propose an MAS to model it in which each entity will be modelled as an agent. The authors propose two stages of supply chain. First stage models the processes from procurement to storage of food grain and second stage model the distribution process.

This paper will be of interest to the policy makers and decision makers involved in the PDS by providing the shortfalls in the system and also suggesting a method to model the PDS based on practices of food supply chains.

This paper provides the decision makers in the PDS, a framework to model and assess the entire supply chain. This will help them in effective implementation of the PDS and also improve in the areas of concerns which are pointed the study.

A Report by the Institute of Food Technologists' Expert Panel on Food Safety and Nutrition & the Committee on Public Information