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Member-owned business organizations, such as cooperatives, are engaged in various economic activities that touch our everyday lives. Sitajakhala Dugdha Utpadak Samabai Samiti Limited (Sitajakhala Dairy Producers Cooperative Society Limited) is a successful cooperative society in the northeastern region of India. The purpose of this case study is to illustrate how the cooperative manages its production and supply chain of milk and milk products and highlights several issues that the cooperative encountered in the recent past and how those issues were managed. This case also illustrates how an agribusiness cooperative has been growing over the years, including expansion of business and the creation of a brand image, as well as benefiting its members and their communities.

The authors used a case study approach where they went for in-person interviews of Sitajakhala's executive members and office staff; in addition, the authors were given access to Sitajakhala's marketing and financial records as well as its annual reports and vision documents.

Sitajakhala Co-op provides a platform where individual dairy farmers (most of who are small farmers and many of them are illiterate) can unite to bargain for higher prices for their milk. Due to its member-oriented business strategy, Sitajakhala Co-op has been growing well with active support of its members. Consistent quality control and marked improvements in labeling, bottling and packaging of milk and milk products has helped the cooperative to establish itself as a leader in dairy products supplier in Assam among bulk buyers as well as individual consumers. Sitajakhala cooperative also provides dairy farming related services to its members for free of charge to improve milk production and quality. One of the shortcomings of the cooperative is underutilization of its modern milk processing plant which needs to be addressed by the management in earnest.

This case study is based on information from one dairy cooperative in Assam, India; thus, the findings of this case may not translate into other dairy cooperatives in India or elsewhere. Nonetheless, cooperative practitioners may find the findings useful from a management perspective.

Sitajakhala Co-op management was keenly aware of the non-dairy related needs of the community it serves. Some of such services include free medical ambulance service for its members, supporting secondary education through providing merit and need-based scholarships and funding physical improvements to a local high school and a local college. In addition, the cooperative regularly provides funding to local sports and cultural events and local social institutions which have positive impact on the larger community. Sitajakhala cooperative has been providing employment to the local youth in the Morigaon area and plans on continuing to do so.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case study focusing on the management and operations of a dairy cooperative in the northeastern part of India. Knowledge gained from such study is expected to benefit not only Sitajakhala cooperative but also other dairy cooperatives in a similar situation. This case study will also benefit senior undergraduate and/or graduate students specializing in agricultural economics/agribusiness and can also be used for executive training for the management of academic institutions and food companies.

Organic food processing must include organic principles to be authentic. This qualitative study aims to understand the processors' understanding of organic food processing quality.

This study is based on semi-structured expert interviews with eight employees of six purely or partly organic dairies from Germany and Switzerland. Interview themes are (1) quality of organic milk processing in general, (2) assessment of specific processing techniques, (3) product quality of organic milk and (4) flow of information between producer and consumer. The interviews have been audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

(1) Experts prefer minimal processing; some prefer artisanal processing, whilst others stress the advantages of mechanisation. (2) High temperature short time (HTST) pasteurisation and mechanical processing techniques are accepted; ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk processing is partly rejected. (3) Traditional taste and valuable ingredients should be present in the final product. Natural variances are judged positively. (4) Consumers' low level of food technology literacy is challenging for communication.

The results cannot be generalised due to the qualitative study design. Further studies, e.g. qualitative case analyses and studies with a quantitative design, are necessary to deepen the results.

The paper shows which processing technologies experts consider suitable or unsuitable for organic milk. The paper also identifies opportunities to bridge the perceived gap between processors' and consumers' demands.

The study shows the challenges of processors in expressing the processors' understanding of process quality.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the functionalities, safety regulations and product applications of herb Stevia rebaudiana extract. This plant material is embedded with multiple functionalities such as antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation and antimicrobial. The regulations released from global authorities are covered to ensure the safety premise of stevia. Besides, the product applications of the extract of aerial parts of the herb S. rebaudiana helps us to recognize its value from commercial side.

Relevant literatures are selected and obtained from main scientific databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed and trade magazines published between 2000 and 2023. The keywords and their possible combinations such as sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation, safety and product development were used to ensure the preciseness and completeness of literature searching. Major data such as sweetness, total phenolic content and dose together with latter critical conclusions from searched publications were appropriately used and discussed. In this review, approximately 150 scientific literatures were meticulously ordered and analyzed. In applications, it is the first time that sentiment analysis was used to obtain a market assessment of the stevia-containing products.

This review paper helps rearrange the scientific affairs of those stevia extract’s functions like sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics and inflammation. Sweetness indexes of steviol glycosides were summarized together for comparison while various in vitro and in vivo approaches were reviewed to quantify those functions’ capacities and to depict the related mechanism. The regulation of steviol glycoside compounds such as rebaudioside A was established by global authorities such as US Food and Drug Administration and Joint FAO/World Health Organization Expert Committee to ensure the safety endorsement before commercialization. Then, this study discussed about the market performance of stevia ingredients or products with the self-developed data analytics. This study also investigated the product development progress of stevia-containing food products in the categories of beverage, bakery, dairy and confectionery. Those stevia-containing food consumer goods can be acceptable by certain consumers.

This review paper precisely presents the evidential information about the stevia’s multiple functionalities with mechanisms and global regulation milestones. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is then the first time to probe the stevia-containing products’ market performance through data analytics.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality and sensory properties of cookies produced from wheat flour using avocado puree as fat substitute.

Cookies were produced from wheat flour using avocado puree as fat substitute in ratio 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively. The formulation of margarine and avocado puree blends was done by using D-Optimal Mixture Design. In all, 20 samples were produced from each substitution level and analyses were done in triplicates to obtain mean values using standard methods. Means were separated by Duncan’s multiple range test, and significances were accepted at less than 5% confidence level (p < 0.05). Proximate and functional analyses were conducted on the flour samples, while cookie samples were subjected to proximate and sensory analyses.

The results of this study revealed that the values of loose bulk density, packed bulk density, oil absorption density, water absorption capacity, swelling power, solubility and dispersibility of the flours at p < 0.05 are 0.3–0.4 g/ml, 0.5–0.7 g/ml, 16.9%–94.0%, 39.7%–80.6%, 461.2%–618.2%, 6.0%–29.8% and 69.0%–82.8%, respectively. The moisture, protein, fat, total dietary fiber, total ash and carbohydrate contents of the cookies at p < 0.05 are 3.6%–16.7%, 6.5%–9.9%, 2.5%–19.2%, 1.7%–1.9%, 1.1%–3.0% and 65.0%–70.7%, respectively. The taste, color, crispiness, texture and overall acceptability of the cookies at p < 0.05 are 7.4–7.8, 6.9–7.5, 7.2–7.9, 7.3–7.7 and 7.4–8.3, respectively. The sensory scores showed that panelists preferred the taste, crispiness and texture of the cookies produced from wheat flour using avocado puree as fat substitute at varying proportion. The sensory characteristics of sample WF⁴ (100% avocado puree) were rated overall best in all the parameters tested followed by sample WF³ (75% avocado puree). Hence, this study established the possibility of producing cookies from wheat flour using avocado puree as fat substitute without a negative impact on the sensory characteristics and the consumers’ acceptability.

The cookies produced from this study are not meant for vegetarians because eggs were added in the formulations and recipes but could be valuable to ovo-vegetarians that may take food with eggs without restriction. The major challenge of this study was that avocados are very expensive in much of the world, so this is only suitable and viable where there is an excess of the fruit.

This study examined the use of avocado puree as fat substitute in cookie production. Effects of avocado puree on proximate composition and functionality of cookies produced from wheat flour were also determined. This approach was novel, and it will encourage the use of avocado for value-added in industrial food production.

Renal failure is an end-stage consequence after persistent hyperglycemia during diabetic nephropathy (DN), and the etiology of DN has been linked to oxidative stress. The purpose of this research was to determine the beneficial synergistic effects of S-Allyl Cysteine (SAC) and Taurine (TAU) on oxidative damage in the kidneys of type 2 diabetic rats induced by hyperglycemia.

Experimental diabetes was developed by administering intraperitoneal single dose of streptozotocin (STZ; 65 mg/kg) with nicotinamide (NA; 230 mg/kg) in adult rats. Diabetic and control rats were treated with SAC (150 mg/kg), TAU (200 mg/kg) or SAC and TAU combination (75 + 100 mg/kg) for four weeks. The estimation of body weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), oxidative stress markers along with kidney histopathology was done to investigate the antidiabetic potential of SAC/TAU in the NA/STZ diabetic group.

The following results were obtained for the therapeutic efficacy of SAC/TAU: decrease in blood glucose level, decreased level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and increased levels of GSH, glutathione-s-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT). SAC/TAU significantly modulated diabetes-induced histological changes in the kidney of rats.

SAC/TAU combination therapy modulated the oxidative stress markers in the kidney in diabetic rat model and also prevented oxidative damage as observed through histopathological findings.

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.

Gluten is a triggering factor for gluten-related disorders. However, the present market provides expensive, less varied and poor nutritional products. Therefore, this study aims to develop gluten-free muffins and improve their nutritional profile, as well as evaluate the physical, chemical and sensorial aspects of them.

A combination of pearl millet, buckwheat and amaranth was used to formulate gluten-free muffin using central composite rotatable design of response surface methodology for optimization of selected parameters (hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose [HPMC], baking temperature and baking time). The optimized muffins were incorporated with Moringa leaves powder. Finally, the final products were compared with the wheat muffins.

The optimization range of selected variables was 1% HPMC, 170°C baking temperature and 30.33 min baking time with a desirability function of 0.75. The incorporation of 5% Moringa leaves powder enhanced the nutritional profile of gluten-free muffins – increased protein (38%), fiber (208%), iron (224%) and calcium (25%) values. However, the overall acceptability reduced due to decrease in flavor and odor.

Nonetheless, the ease of accessibility of these convenience gluten-free muffins as well as the nutritional density can help the food research and nutritionists to bridge the gap in current gluten-free market. This puts focus on the use of underutilized crops such as millets and buckwheat which are nutritionally dense.

One of the popular fields to replace linear economy approach with the sustainable circular approach is the valorization of agri-food waste and by-products by using green methods. Celery peel contains essential nutrients as much as celery root. This study aims to propose a novel framework for investigation of celery root peel waste, which has high nutritional value and is beneficial for healthy nutrition, valorization potential to re-formulate ayran (a traditional Turkish drink).

Sustainable green extraction/distillation methods were applied to the celery root peel material to obtain water soluble extracts to be used in formulation of traditional Turkish drink “Ayran”.

As a result of the study, a new functional fermented drink derived from traditional drink ayran was obtained by using celery root peel extract. In addition to the positive characteristic properties of samples in terms of physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory parameters, it was observed that it increased the shelf life by at least 50% compared to the drink from which it was derived.

Several studies focused the valorization of food waste materials; however, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has been taken an approach for using green methods to add additional properties to traditional foods by using celery root peel extracts. Therefore, the study is a remarkable contribution to the circular economy and is a role model for further studies.