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This study aims to increase knowledge of the ability of nutrition labels to guide consumer choices in real-life environments.

Food consumption and plate waste data were collected from two self-service restaurants (SSR) with different customer groups over six observation days: three control and three intervention (with nutrition labelling) periods. Study Group 1 consisted of vocational school students, mostly late adolescents (N = 1,710), and Group 2 consisted of spa hotel customers, mostly elderly (N = 1,807). In the experimental restaurants, the same food was served to the buffets during the control and intervention periods.

The nutrition label in the lunch buffet guides customers to eat fewer main foods and salads and to select healthier choices. Increased consumption of taste enhancers (salt and ketchup) was observed in the study restaurants after nutritional labelling. Nutrition labelling was associated with a reduction in plate waste among the elderly, whereas the opposite was observed among adolescents.

The results provide public policymakers and marketers with a better understanding of the effects of nutrition labelling on consumer behaviour. Future studies should further evaluate the effects of nutrition labelling on the overall quality of customer diets and the complex environmental, social, and psychological factors affecting food choices and plate waste accumulation in various study groups.

This study aims to assess the nutritional status and physical fitness status of school children among major ethnic and Dalit populations, in Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

Data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to mothers or caregivers of the children, followed by physical fitness assessments. Anthropometric indicators were used to evaluate nutritional status, including body mass index-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height, based on Centre for Disease Control guidelines. Physical fitness was assessed through tests for flexibility, abdominal, muscular, speed, and lower limb strength. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS.

Approximately 45% of boys and 55% of girls had normal nutritional status. However, the study also identified varying percentages of children with stunted, underweight, wasted, and mixed nutritional issues, highlighting the prevalence of malnutrition among this population. Boys consistently outperformed girls in terms of physical fitness across all age groups, with 84% to 90% of boys meeting established fitness criteria. Girls face a 1.8-fold and 2.2-fold increased risk of wasted and underweight conditions compared to boys. Lower-income group children exhibit a 2.6-fold and 1.6-fold increased risk of wasted conditions and underweight conditions. Children consuming meals twice a day have a 2.1-fold and 2.5-fold elevated risk of wasted and underweight conditions compared to others.

This study highlights the need for interventions and strategies to improve the nutritional and health status of ethnic children in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, considering their diverse dietary habits and lifestyles. By addressing these issues, the authors can empower these communities to actively contribute to the social and economic development of the region.

This study aims to examine the role of edible mushrooms in the Brazilian diet, considering their strategic significance in meeting nutritional goals within sustainable development. Despite their potential in the nutrition of the Brazilian population, significant knowledge gaps still exist. To address this, the authors formulated this study into five main sections: the consumption of edible mushrooms in Brazil, the factors influencing the consumption, the occurrence of edible mushrooms in Brazil, the nutritional contribution of mushrooms consumed in Brazil and sustainable mushroom production in Brazil.

The authors compiled current literature to develop this viewpoint paper using systematic review, systematic search and narrative review search methods.

Mushrooms are sporadically consumed in Brazil, primarily by the urban population, with challenges in estimating the most used species. Social, economic and cultural factors, health considerations and reduced meat consumption influence mushroom consumption behavior. While Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinula edodes and Agaricus bisporus are primary species, ethnomycological studies highlight a more diverse consumption among traditional indigenous communities. Brazil hosts approximately 133 wild mushroom species safe for human consumption. Some can be sustainably cultivated using substrates derived from agricultural and urban waste, offering high-protein, high-fiber, low-fat foods with bioactive compounds holding antioxidant and prebiotic potential.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has investigated how edible mushrooms contribute to the food and nutrition of the Brazilian population. This study emphasizes the crucial role of edible mushrooms in preserving Brazil’s cultural heritage, contributing to food and nutritional security and enhancing the overall diet quality.

In pursuit of affordable and nutrient-rich food alternatives, the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) emerged as a selected food ink for 3D printing. The purpose of this paper is to harness SCOBY’s potential to create cost-effective and nourishing food options using the innovative technique of 3D printing.

This work presents a comparative analysis of the printability of SCOBY with blends of wheat flour, with a focus on the optimization of process variables such as printing composition, nozzle height, nozzle diameter, printing speed, extrusion motor speed and extrusion rate. Extensive research was carried out to explore the diverse physical, mechanical and rheological properties of food ink.

Among the ratios tested, SCOBY, with SCOBY:wheat flour ratio at 1:0.33 exhibited the highest precision and layer definition when 3D printed at 50 and 60 mm/s printing speeds, 180 rpm motor speed and 0.8 mm nozzle with a 0.005 cm³/s extrusion rate, with minimum alteration in colour.

Food layered manufacturing (FLM) is a novel concept that uses a specialized printer to fabricate edible objects by layering edible materials, such as chocolate, confectionaries and pureed fruits and vegetables. FLM is a disruptive technology that enables the creation of personalized and texture-tailored foods, incorporating desired nutritional values and food quality, using a variety of ingredients and additions. This research highlights the potential of SCOBY as a viable material for 3D food printing applications.

This paper aims to assess the impact of incorporating foxnut powder (FP) into bakery products to evaluate their effect on product quality and nutritional characteristics.

Samples of refined flour (control) and refined wheat flour with varying levels of FP were prepared for each bakery item. Sensory evaluations using a nine-point hedonic scale were conducted. Different concentrations of FP (20% for cakes, 12.5% for bread and 12.5% for doughnuts) were tested to achieve sensory acceptability.

The addition of FP at specified concentrations achieved sensory acceptability in the tested bakery items, significantly impacting overall acceptability. Incorporating FP led to textural attribute alterations, including increased hardness, gumminess and chewiness, alongside reduced cohesiveness and elasticity. Color properties were influenced, affecting lightness, redness and yellowness of the bakery items. Proximate composition analysis highlighted shifts in moisture, protein, fiber, fat and ash content between control and accepted samples. Mineral content analysis revealed notable differences in calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and sodium between control and accepted samples.

These findings demonstrate the potential of FP to enhance bakery products, offering promising industrial applications in producing nutritionally enriched and visually appealing baked products.

After working on the assignment questions, the learners can achieve the following learning outcomes: understand the buying behavior towards sustainable products in the context of mindful consumption and product characteristics, appraise the market segmentation and positioning strategy of a sustainable business, understand the application of 5C’s framework for a sustainable business and critically evaluate a new sustainable business’s challenges in the emerging business environment.

Dr Joe Fenn, founder and director of PFoods, with extensive experience in the pharma industry overseas, observed a decline in the consumption of traditional dairy foods. Alternative plant foods come as a savior to people who are lactose intolerant and offer a host of health benefits with low environmental impact. Riding on the waves of veganism and sustainable foods, he saw an opportunity in India. PFoods developed and launched two products, namely, Just Plants (plant-based milk alternative) and Plotein (plant-based protein alternative), in collaboration with scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, a premier scientific institution in India, and PMEDS (PreEmptive Meds), a US-based nutraceutical Company. PFoods launched and pilot-tested Just Plant, a dairy alternative substitute for milk in select reputed organizations in Bangalore. The upcoming challenges for Fenn would be to select the right segment, educate the market and position the product that would resonate well with the target customers.

The case study suits undergraduate and graduate courses such as marketing management, sustainable marketing and sustainable business. The case study can also be used in entrepreneurship management and entrepreneurial marketing courses to introduce the challenges of a sustainable startup. The case study highlights the marketing challenges faced by the disruptive and growing plant-based foods or alternative dairy industry in emerging markets.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

This research aims to elucidate why consumers decide to eat meals that seem to be higher in calories and salt, despite their goal being to consume fewer calories and sodium. Korean participants are to be used for this study. The present research further investigated the impacts of categorization and averaging bias in relation to the health halo phenomenon, specifically focusing on traditional food and textured vegetable protein (soy meat) burgers. Thus, the present research investigated how consumers' intentions contrasted with their consumption goals in food choice circumstances.

We partitioned the survey due to the COVID-19 epidemic. A single, well trained surveyor first surveyed customers at cafés in Seoul and six other Korean cities. We received 102 in-person survey replies. A total of 254 advanced degree or undergraduate students from two universities completed an online questionnaire. There are 356 responses. Two studies were conducted where participants were instructed to evaluate the perceived healthiness, calorie content, and sodium level of different food items. The specifics of each study are elucidated in the main body of the paper.

This study shows that Koreans categorize meals as virtue or vice depending on their perceived healthiness, validating the categorization effect. Furthermore, this research demonstrated that consumers' perceptions of the health benefits of traditional meals and soy meat burgers impact their categorization. Koreans also assessed the average of the vice and virtue and found vice-virtue combination meals healthier than the vice alone. This affects how calories and sodium are perceived. This study also shown that high virtue affects averaging bias more than weak virtue in meals with vice and virtue combo.

This study extended food categorization and averaging bias to non-US consumers and confirmed this contradictory meal choice is universal. Health halo also affects food health perception. The results of this study revealed that Koreans consider traditional food healthier than western junk food. Korean customers incorrectly assume soy meat burgers have fewer calories and sodium than regular burgers. Thus, this study explains Korean consumers' food health misconceptions related to paradoxical consumption.

In this case study, we examine how a citrus peel valorising company based in the Netherlands was able to adopt a circular business model while navigating regulatory, managerial, and supply chain-related barriers.

In-depth, semi-structured interviews with key personnel in the company, notes from field observations, photographs of the production process, and documents from a legal judgement served as data for this single, qualitative case study. Data were coded inductively using the in vivo technique and were further developed into four themes and a case description.

Results from our study indicate that the regulatory and political contexts in the Netherlands were critical to the company’s success. Like in the case of most fruitful industrial symbioses, partnerships founded on mutual trust and economically appealing value propositions played a crucial role in ensuring commercial viability. Collaborating with larger corporations and maintaining transparent communication with stakeholders were also significant contributing factors. Lastly, employees’ outlook towards circularity combined with their willingness to learn new skills were important driving factors as well.

In addition to expanding the scholarship on the adoption of circular business models, this research offers novel insights to policymakers and practitioners. It provides empirical evidence regarding the importance of public awareness, adaptable legislation, and harmonised policy goals for supporting sustainable entrepreneurship in the circular economy.

This study aims to investigate the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on consumers' evaluation of blockchain-based traceability information. It also examined how the use of quick response (QR) codes for traceability affects consumers' evaluation of traceable food products.

An online choice experiment was conducted to determine consumers' evaluation of the blockchain-based traceability of Feta cheese with a quota sample of 715 Greek consumers. Pearson bivariate correlation and mean comparison were used to examine the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and QR use behaviour. Random parameter logit models were employed to examine consumers’ valuation of the examined attributes and interaction terms.

The results show that ethnocentric consumers are willing to pay more for blockchain-based traceability information. Ethnocentric consumers tend to scan QR codes with traceability information. Spending more time reading traceability information embedded in QR codes does not lead to a higher willingness-to-pay (WTP) for traceable food products.

The findings suggest that patriotic marketing messages can draw consumers' attention to blockchain-based traceability information. The modest WTP for and low familiarity with blockchain-based traceability systems raise the need for educating consumers regarding the benefits of blockchain in traceability systems.

This is the first study to provide timely empirical evidence of a positive WTP for blockchain-based traceability information for a processed dairy product. This study is the first to attempt to distinguish the effects of the intention to scan QR codes and reading information embedded in QR codes on consumers’ valuation of food attributes.

This study aims to evaluate the nutrient profile, carbon footprint and water footprint of one-month menus presented in five hospitals in Turkey and compare their environmental impacts with that of the Mediterranean diet.

The energy and nutrient content of menus were compared with recommendations of the Turkey Dietary Guidelines (TUBER) 2022. Nutrient profiles of hospital menus were evaluated using Nutrient Rich Food 9.3 (NRF 9.3) and SAIN-LIM models. The carbon and water footprints of the menus were calculated and compared with those of the Mediterranean diet.

Menus’ energy and nutrient content did not conform with TUBER 2022. The SAIN-LIM score of Hospital A (5.7 ± 1.1) was significantly higher than that of Hospitals C (4.8 ± 0.7, p = 0.001) and E (5.1 ± 0.7, p = 0.025). The carbon footprint of Hospital A was significantly lower (2.6 ± 0.3 kg CO₂ eq/person/day) and that of Hospital D (4 ± 0.9 kg CO₂ eq/person/day) was significantly higher than those of others (p < 0.001). While other menus were similar (p > 0.05), the water footprint of Hospital A was significantly lower (3.5 ± 0.7 L/kg, p < 0.001). In addition, if the menus were suitable for the Mediterranean diet, a reduction of 2.2–23.4% in the carbon footprint and 37.5–58.6% in the water footprint could be achieved. Moreover, menus’ carbon and water footprints were negatively correlated with NRF 9.3 and SAIN-LIM scores.

The primary aim should be to ensure that the planned menus follow the dietary guidelines. In addition, it is an undeniable fact that sustainable nutrition is a complex process with many dimensions. However, it seems possible to improve the nutrient profiles of the menus and reduce their environmental footprint with minor changes to be made in food services.

It seems possible to improve the nutrient profiles of the menus and reduce their environmental footprint with minor changes. For both health and environmental impacts, food services should switch to menus suitable for the Mediterranean diet.

The findings provide new insights into hospital menus’ quality and environmental impact.