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Describes the first fully integrated software program for hygiene management for food processors; a look at the company which developed it; the reasons behind its development; and who in the workplace uses it. The software provides manufacturers with complete control over all aspects of hygiene. It is particularly applicable to short‐life/high‐care products such as sandwiches and snack foods. In this rapidly growing industry sector, major sandwich retailers are increasingly insisting that suppliers provide hygiene audits and compliance with the new European Food Safety Inspection Scheme (EFSIS) before they will accept products from a supplier.

This research aims at creating a model that could explain consumers’ value perception of restaurants attended on Sundays in the city of São Paulo. The research was carried out in two phases. The first was an exploratory research – a focus‐group type with two groups of eight individuals each, whose objective was to discover the main variables that impact the value perception of consumers who attend restaurants on Sundays. Thus, a balanced Likert‐type scale was generated, with seven levels of concurrence. The scale was submitted to five experts for a theoretical validation and was applied to a nonprobabilistic sample pursuant to the judgment of 360 consumers with the same profile as of those of the focus group. Then, in a second phase, validation of the scale by the confirmatory factor analysis method was provided as well as the building and analysis of five causal models by the method of structural equation modeling and the five‐hypotheses test. The final model with a better adjustment (hypothesis 1) was composed of PRICE as an endogenous variable and ENVIRONMENT, SERVICE, FOOD, and HYGIENE as exogenous variables. Such conclusions allow the perception of the decision process in relation to restaurant selection in two phases: (1) when a group of restaurants is chosen, and (2) the moment when the PRICE variable takes over the role of defining the value offered by each restaurant, which will motivate the selection.

The new Fair Trading measure aims at the establishment of a strong, bioadly‐based central direction of consumer protection; a new Director‐General of Fair Trading with wide responsibilities “for protecting consumers” with authority to “make proposals for the exercise of order‐making powers in relation to trading practices which adversely affect consumer interests”, and “to act against those who persistently follow a course of conduct unfair to consumers”. This supremo is to work closely with the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the Restrictive Practices Board, and no less than five junior Ministers are to be given special responsibilities for protecting consumer interests, handling these aspects of the new system in their own departments.

The health and social care sector is receiving growing attention due to the increased life expectancy and to the public demand for a better quality of life and better health services. New cost-efficient approaches are required, and the paper aims to present and discuss the main results of a study undertaken in a Portuguese municipality on the perceived relevance of an e-marketplace of social and healthcare services for the inhabitants in general, and for people with special needs in particular, and the identification of the most relevant services to be offered through this platform.

A wide survey was undertaken to identify the needs of potential users and their expectancies with relation to the proposed platform. The results of the study are a support for the project promoters to understand the viability of the solution and the requirements to the deployment of the pilot experiment, as well as to drive the selection of domains of activities/classes of services to be offered by the platform.

Services such as information about healthcare services, home monitoring/accompanying services 24 hours per day, and personal hygiene services provided at home are the ones recognized by the inquired citizens as the most important, which indicates that the potential users will be mostly people with special needs or their family or caregivers.

While still at a preliminary development phase, the project represents a good opportunity to develop a totally innovative service with high potential impact for the senior population and for individuals with special needs.

At each New Year we stand at the threshold of fresh scenes and hopes, of opportunities and pastures new. It is the time for casting off shackles and burdens that have weighed us down in the old year; almost a new chapter of life. We scan the prevailing scene for signs that will chart the year's unrolling and beyond, and hope profoundly for a smooth passage. The present is largely the product of the past, but of the future, who knows? Man therefore forever seems to be entering upon something new—a change, a challenge, events of great portent. This, of course, is what life is all about. Trends usually precede events, often by a decade or more, yet it is a paradox that so many are taken by surprise when they occur. Trends there have been and well marked; signs, too, for the discerning. In fields particular, they portend overall progress; in general, not a few bode ill.

Matching supply and demand in services by capacity management has a direct influence on the ability of the service delivery system to achieve service quality and resource productivity targets. Examines some propositions for the influences of capacity management on quality and resource productivity and for managing capacity. In addition to the chase and level strategies for managing capacity in services suggested by Sasser a coping strategy for capacity management is described which aims to improve the overall delivery of service quality while achieving resource productivity targets. Coping is necessary for all organizations at some time. Some research results derived from the experience of a range of service organizations indicate a less than satisfactory handling of the coping situation.

Looks at CaterClean, a new service from Rentokil Hygiene Division, which combines deep cleaning with rapid‐result testing. Outlines what the programme involves and concludes that this service will help operators to satisfy themselves, their customers and the enforcement authorities that they reach the required hygiene standards.

The role of care as a critical influence on child nutrition, health, and development has received increasing attention in the last decade. While the role of care has been well elaborated at a conceptual level, we still lack simple valid and reliable tools to measure many aspects of care. Psychosocial care includes the behaviors and practices that support children's healthy growth and psychosocial development. The research presented here constitutes one of the first attempts to quantify some of the various dimensions of child‐care practices (namely type, quality, and frequency) and to summarize the information into a composite, age‐specific index of child‐care practices. The main purpose of this research is to examine, specifically within the context of Pakistan, which of the maternal and household characteristics constituted more severe constraints to the provision of good child care. The main findings of this research have important policy implications. They suggest that specific training in child feeding and the use of preventive health services for poor mothers with little formal education could have a large impact on the growth of children living in impoverished environments.

This paper seeks to estimate importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers.

The study applies multivariate statistical tools to estimate importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers. In addition, the authors analysed the consumption patterns, impact of hygiene and nutritional values, and rating of various attributes of McDonald's and Nirula's.

Results indicate that the young Indian consumer has passion for visiting fast food outlets for fun and change but home food is their first choice. They feel homemade food is much better than food served at fast food outlets. They have the highest value for taste and quality (nutritional values) followed by ambience and hygiene. Three dimensions (service and delivery dimension, product dimension, and quality dimension) of fast food outlets' attributes are identified based on factor analysis results. The two fast food outlets' rating differs significantly on the seven attributes. McDonald's scores are higher on all attributes except “variety”. Further, consumers feel that fast food outlets must provide additional information on nutritional values and hygiene conditions inside kitchen.

Fast food providers need to focus on quality and variety of food besides other service parameters. There is need to communicate the information about hygiene and nutrition value of fast food which will help in building trust in the food provided by fast food players.

Estimates importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers.

Total quality management (TQM) principles are now being applied in service industries in the UK, following their perceived success in manufacturing industries, with the particular aim of improving service quality. In financial services the impetus behind the adoption of quality programmes is increased competition and higher customer expectations. Studies of the introduction of quality programmes into service organizations in the UK are as yet few, but both these and the large number of studies of TQM in manufacturing point to the need for high levels of motivation and involvement by staff, and the significance of job satisfaction and of employment policies. Reports on an investigation into the introduction of TQM into two major banks in the UK, with a special focus on the reactions of employees. Highlights their success and limitations in two case studies, and draws out the lessons to be learned by senior management and human resources departments.