Search results

This study aims to determine the probiotic potential of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 from Fiti sachets, in four widely consumed pulses, namely, black-eyed pea, pigeon pea, kabuli chickpea and desi chickpea. The secondary objective was to determine the viability of the fermented pulses during 21 days of storage at 4°C.

Each pulse sample was mixed with a Fiti sachet (one gram of freeze-dried consortium of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Streptococcus thermophilus C106) and fermented for up to 120 h. To assess the samples’ storage potential, they were refrigerated at 4°C for 21 days. Microbial enumerations and pH measurements were collected during fermentation and storage to determine the viability and fermentation potential of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Fiti, respectively.

There was a significant (p = 0.01) difference in mean microbial counts in all pulse samples throughout fermentation. At 24 h of fermentation, the mean bacterial count of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 in black-eyed pea, pigeon pea, kabuli chickpea and desi chickpea were 1.32 × 10⁹ ± 0.11, 1.01 × 10⁹ ± 0.16, 1.52 × 10⁹ ± 0.14 and 0.80 × 10⁹ ± 0.05 CFU/mL, respectively. Fermentation of pigeon pea, kabuli chickpea and desi chickpea at 48 h yielded the highest bacterial count for Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 while black-eyed pea reached its highest bacterial count at 72 h of fermentation. The bacterial concentration of all pulse samples remained at around 10⁹ CFU/mL during the refrigeration period of 21 days at 4°C. Furthermore, the pH of all pulse samples were below 4.6 during both fermentation and refrigerated storage.

Since 2004, the Fiti initiative has economically empowered hundreds of women in East Africa by teaching them how to produce and sell probiotic yogurt containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1. As a result, Fiti probiotic yogurt was made accessible to vulnerable populations in East Africa who face malnutrition, infectious diseases and environmental toxins. Because of recent climatic changes, milk has become more expensive and inaccessible for local communities. Furthermore, this study found that black-eyed pea, pigeon pea, kabuli chickpea and desi chickpea can be viable and non-diary probiotic alternatives to the Fiti probiotic yogurt in Eastern Africa. This is also the first study of its kind to provide preliminary evidence showing pulses as non-dairy alternatives to Fiti probiotic yogurt.

Iron deficiency anaemia and zinc deficiency are major public health problems across the globe. Cereals and pulses are important vegetarian source of minerals like zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe), however, poor digestibility impairs proper availability of micro minerals in the body. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) were selected for study as they are important pulse crops consumed worldwide. Therefore, in order to remove antinutrients and enhance bioavailability of nutrients in chickpea and cowpea, extrusion cooking was selected as a technology and its impact was studied by an in vitro method. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Four chickpea cultivars, two desi (K 850 and PUSA 362) and two kabuli (PUSA 1108 and PUSA 1053) and one cowpea (Gomati) cultivars were selected for the study. Pulses were processed in a laboratory using a single screw food extruder. Raw and extruded pulses were analysed for antinutrients content, micronutrients content (Fe, Zn) and their bioavailability.

Extrusion cooking significantly decreased phytate in all cultivars of chick pea and cowpea with highest reduction (72.92 per cent) in PUSA 362; similarly, tannin and trypsin inhibitor decreased by 87.5 and 71.54 per cent, respectively, in Gomati cultivar of cowpea. All cultivars showed significant increase in protein digestibility. Iron bioavailability in all samples enhanced significantly; however, only 50 per cent cultivars (K 850, PUSA 362 and PUSA 1108) showed improvement in Zn bioavailability.

The present research therefore brought the outcome as an enhanced in vitro protein digestibility and bioavailability of micro mineral and protein in certain pulses having minimized antinutrients. Therefore, it is concluded that extrusion cooking is an effective tool in enhancing protein and micro mineral bioavailability.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of hawala in supporting Afghanistan’s business climate. It illustrates the use of hawala as credit and its importance for the local merchant community.

The empirical data presented in this article draws from more than 83 semi-structured interviews with Afghan merchants, business leaders, hawaladars and judicial officials, conducted between March and August 2017 in five major provinces of Afghanistan, namely, Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar. These five provinces collectively represent half of Afghanistan’s economy, one-third of Afghanistan’s total population and more than four-fifth of Afghanistan’s urban population. The commercial courts that sit in these five provinces hear more than 90% of total commercial disputes in the country.

In Afghanistan, despite their reputation for being the bankers of terrorists and criminals, hawaladars primarily serve Afghan merchants – the overwhelming majority of their customers – helping them cope with an uncertain business climate. Within supply chains, Afghan importers rely on credit-hawala to protect themselves from the interruptions of cash flow that are prevalent throughout the Afghan economy.

Drawing on extensive field research, this article highlights how hawala stabilizes financing and markets in Afghanistan, arguing that while hawala regulations are necessary to counter abuse of hawala, regulators must be cognizant of how hawala is used in financing of legitimate businesses, or they will exacerbate the problems of access to credit.

While the historical studies of hawala reveal its inextricable link with trade financing, the current hawala literature completely neglects hawala systems’ contemporary financing role. Instead, the literature is completely dominated by the globalization trend of terrorism, money laundering and worker migration. Neglecting the trade financing role of hawala causes policymakers not to appreciate the impacts of hawala regulations on the trade fully. Overlooking hawalas’ role in financing transnational trade also results in the exclusion of an important group of stakeholders – namely, merchant-users of hawala services who are the main beneficiaries of hawaladars’ financing services – from the process of regulation of hawala systems. The main reason that hawala regulations have failed to gain tractions in countries such as Afghanistan is that these regulations have not been cognizant of the multifaceted functions of hawala markets and do not include all stakeholders in the regulation process.

A central claim of stakeholder theory is that the purpose of business is to create value for various stakeholders. However, managing diverse interests of stakeholders can be challenging in a business environment entrenched with different value systems. Lacking of qualitative narratives and complicated nature of corporate governance perhaps have impeded the stakeholder theory to become a major theory of strategic management and organizational ethics on its own. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the strategic values of stakeholder management.

Three stakeholder management case studies, taken in the context of a large corporatized public organization, were conducted in attempting to amplify the underpinning theories of stakeholder identified by Laplume et al. (2008). Tape-recorded semi-structured interviews were transcribed into texts. To reduce retrospective bias, some typical secondary records were examined.

Stakeholder management can be a core competence that draws resource capabilities throughout a firm for generating desirable triple bottom line results, which also eases the tensions between shareholders and stakeholders of the firm.

Stakeholder management is an organizational mechanism tightly embedded in the firms’ strategic organizing and strategizing routines. It is vital for generating desirable triple bottom line results. This conjures up potential linkages between the stakeholder theory and the resource-based view (RBV) theory as pursuing stakeholder management can be a hard-to-emulate strategic asset within the framework of the RBV theory.

There is relatively scant literature that pays attention on amplifying stakeholder management theory in the public sector organizations. Through the unlocking of some valuable public sector data sets, this research can make a positive contribution in the areas.

According to a report by the Afghan embassy in Delhi, refugees from Afghanistan, estimated at around 30,000 families, have, over the past two and a half decades, fled from their home towns due to large-scale conflicts, seeking safety in India's capital city. Many outsiders call Delhi home, but the Afghan people can claim a special relationship with India and her capital. To understand why, we must recall the history, both the ancient and the modern, of the two nations. There are nearly 11,000 Afghan refugees registered with the UNHCR in India, mainly living in Delhi and bordering areas. The refugees in Delhi face considerable hardships and difficulties. The Indian government and UNHCR should make it a priority to protect these Afghan refugees. While recognition of UNHCR-recognized China and Afghan refugees is greatly appreciated, the Indian government must be sensitive and sensitize others about their situation in Delhi and ensure timely attainment of recognition, registration, residential permits and exit permits without unnecessary cost or delay or corruption. The resettlement program must also be expanded and prioritized for Afghan refugees living in Delhi, particularly within large resettlement countries such as the US without any discrimination based on culture, language or religion. Without adequate and timely protection mechanisms and proper community support structures in place, the protection and assistance to the vulnerable section of society would be hard to attain and resolve.

This study aims to analyze iodine content in various foods and water.

Food and water samples were collected from rural and urban areas of different agroclimatic zones of Haryana State, India, and analyzed for iodine content by a standard method.

A wide variation was observed in the iodine content of cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits and milk. The iodine content in water samples varied from source to source and from zone to zone.

The investigators could not obtain sufficient samples of pulses and fruits for analysis from rural areas as they are not grown by farmers in their fields.

The study is original and innovative. The values of iodine for various foods are not available in the literature, and thus data of the present study will be useful to researchers, nutritionists, food scientists and dieticians.

Times are indeed a‐changing. Once, the night‐owl, roistering the hours of darkness away, could claim that he “came home with the milk!”, but not any more.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of different food choice motives on attitude and, subsequently, the impact of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control on the purchase intention of Pakistani ethnic food, based on the food choice motives theory and the theory of planned behaviour.

Using an intercept survey, data were collected from 559 local tourists coming from different areas of the country, who visited Swat, Gilgit and Muree regions of Pakistan, and the data were analysed using SmartPLS software.

In terms of direct effects, mood, familiarity, natural content and price were found to be significant predictors for attitude, whereas attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control were found to positively affect intention to purchase Pakistani ethnic food. In addition, attitude was found to serve as a mediator for the relationships between mood, familiarity, sensory appeal and price on purchase intention.

This study has shed some light on the food choice behaviour of domestic tourists opting for their own local cuisine in Pakistan, which is under-represented in the tourism and food research literature. We also tested an integrated model of food choice motives and the theory of planned behaviour in modelling purchase intention in the tourism perspective. The present study also adds to the existing literature on mediation by modelling attitude as a mediator between food choice motives and purchase intention in the context of a developing country.

Red lentils are one of the widely consumed food items in South Asia and this has created an enormous market opportunity for all players in the chain. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the most valued attributes of red lentils and to assess how consumer preferences vary across store type and by socio-demographic factors. Thereby, it was aimed to identify value chain interventions that are required to meet the consumer demand.

Sri Lanka was selected as the study location because of its significance as an importer. Through an intercept survey of 300 consumers in three store types, consumption pattern and preference for four attributes of red lentils, namely, size, colour, visual quality and price were collected. Data were also collected from retail and wholesale stores and from a processor. Conjoint analysis was used to analyse the consumer data.

A majority of the respondents consumed red lentils on a daily basis. Consumer preference rankings showed that consumers place a significantly greater level of importance on visual quality than other attributes. Trade-off patterns were different across store types and by socio-demographic factors. Grocery shoppers were willing to trade-off packaging to price while the reverse was true for supermarket shoppers. Retail and wholesale purchases were driven by quality.

Findings highlight that chain effectiveness could be enhanced by offering bigger sized lentils while assuring quality.

This research uses a consumer driven assessment in identifying required value chain interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop two types of ladoo from pearl millet grain subjected to processing treatment i.e. popping. The paper also aims to analyse the developed popped pearl millet ladoo for nutritional evaluation.

Pearl millet forms a staple food for large population living below poverty line. The fat, proteins and minerals of millet is comparable to other cereals but rough texture, lack of gluten and typical flavour of grain limit their uses in various food preparation. So pearl millet grain was subjected to popping (method given in research paper). Popping produces low bulk density and improved in vitro digestibility. Two types of ladoo were prepared from popped pearl millet. In I type, roasted and dehulled chickpea and groundnut were also added to improve the nutritional quality, whereas II type of ladoo was prepared using 100 per cent popped pearl millet.

The research revealed that type I popped pearl millet ladoo had significantly higher calcium, phosphorus and iron content. Higher polyphenol and phytic acid and lower in vitro protein and starch digestibility were also found in type I ladoo. Cellulose and lignin content was found to be more in type II ladoo compared to type I ladoo.

Literature regarding the puffing of pearl millet was very less and utilization of popped pearl millet for product development was scanty. Moreover, not much study has been done on nutritional evaluation of popped pearl millet product. This research paper provides a new avenue for diversifying the uses of this underutilized pearl millet for increasing its consumption.