Critical Pathways (Asynchronous - Online Only)
Featured The Role of Regulation at Farmers Markets: Systematizing Authenticity and Codifying Values View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gwyneth M. Manser
Due to their highly public nature, farmers markets have been framed as “keystone institutions” for building robust local food systems. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to how farmers markets utilize standards and regulations to define and position themselves in relation to the broader values of local and alternative food. This oversight is significant because standards and regulations are not merely neutral technical devices; rather, they entail moral, ethical, and political dimensions. By delimiting the parameters for acceptable items, people, and production practices, they also serve to codify marketplace inclusions and exclusions. By and large, farmers markets in the United States set their own regulations for what is and is not considered appropriate for sale at a given market. This includes dictating not only the geographic providence and modes of production that are acceptable, but also more nebulous attributes such as quality and authenticity. Drawing upon a novel dataset of farmers market regulatory documents, this paper highlights the ways that farmers markets standards and regulations are used as a mechanism for codifying marketplace values and systematizing authenticity.
A Sustainable Value for Portuguese Bio-regions: A Regional Development Overview
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ana Pego
This paper analyses the bioregions in Portugal and their relationship with regional development. The bioregions in Portugal represent an important achievement for the production of eco-regions and sustainable values based on organic production. Moreover, the organic regions are considered as a specialised region towards sustainable production, eco-consumer market, natural resources valuation, and welfare. The author finds suggestive evidence that organic regions can positively contribute to a competitive organic market in Portugal. The results of this analysis contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of Portuguese organic regions and their influences on economic and social development.
Effect of Climate Change on Animal Food Production
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Haorui Wu
Climate change sets a course that not only impacts but also threatens the very future of human and nonhuman residents on the planet Earth. Among all human activities, research leads to animal products as contributing the most to global warming. Climate change in turn has catastrophic repercussions on products humans derive from animals. This study highlights such interconnection by exploring firstly the devastating effects of climate change on the livestock sector and analyses, secondly the reverse: how the animal production industry triggers or exacerbates climate change. We engaged to analyze the role of animal production as catalytic and determinant of human health and wellbeing. In light of the clear correlation between animal production and climate change, we reached the conclusion that to deaccelerate and halt global warming, we must realistically end animal production. As we are modifying how we feed by deferring to plant agriculture rather than animal agriculture, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, restore ecosystems, guarantee food security, and ensure greater health and well-being for humans, nature, and animals alike. Our social and economic systems will thrive once we turn to sustainable ethical lifestyle choices that guarantee that we leave much lighter footprints behind.
Smart - OASIS (Organic Food Authorization, Supervision and Inspection System) an IoT Cloud Platform Model: Organic Food Authorization, Supervision, and Inspection System View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Zulfiqar Aslam
There is major organic food fraud and adulteration involved globally in various food items and products such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, dairy products, seafood, spices, cooking oil, honey, spirits, and much more. Consumers are unaware of the fact that whatever they are buying and eating labeled as organic might not be 100% organic and healthy, even after paying a higher price. Therefore, the focus of our research is to integrate food specified off-the-shelf data enabled technologies such as smart hand held devices and sensors to analyze, monitor, and detect chemical contamination, artificial colors, preservatives, allergens, food viruses, food tampering, high composition of protein, fat and carbohydrates, metal contents and nitrates levels from various industries and food supply chains and provide feedback to the food control and health authorities in real time so that strategic decisions and intelligent solutions can be achieved to avoid food fraud and adulteration and keep the growing population safe and healthy.
Repurposing Food By-products for Value-added Applications View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Stone
Food waste is a significant issue throughout the supply chain. To address environmental and economic sustainability issues, efforts were undertaken to examine opportunities to reutilize by-products generated in the plant-based beverage industry. Specifically, food applications were developed using apple-based pomace from juice production and spent grains from brewery operations. These included noodles and cookies from pomace, as well as granola and muffins from spent grains. Products were formulated with varying levels of by-product and analyzed via sensory analysis on 209 panelists. Panelists were also asked conceptual questions related to overall interest, purchase intent, perceived benefits and concerns from consumption of by-products. Consumers cited environmental benefits and reduction of food waste as motivators to purchase repurposed foods and food safety as a potential concern. In addition, the pomace and spent grains were analyzed for physiochemical properties and functional components. These are relevant to health and wellness, as well as applications in novel food packaging. This research highlights the role of food by-products and consumer acceptance to repurpose and valorize waste for a more sustainable food system.
The Hazard of Counting the Chickens before They Are Hatched: How Ready Are Consumers for Upscaling Flexitarianism? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andreja Vezovnik, Tanja Kamin
In recent years, organizations like the United Nations, the European Commission, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have stated the need to identify new raw materials and processes for conversion into food products and ingredients to address the risk of further environmental degradation and food insecurity. Among the proposed alternatives is reduced consumption (and production) of meat and its’ substitution with novel protein alternatives, namely artificial meat grown in laboratories from stem cells, micro-algae, insects and plant-based proteins. Such strategy heavily depends on consumers and their willingness to reduce meat intake and incorporate novel foods in their diet. But how willing are consumers for such transition? And are they numerous enough to push towards the needed change in the food system? A special segment of consumers who are more willing to take this path are so called flexitarians. This paper looks at discourses and practices in relation to meat reduction and introduction of novel proteins on macro and micro level of social structure. On the macro level we will reveal discourses of food industry and food policy on novel protein solutions by conducting critical discourse analysis of selected texts published by WEF. On the micro level of everyday lives we will present consumers’ perspectives and behaviors related to flexitarianism, based on in-depth interviews with Slovene meat reducers.
How to Provide Food in a Pandemic?: Migrant Harvest Workers and Worker’s Rights in German Agriculture during the Covid-19-Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carolin Küppers
The COVID-19 pandemic has widely been discussed as a global crisis, that had impacted daily life worldwide, including food supply (chains). In this crisis, providing food became an even more essential service, agricultural work became an essential activity, and with this, farmworkers became so-called essential workers. In Germany, this topic was broadly taken up by local and national newspapers. Due to massive media interest during the first lockdown, the working conditions in the food sector and especially farmworkers marginalized statuses were made visible to a broader public. This paper analyses the discourses and how food production in times of the pandemic affects pre-existing workers inequalities and lack of workers’ rights, constructing migrant workers as one of the most vulnerable groups in the German food system. Concluding it shows, that the mechanisms of Covid-19 exacerbating existing inequalities in the food sector during the pandemic, are part of a structural socio-economic and socio-political crisis, that must be regarded in the context of global capitalism and intersectional inequalities.
Global Markets and Indigenous Spirits: The Case of Artisanal Mezcal Production in a Community in Oaxaca, Mexico
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Lira
Mezcal is a Mexican spirit known for its artisanal small-scale production in rural and indigenous areas. In the last twenty years, Mezcal demand has increased at a global level, involving producers in the complex dynamics of global value chains. This research aims to contribute to our understanding of the different strategies that indigenous producers use to interact with global markets. Through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and participatory satellite imagery classification in the mezcal producer community of San Juan del Rio, Oaxaca, Mexico, we document how the growing demand of mezcal is causing pressure on community institutions and lands. Furthermore, our results show the individual and collective strategies that producers use to respond to these pressures. The strategies include the strengthening of the community institutions that rule the management of natural resources; the creation of groups of producers as a way to increase their production capacity and reduce their vulnerability in the market; the creation of own brands (individual and collective) to upgrade their position in the value chain; and the use of young generations’ skills and knowledge to market their mezcal. While it is often assumed that small producers will succumb to pressures of global markets leading to the collapse of collective institutions, degraded natural resource, and capture of value chains by more powerful actors, people in San Juan del Rio are struggling to find a different pathway for their community to benefit from, and not be damaged by, the global value of artisanal mezcal.
In the Soy Sauce: Japan's Most Important Condiment View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Aiko Tanaka
In this day and age you would be hard-pressed to find a country unfamiliar with the word sushi. Likewise, soy sauce has long been a household world and it is soy sauce which brings out the flavor of raw fish. The birthplace of Japanese-style soy sauce is said to be Yuasa, a rural town in Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan. Wakayama is located at the southernmost tip of Honshu and occupies the western half of Japan's largest peninsula. Eighty percent of the prefecture is covered in mountains of the 1000 meter-class, an undulating wooded landscape which flourishes in the warm, wet climate. These days the stratum is rich in iron, but centuries ago the low iron content of the ground water was ideal for the growth of aspergillus fungi; hence, Yuasa was a prime location for the manufacturing of soy sauce. In my paper, I introduce Yuasa and the history of its soy sauce, the Yuasa soy sauce factory’s historical methods of production, and explore the circumstances in history which led to soy sauce’s distribution throughout Japan. I also touch upon the dip in consumption which has created a significant decline in the number of soy sauce manufacturers, and how we can avert this crisis by making traditional methods and ingredients (not only soy sauce but also kelp and bonito flakes) more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Soy sauce is truly indispensable in the world of Japanese cuisine and must be protected.
Evaluation of Maternal Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases on the Microbial Diversity of Human Milk View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mario Ivan Aleman Duarte, Jessica Guadalupe Solís Aguilar, Jesus Alonso Amezcua López, Blanca Rosa Aguilar Uscanga, Josué Raymundo Solís Pacheco, Edgar Balcázar López
Human milk is essential in the nutrition of newborns as it provides essential compounds such as lipids, sugars, immunological factors, and growth hormones that confer multiple health benefits. It contains a great diversity of microorganisms, including several species of the genera Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, or Staphylococcus. These microorganisms are transmitted to the newborn during lactation and will be an important part of the establishment of its microbiota. The intestinal microbiota is a factor that influences human health, thus, dysbiosis in it has been associated with the development of different diseases, such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, necrotizing enterocolitis, or diarrhea. Despite the biomedical and biotechnological relevance of microorganisms in human milk, the study, analysis, and application are limited to the possibility of being cultured in the laboratory. However, thanks to advances in massive next-generation sequencing technologies and molecular techniques, understanding their taxonomic structure and functional role in infant health has begun to emerge. Considering the importance of microbiological communities in human milk for newborns, in this project we performed a meta-taxonomic analysis by amplification of ribosomal markers in a group of mothers with different diseases, such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, to explore the ecological dynamics of microbiological communities related to maternal nutrition and altered health status.
