The quality of cooking oil used in informal food processing in Malawi: a preliminary study

A survey was conducted in Lilongwe city urban markets in Malawi, to assess the quality of cooking oil used for frying potato chips. Purposive sampling was performed to come up with respondents who were using vegetable oils. A stratified random sampling was used to select the 32 informal food processors who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Oil samples were collected from the most commonly used brand of oil. Fifteen respondents were selected and these were divided into three categories of five: those who were not reusing the oil, those who were reusing the oil and those who were preparing potato chips and chicken in the same oil, for chemical analysis. The preliminary results showed that while the majority (59.4%) of the informal food processors discarded the oil after 1 day, 3.1% discarded it after 4 days and another 12.5% after 3 days. A larger proportion of the respondents (40.6%) used the leftover oils at home, 37.5% kept it in oil bottles, 3.1% kept it in plastic papers for reuse the following day. Also, most respondents (57%) indicated dark colour as the sign of oil deterioration, 29% discarded the oil after noticing foam formation while 8.2% and 6.1% said they discarded the oil after noticing a bad smell and food absorbing the oils respectively. A physical observation of the various oils showed that for most of the respondents (34%), the oils were dark brown in colour, in 22%, the oils were slightly dark brown and 16%, the oils were brown. Foam formation was noticed in 13% of the respondents. It was also noted that 91% of the respondents had not been trained or briefed of food quality and safety issues. A chemical analysis of the oils showed high values of free fatty acids (range, 0.84–1.4112 compared with 0.42 in the fresh oil) and peroxide values (range 14.7–16.6 compared with 9.0 in the fresh oil). It may be concluded that the oils being used by the informal food processors in Malawi are of poor quality and so the foods cooked in them may be a health hazard to the consumers and the processors themselves. Although this work in ongoing, it may be recommended at the outset that the health department of the city assemblies should inspect these oils for the good health of the consumers.     

The Nested PIGLOG Model: An Application to U.S. Food Demand

A new demand system is introduced, the Nested PIGLOG model, nesting thirteen other demand systems including five that are also new. This new model and its nested special cases are applied to models of U.S. food demand that include food-at-home (FAH), food-away-from-home (FAFH), and alcoholic beverages. Although nested tests and out-of-sample forecasting performance favor generalizing models to a certain degree, statistically insignificant improvements to in-sample-fit and even poorer out-of-sample forecast accuracy undermine further generalizations. Based on a subset of preferred models, FAFH is found to be price and income elastic compared to FAH which is price and income inelastic.     

国外食品冷藏供应链发展概况

着重介绍了国外冷藏链的发展历程以及在现代冷藏技术方面所取得的成就和最新发展趋势。     

浅析我国食品冷藏物流的现状及对策

从分析冷藏物流的概念和我国冷藏物流现状入手，阐述了我国在冷藏物流上的特点和问题，并针对这些问题提出了我国发展冷藏物流的对策。     

基于RFID技术的电子商务物流体系研究

指出了基于RFID技术的电子商务物流体系的几大功能,论述了其体系结构及路线设计。     

发展粮食期货市场 促进粮食市场化改革

随着粮食生产经营的全面市场化,健全和完善粮食期货市场有了更重要的现实意义:调节粮食供求,稳定粮食价格;优化粮食品种结构,推动产业化经营;为粮食企业提供避险渠道;减轻入世冲击,保护粮食安全。文章指出发展粮食期货市场的政策措施包括:推出大宗粮食期货交易品种;培育和发展套期保值用户;规范粮食现货市场;发展商品投资基金;开创场外交易;调整不符合国际惯例的法规政策。     

武汉市农贸市场超市化改造问题研究

武汉作为全国"农改超"先行的特大城市之一,经过两年多的实践与探索,"农改超"已初见成效,但仍存在市场主体利益关系复杂、超市生鲜食品营运成本较高、超市农业发展滞后、农产品物流配送体系不健全、制度环境不够宽松等制约因素.为此,需要调整利益关系格局、培育壮大生鲜经营主体、大力发展超市农业、构建现代农产品物流配送体系和营造"农改超"的良好环境.     

Modeling Disinterest and Dislike: A Bounded Bayesian Mixed Logit Model of the UK Market for GM Food

Mixed logit models represent a powerful discrete choice analytical model but require assumptions about the functional form of the parameter distributions. The use of unbounded distributions, such as the normal distribution, may be regarded as unsuitable where theory indicates that all are negatively affected by increases in an attribute, such as price. Bounded distributions such as the triangular and log-normal are unable to model the case where a section of the population is indifferent towards an attribute, while the remainder are negatively disposed toward it. Train and Sonnier’s bounded mixed logit model accommodates these features and is employed in this paper. A censored normal and Johnson’s S_b distribution are used to model preferences in the UK for food attributes, including price and GM technology. Bi-modal distributions are identified regarding GM food: some are unlikely to ever consume it, some are close to indifference and willing to consume at relatively small discounts while the remainder are fairly unresponsive to further price reductions.     

我国绿色食品出口贸易中存在的问题及对策探析

20世纪90年代以来,绿色食品贸易在全球兴起并已成为人类社会可持续发展的必然选择。然而,尽管在国内绿色食品生产日益社会化、市场化、国际化的背景下,我国绿色食品已经呈现出蓬勃发展的良好态势,但出口数量和出口规模还是偏低。本文在分析我国绿色食品出口中存在的问题及原因的基础上,探索相应的对策,以期为我国绿色食品竞争优势的提升提供有益的思路。     

中国粮食生产区域分化特征和成因的实证研究

对中国在1990年和2002年粮食生产的区域分化状况进行统计分析的结果表明,工业化和城市化的发展,以及农产品市场形成条件下,稻米生产的区域分散特征、小麦生产的区域集中特征以及玉米播种面积的集中和生产产量的分散特征日益明显。计量检验显示,人均承包经营耕地面积和种植业收入比率是影响粮食生产区域分化的最主要的两个因素。