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Several factors may play critical roles in alterations to product quality during storage of hog plum juice. This study aims to evaluate variations to physicochemical, antioxidant, anti-nutritional properties and microbial stability of hog plum juice during storage.

Juice was produced from hog plum fruits and stored for eight weeks at refrigerated and ambient conditions. Physicochemical, antioxidant properties, antinutritional factors and microbial properties of juices were determined using standard procedures

Degradation of ascorbic acid was higher in juices stored at ambient conditions (64.4%) compared to those stored by refrigeration (44.4%). Trends were similar for total phenolic, total flavonoid and total carotenoid contents. Total phenolic, total carotenoid and lycopene contents of fresh juice were 3.9 mg GAE/mL, 4.0 mg/mL and 1.3 mg/mL, which were not significantly different (at p = 0.08, 0.07 and 0.08, respectively) from the values at two weeks of storage at refrigerated conditions (3.9 mg GAE/mL, 3.9 mg/mL and 1.3 mg/mL). A sharp decrease of more than 40% (p = 0.02) in lycopene was recorded after four weeks, irrespective of storage temperature. Pasteurized hog plum juice showed no microbial growth until after four weeks of refrigerated storage when 1 CFU/mL each of bacterial and fungal growth were recorded. The juices, however, showed higher susceptibility to fungal growth as storage period increased.

Other variables not considered in this study such as nature of packaging materials may have significantly contributed to the observed data set. Further studies may, therefore, widen the scope of discussion to evaluate the associated relationship of these variables. Hog plum juice retained a considerable amount of bioactive components during refrigerated storage, which makes it a viable nutraceutical drink with industrial potentials and possible positive health implications for consumers.

This study provides new information that support the possible classification and use of hog plum juice as a safe functional beverage for human consumption.

Although the effect of storage temperature was significant in most of the properties studied, storage duration seems to have a greater influence on the stability of quality parameters during the storage of hog plum juice.

The present study aims at analysing consumer preferences for the pomegranate fruit, focussing on the effect of ready-to-eat format (i.e. packaged arils) on the purchasing choice, together with several products’ attributes as the origin, the packaging typology and the price.

The paper presents a choice experiment (CE) among 626 Italian consumers from Veneto region through an online survey. The study estimates both a conditional logit (CL) and a latent class logit model (LCM).

By segmenting the sample based on the heterogeneous preferences of consumers, it can distinguish “eco-friendly consumers”, “time-saving lovers”, “nationalists” and “price sensitive” subjects. Interestingly, the marginal willingness to pay for ready-to-eat arils is positive for the “time-saving lovers” that are mainly young consumers. The Italian origin has always a positive effect on the choice, whereas a negative effect is found for the price. Finally, the eco-friendly package has both a negative and a positive effect.

The sample of this study is not representative of the population and the CE has a hypothetical nature. It follows that further research will link the economic analysis to a consumer test on a more representative sample.

This study can be useful for the pomegranate producers and the industry because it provides original evidence that could drive their business and marketing strategies, for instance, the preference for ready-to-eat arils.

This study is one of the first seeking to determine the factors that affect consumers' preferences for pomegranate arils.

In the developing field of nano-materials synthesis, copper oxide nanoparticles (NPs) are deemed to be one of the most significant transition metal oxides because of their intriguing characteristics. Its synthesis employing green chemistry principles has become a key source for next-generation antibiotics attributed to its features such as environmental friendliness, ease of use and affordability. Because they are more environmentally benign, plants have been employed to create metallic NPs. These plant extracts serve as capping, stabilising or hydrolytic agents and enable a regulated synthesis as well.

Organic chemical solvents are harmful and entail intense conditions during nanoparticle synthesis. The copper oxide NPs (CuO-NPs) synthesised by employing the green chemistry principle showed potential antitumor properties. Green synthesised CuO-NPs are regarded to be a strong contender for applications in the pharmacological, biomedical and environmental fields.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the anticancer potential of CuO-NPs plant extracts to isolate and characterise the active anticancer principles as well as to yield more effective, affordable, and safer cancer therapies.

This review article highlights the copper oxide nanoparticle's biomedical applications such as anticancer, antimicrobial, dental and drug delivery properties, future research perspectives and direction are also discussed.

This paper reviews the literature, foundational works and current trends related to the adoption of open innovation (OI) practices in the food industry, with a particular focus on the food value chain, using a bibliometric and content analysis approach.

This study is based on 84 published documents in the field of food OI obtained using the Scopus database. First, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using a bibliographic coupling and co-citation analysis approach to understand the common themes and key clusters of food OI research. It further highlighted authors, countries, journals, years of publication and subject areas to comprehend the scope of the established literature. Second, a content analysis was undertaken to examine the titles and abstracts of the documents to explore the intersection of OI and the food value chain.

This study provides an integrated framework of the intersection of OI and the food value chain, including information about under-researched and emerging areas in the field of food innovation. It also highlights the critical challenges associated with OI food research and practices.

Practitioners can use the findings to uncover areas with limited open innovation adoption in the food value chain. They can identify extended research areas to explore the food value chain using an open innovation perspective, in different contexts within the food and beverage (F&B) industry. The framework can also be used for conducting comparative studies of current food innovation trends across different contexts within the F&B industry.

By adopting a multi-step approach involving a computer-assisted bibliometric examination complemented by a manual review undertaken through the lens of the food value chain, this literature review provides fresh and unique insights into past and present research on OI in the food industry and paves the way for future studies by laying out specific research avenues.

The purpose of this study is to examine the trend toward purchasing locally grown food and evaluate if tourists visiting Hawai'i are willing to pay more for locally produced foods that are more ecologically sustainable.

A research questionnaire was developed in order to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of tourists from the continental United States visiting Hawai'i in purchasing locally grown food in Hawai'i. The final sample includes 454 valid survey responses collected via Momentive, a market research services company.

According to the findings of this study, there are economic prospects to expand the use of locally cultivated food into the tourists' experience, as well as a willingness for tourists to support these activities financially. The Contingent Valuation study revealed that tourists from the continental United States were ready to pay a higher price to purchase food that is locally grown, signifying that tourists to Hawai'i are willing to aid the local agriculture business by increasing their restaurant/hotel meal bill, which will help Hawai'i become a more sustainable tourist destination.

While tourists from the United States mainland, which is the “an islands” top tourist market, have agreed with paying extra or an additional fee for locally grown food products, this study might not accurately represent the attitudes and behaviors of international tourists visiting Hawai'i. Future research should focus on the international tourist markets which may have different social norms or cultural differences thus could provide a broader spectrum of the current study's findings.

The results of this study provided quantitative evidence that tourists from the United States are interested in purchasing locally grown food items in Hawaii in addition to their willingness to pay an additional fee for these locally grown food products at a restaurant or a hotel dining room, thus addressing a gap in the tourism research.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the socioscientific issue (SSI) method as a way of improving seventh graders’ nutrition know-how on dietary supplements (DS), and to describe how students experience learning nutritional issues through the SSI method.

Participants were seventh graders from three different classes (n=43). Health education intervention lasted 7 h and it embodied the three-staged model: the scenario, the inquiry and the decision-making stages. The study was qualitative in nature. The data were collected through a questionnaire before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed using summative content analysis.

Intervention tended to deepen students’ know-how on vitamins and rational use of DS. Students’ experiences of learning nutritional issues through the SSI method were generally positive. The scenario stage was considered current and authentic. The inquiry stage and decision-making stage helped in understanding the societal connections between the study task and the rational use of DS.

SSI method enhances students’ knowledge about the rational use of DS. E-learning environment gave students possibilities to work collaboratively. Especially, possibilities to discuss with peers and share own experiences supported learning.

To solve the need of dietary supplements (DS) is a complex nutritional issue for society and for individuals. Since consumption of special diets has increased among adolescents, the rational consumption of DS is relevant and interesting learning topic at secondary school.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the most recurrent variables characterizing the collaborative relationships of industrial symbiosis (IS) (hereinafter also referred to as “anatomic” variables) established in the attempt to adopt circular economy (CE) by collecting evidence from a rich empirical set of implementation cases in Italy.

The current literature on IS was reviewed, and a content analysis was performed to identify and define the “anatomic” variables affecting its adoption in the circular economy. We followed a multiple-case study methodology investigating 50 cases of IS in Italy and performed a content analysis of the “anatomic” variables characterizing each case.

This research proposes the “anatomic” variables (i.e. industrial sectors involved, public actors involvement, governmental support, facilitator involvement and geographical proximity) explaining the cases of IS in the circular economy. Each “anatomic” variable is discussed at length based on the empirical evidence collected, with a particular reference to the impact on the different development strategies (i.e. “bottom-up” and “top-down”) in the cases observed.

Current literature on IS focuses on a sub-set of variables characterizing collaboration in IS. This research builds on extant literature to define a new framework of five purposeful “anatomic” variables defining IS in the circular economy. Moreover, we also collect and discuss a broad variety of empirical evidence in what is a still under-investigated context (i.e. Italy).

Following the standard practice of using nutrition claims to denote food functionality, this study empirically explores Chinese consumers’ willingness-to-pay for functional processed meat products by using three nutrition claims (namely “increased calcium,” “containing omega-3”, and “reduced salt”) made on pork sausages. It also aims to outline the typical characteristics of Chinese consumer segments based on preferences.

A choice-based choice experiment is utilized to investigate Chinese consumers’ valuation on attributes of interest regarding functional sausage products. First-hand data was collected in the two cities of Xi'an and Beijing.

There are market potentials for domestic and/or imported functional processed meat products among Chinese consumers. Nutrition claims made on pork sausages are appealing to Chinese consumers, and therefore, monetarily rewarded by them. Being imported from a more developed country of origin could both positively and negatively impact consumers’ WTP for nutrition claims made on pork sausages. Furthermore, specific functional modification strategies should be taken into account when addressing different segments of the Chinese market. In addition, regional impacts between Xi'an and Beijing are implied in terms of consumers’ valuation for functional pork sausages.

Limitations in the current study are mainly two folds. First, the WTP estimation magnitudes are subject to a hypothetical bias by using a stated preference approach. Second, this study only focuses on pork sausages to explore consumers’ perceptions and selects three nutrition claims among many other relevant options.

Implications are provided for meat marketers and for Chinese official food policymakers, such that promoting meat products with a nutrition claim is an attractive marketing strategy for foreign food manufacturers in China, and more reformulated meat products with better nutritional compositions should be allowed in the Chinese market.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this research is the first to fill in the literature blank on investigating the consumers’ valuation for functional meat in the emerging market of China. Because when taking Chinese consumers as a target market and evaluating their perceptions of food quality-related labeling and certifications, the existing literature is mainly limited to topics of product safety, organic/green products, and geographical origins. However, nutrition claims, as marketable credence attributes that associate closely to the main characteristics of the functional food products, have been explored to a much lesser extent among Chinese consumers.

Agri-food firms face many challenges when assessing and managing their performance. The purpose of this research is to determine important factors for an integrated agri-food supply chain performance measurement system.

This research uses the Peruvian kiwicha supply chain as a meaningful context to examine critical factors affecting agri-food supply chain performance. The research uses interpretative structural modelling (ISM) with fuzzy MICMAC methods to suggest a hierarchical performance measurement model.

The resulting kiwicha supply chain performance management model provides insights for managers and academic theory regarding managing competing priorities within the agri-food supply chain.

The model developed in this research has been validated by cooperative kiwicha associations based in Puno, Peru, and further refined by experts. Moreover, the results obtained through ISM and fuzzy MICMAC methods could help decision-makers from any agri-food supply chain focus on achieving high operational performance by integrating key performance measurement factors.