Food Enterprises Research Articles

Post COVID logistics, strategies and actions need to be taken: evidence from small and medium scale food and beverages manufacturing sector

Abstract Food is required for both humans and animals, however during the covid-19 era, many small and medium-sized food enterprises are struggling to produce and transport food, and others are on the verge of closing down. Now is the moment to build a future strategy and action plan for the small and medium-sized food industry to mitigate the economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. This study’s objective is to identify probable tactics, policies, and action plans and evaluate their efficacy and acceptability. This study also explores and quantifies the post-COVID effects of Covid-19 on Bangladesh’s Small and Medium-Scale Food Industries. Using a non-probability sample technique, three types of self-administered questionnaires were utilized to gather data from the owner, factory in-charge, manager, and CEO of the Food and Beverage Manufacturing sector. Using SPSS software V.25, descriptive analysis was performed to display frequencies, %ages, and mean scores, while one-sample t-test was utilized to compare the value (mean) of the viewpoints (strategies & action plans) with the supplied value (test value). Results indicate that the probable strategies and action plans (14 strategies) that need to be implemented by the government is high and acceptable and that the effectiveness of other probable strategies and action plans (5 strategies) that need to be implemented by food and beverage manufacturers may also acceptable and could apply to the post-covid situation.

Consumer Response to Food Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Food Performance and Company Ethics Irresponsibility.

Corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) seriously damages the rights and interests of stakeholders, particularly consumers. This study analyzes the consumer response to food performance irresponsibility and food corporate ethics irresponsibility by moral emotions. A situational simulation experiment was conducted with the following results: (1) Food performance irresponsibility has the greatest impact on consumer boycotts, while corporate ethics irresponsibility more often leads to consumers' negative word of mouth (NWOM). (2) Moral emotions play a strong mediating role between CSI and consumers' NWOM and boycott behavior. (3) Gender significantly moderates the propagation path from moral emotions to NWOM, and female consumers react more strongly to food performance irresponsibility. In conclusion, the paper offers empirical evidence of the effect food corporate social irresponsibility has on consumers' different responses. Furthermore, it can help food enterprises to identify different CSI types and develop corresponding governance strategies.

Consumer Purchase Intention for Food Products in Facebook E-Commerce Platforms During COVID-19 Lockdowns

This work employs the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) analysis in elucidating the holistic relationships among the factors that affect the intention of consumers to purchase products via e-commerce. In demonstrating the DEMATEL, a case study evaluating 13 factors of consumer purchase intention of food products via Facebook e-commerce platforms, derived from a focus group discussion, was carried out in this work. The context of the analysis is positioned during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, where strict physical distancing measures were implemented. The findings of this work suggest that reliability, food product quality and safety, and convenience are the key factors influencing consumer purchase intention, with reliability as the most prominent. These results offer practical insights that would aid decision-makers in food enterprises in allocating resources and designing initiatives to attract consumers to purchase food products through e-commerce platforms. Some managerial takeaways are outlined in this work.

Factors Affecting Purchase Intentions of Home-Based Food Products

COVID-19 has severely affected every point of humans’ lives, including making a living, work, education, economy, politics, health systems, and many more. For some people, this unfortunate event is a blessing in disguise, where it has opened the doors for many opportunities and possibilities from a business perspective. Home-based food business, where operators make foods from their houses and sell them to customers, is one of the sectors that are raking in the ‘benefits’ since this pandemic has hit the world. Hundreds of thousands of individuals have lost their employment or had their primary source of income suddenly disappear due to the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, many of these people began venturing into home-based food enterprises, formed out of a dire necessity. However, it is important to note that consumers' intentions in purchasing food products from this new sector need to be understood. Associations between factors (health, price and convenience) and purchase intention were measured in this study. A quantitative survey through online questionnaires was used to collect the data from a total of 191 respondents. Regression analysis, apart from descriptive statistics, indicates that all hypotheses based on the above factors are significantly related to food purchase intention, with the ‘price’ as the most influential factor based on the R2 value. Therefore, practitioners are responsible for keeping a close eye on the consumers' intentions to make purchases. Even when the quarantine period is over, customers will continue to exercise caution, and the majority of them will still choose to purchase at home because this is truly a long-term tendency that is expected to remain even after the epidemic is over

Implications for risk management of foodborne pathogens in China from the outbreak of monophasic salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium contaminated chocolate products

Outbreaks caused by highly industrialized food companies are characterized by cross-border, trans-regional, rapid and unpredictable, related to serious disease and economic burden. A cluster of cases with monophasic salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium ST34 infection suspected to be associated with consumption of contaminated chocolate products have been reported in several Europe countries since December 2021. After retrospective investigations, the buttermilk circuit in the Belgian factory was suspected to be the point of origin of the contamination. This outbreak could provide a reference for the risk management of foodborne pathogens contamination in China. The objective of this paper was to summarize the process and characteristics of the outbreak of monophasic S. Typhimurium caused by contaminated chocolate products, analyze the characteristics of ST34 monophasic S. Typhimurium and the microbial management measures in the process of chocolate products, and systematically discuss the suggestions for the risk management of foodborne pathogens contamination and countermeasures for the rapid development of industrialization of food enterprises in China, in order to provide scientific and technological support for the prevention and control, prediction and early warning of sudden cases in China.

Interregional collaboration for food safety governance: the scheme design and performance evaluation with cases in China

The spatial spillover of food safety risks and the regional mobility of food enterprises make territorial governance inefficient, which calls for interregional collaboration to enhance food safety in the context of territorial governance. However, due to the lack of a collaborative food safety governance scheme, there has been no substantial progress in interregional collaboration for food safety governance in China. Therefore, this paper refines the three key elements of collaboration from the perspective of supply chain, economy and geography and puts forward the optimal zoning scheme of interregional collaboration for food safety governance. By analysing the evolution trend of interregional collaboration, we found China has already produced the germination of interregional collaboration in terms of food safety issues, though it has been slow and volatile. To promote the process of interregional collaboration, this paper also analyses the determinants of the coordinated regulatory performance of food safety. The results show that collaborative actions within regions can facilitate coordinated regulatory practice. The interregional difference in regulatory intensity and consumption patterns hinder the interregional collaboration for food safety governance, while the interregional difference in industrial structure inversely promotes the coordinated regulatory performance. These findings lend support to effective promotion of interregional collaboration.

Method for assessing the efficiency of the use of a biological preparation in wastewater of oil extraction production

One of the promising ways to remove fats in the wastewater of food enterprises is the bioenzymatic technology for the decomposition of organic substances, including fats and vegetable oils, at local treatment facilities located directly at the enterprises. Bioenzymatic technologies for the decomposition and utilization of fats in wastewater are based on the use of microbial lipases and microorganisms capable of producing them. The experiment was carried out on the territory of the oil extraction plant in Bezenchuk for 18 days. Based on the samples taken, the concentration of triglycerides was revealed, the destructive ability was determined, as well as lipolytic activity after the introduction of the biological product.

Awareness and intention to register halal certification of micro and small-scale food enterprises

Background: This paper discusses halal awareness of MSE food producers in West Java Province, Indonesia. Halal awareness is the first step toward obtaining halal certificates, which confirm that the product is lawful according to Islamic Sharia. Unfortunately, despite Islam being the religion of most Indonesians, most food sold in the market lacks a halal certificate due to a lack of awareness among food producers about the importance of selling halal-certified foods. Methods: This study aims at measuring the level of halal awareness and the intention of MSE food producers to register halal certification. Halal awareness is assumed to be influenced by knowledge of halal and the food producers’ perception of the benefits of halal certificates. Furthermore, halal awareness, attitudes, and perception of ease of procedures will encourage the intention to register halal certification. An electronic Google Form with a cover letter and a set of questionnaires was distributed to collect data. Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was chosen to evaluate the adopted theoretical models in the exploratory research.. Results: The results show that halal awareness is influenced by knowledge of halal and perception of its benefits. Moreover, halal awareness influences positively the intention to obtain a halal certificate, but the intention is not significantly affected by attitudes to produce halal foods and perception of procedures for obtaining halal certification. This shows that halal awareness will increase the intention to register halal certification. However, misconceptions about the procedures for obtaining halal certificates keep them from registering. Conclusions: MSE food producers in West Java Province, Indonesia have a good level of awareness about halal food. However, their products are not halal-certified due to the perception of the procedures for obtaining halal certificates are relatively complicated and costly for them.

The Negative Effects of Physical Activity Calorie Equivalent Labels on Consumers' Food Brand Evaluation.

(1) Background: To prevent excessive caloric intake, a food labeling strategy is widely adopted by governments. Physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels prove to be effective in reducing calorie intake. However, previous literature has mainly discussed the effect of PACE labels on consumers’ purchase intention for high-calorie foods but has not analyzed whether consumers evaluate food brands negatively after inhibiting the consumers’ purchase intention for high-calorie foods. Therefore, the aims of this study are to explore the negative effects of PACE labels on consumers’ food brand evaluation and the underlying psychological mechanism. (2) Methods: This study manipulated the two calorie-information labeling (standard calorie label and PACE labels) in two studies, involving potato chips and chocolate products. It also adopted a prevention focus and anticipated enjoyment of food consumption variables to detect the moderation effects between consumers’ promotion focus and PACE labels. (3) Results: Results show that compared with calorie labels, PACE labels have a more negative influence on consumers’ food brand evaluation. Furthermore, consumers stimulated by PACE labels develop a stronger prevention focus, thereby reducing their anticipated enjoyment of food brands, and ultimately leading to lower brand evaluations. In addition, when consumers have a promotion focus before choosing food, PACE labels cannot reduce their anticipated enjoyment and food brand evaluation for food brands. (4) Conclusions: While focusing on the negative effect of PACE labels on consumers’ purchase intention for high-calorie foods, it should also be noted that PACE labels have a negative effect on food brand evaluation. Therefore, food enterprises should try their best to activate consumers’ promotion focus through various environmental cues, so as to avoid a double negative effect on consumers’ food purchases and brand evaluations.

Opportunities in valorisation of industrial food waste into extruded snack products – A review

Fruit and vegetable by-product production produces a large amount of waste material, which poses a significantdisposal issue for the food industry and can have harmful effect on the environment, if left unused. This waste includes nutrients like dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals, as well as bioactive like flavonoids and lycopene. The functional and nutritional characteristics of by-products of fruit and vegetable processing, as well as their possible utilization in food extrusion technology as noble ingredients for enhancing the nutritional value in snack foods are the subject of this study. This review also proposes a method for producing a less expensive value-added ingredient, which reduces the current methods of disposing of these waste (that can have a negative impact on the environment) but still saving money for the manufacturer. The potential and opportunity for fruit and vegetable by-products incorporation in extruded snack products, thereby enriching the fibre and other nutritional components of the snack, is reflected in this paper. Ingredient industries are constantly searching for cheaper but value-added raw materials. So, this review will also enhance the horizon for not only the food industries but also encourage micro food entrepreneurs, the Self Help Groups and certain other domestic food enterprises in terms of the utility of the food waste, the methods of development and value added aspects as a whole.

СФЕРА ХАРЧУВАННЯ ЯК ОБ’ЄКТ АДМІНІСТРАТИВНО-ПРАВОВИХ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ

The author explores scientific positions on the field of nutrition as an object of administrative and legal research. It is determined that: 1. the sphere of nutrition is a multi-species, ie its content, specifics, directions of development should be considered in terms of the factor of ensuring the health of the nation; public administration; component of the economy; element of industrial security of the state, which is a specific element of national security; marketing activities; 2. State policy in the field of food is unsystematic, which is expressed in the absence of measures to stimulate food producers, and vice versa, in the application of strict administrative measures by the state (constant and unscheduled inspections of producers, availability of many reporting forms and data, etc.); 3. the need to ensure a continuous chain process in the field of food - "state-operator-producer of food-buyer". In this case, the buyer can always be the consumer, but the consumer is not always the buyer (for example, baby food, where the choice of product is made by the buyer, while the consumer is the child); 4. competitive dynamics of the development of nutrition, and the field of baby food in particular, determine the socio-demographic, economic factors and purchasing power of buyers; 5. It is necessary to introduce measures of state support in order to modernize the production capacity of food enterprises, for example, in the framework of public-private partnership; 6. depletion of production capacity and high administrative pressure on food business entities negatively affect the quality and safety of food and the development of the food industry as a whole; 7. It is necessary to ensure the conditions for dialogue between the food business and the state in the face of authorized competent entities.

Strategic Flexibility, Institutional Pressure, and Proenvironmental Behavior among Sea Food Enterprises: Mediating Effect Based on Paradoxical Cognition

The proenvironmental behavior of Sea Foods Enterprises is the microfoundation for the transformation and upgrading of the traditional marine aquatic industry. Integrating institutional theory and strategic cognitive theory, we use 221 marine aquaculture companies as research samples to explore the driving effect of strategic flexibility (resource flexibility and coordination flexibility) and institutional pressure (regulatory pressure and normative pressure) on proenvironmental behavior, and the mediating role of paradoxical cognition. The conclusion is as follows: (1) strategic flexibility and institutional pressure jointly drive Sea Food Enterprises to adopt proenvironmental behaviors, of which regulatory pressure has the most significant impact. (2) Paradox cognition plays a partial mediating role in the interaction between resource flexibility, coordination flexibility, regulatory pressure, and proenvironmental behavior. There is no mediating effect in the interaction between normative pressure and proenvironmental behavior.

Creating a digital space of socially sustainable development for food enterprises

Under modern conditions, there are new requirements for the formation of relations with consumers, partners, employees, and society. The possibilities of integrating corporate social responsibility (CSR) tools and economic digitalization processes have been investigated and a new format for evaluating the activities of small and medium-sized businesses related to their level of maturity has been defined. This study formulates patterns of CSR development, proposes the use of a new concept of "digital space of social sustainable development" (DSSSD), and reports a methodological toolkit devised for determining the level of maturity of the digital space of social sustainable development (DSSSD) of food industry enterprises. The developed methodological support makes it possible to assess CSR by economic, social, and informatization criteria. The proposed CSR scorecard makes it possible to compare companies and rank them in the coordinate system of corporate social responsibility/digitalization. 17 key indicators have been identified, which are formed into three key groups. Confirmation of the effectiveness of the methodology is the execution of calculations for small and medium-sized businesses in the food industry. According to the results of the calculations, the maturity levels of eight enterprises of the food industry in Ukraine in the DSSSD space were determined. The analysis made it possible to determine that four enterprises are at the initial level of DSSSD (zone 1 Digital Descriptive), two enterprises are moving to zone 2 (Solutions Analytics Digital), and two enterprises are in a state of transition to zone 3 (Smart CIS) due to increasing the level of digitalization and the formation of an internal CSR system, which indicates their active development. This makes it possible to assert that the technique is effective and can be useful for enterprises around the world. The selected indicators are used at all enterprises of those countries that use the international accounting and reporting system. Improving the system in the areas of formation of corporate social responsibility and the introduction of digitalization of the enterprise makes it possible to optimize the information systems of enterprises, automate management procedures, and create new communication channels with consumers and beneficiaries. This will contribute to the development of a systemic socio-economic effect of business, care for the needs of people, the development of the social climate at an enterprise, and the emergence of new formats of interaction between business, the state, and society.

Strategy used by Small-Scale Food Entrepreneurs against the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The presence of small-scale food enterprises contributes significantly to the country's income while also providing numerous job opportunities in the community. The purpose of this study was to look at how small-scale food entrepreneurs try to stay in business while dealing with the effects of COVID-19. The strategies factor was developed using factor analysis, and descriptive analysis was used to examine demography, strategy practices, and the assistance in enhancing entrepreneurial strategy. This research has identified three strategies factors: add skills, service and supply, and reduce expenses. However, entrepreneurs must enhance their strategy by utilizing government assistance. As a result, the government must be vigilant in providing entrepreneurs with the assistance they require to rehabilitate businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysis of the Effect of Competitive Intelligence on Strategic Decision Making in Small and Medium-Sized Food Enterprises

Analysis of the Effect of Competitive Intelligence on Strategic Decision Making in Small and Medium-Sized Food Enterprises

Challenges in Micro and Small Food Enterprises during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ecuador

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) play a significant role in developing countries such as Ecuador. The food and beverage industry is essential for Ecuador’s economy, contributing approximately 5% to its GDP. Focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, this mixed research takes a qualitative and quantitative approach involving four stages: foundation, prefield, field, and reporting. The fieldwork was carried out when Ecuador’s economy reopened in September 2020, which saw demand increase gradually, production capacity recovering, mobility return to normal levels, and curfew restrictions reduced. As far as biosecurity protocols were concerned, communities were allowed to resume pre-pandemic activities, provided they complied with social distancing, permanent mask wearing, and strict cleaning procedures. The effect on each company’s process depends on the activities they adopted to mitigate the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic risk, e.g., service companies experienced, on average, a 22% cost increase due to the purchase of cleaning supplies, while manufacturing companies were more likely to have related measures in place and so the effect on them was on a comparatively smaller scale.

Prospects of mango fruit powder production at farm level and its utilisation during mango off-season in Ghana

Mango (Mangifera indica) is an important fruit served to customers as fresh-cut fruit, juice, ice cream and yogurts in many fruit juice joints, restaurants and hotels in Ghana. However, the crop’s highly seasonal and perishable nature is a challenge for food processors and farmers. Preservation of the fruit in dry particulate form can serve as a substitute in off-seasons. The study sought to determine mango fruit powder production prospects at the farm level and explore its potential use as a substitute during the off-season. Farmer groups and food enterprises were therefore interviewed. The study showed that Keitt and Kent varieties were the most cultivated varieties because of market demand and high yield. However, an average annual fruit loss of 29.8% at the farm level was observed. Postharvest extension delivery service to farmers is inadequate, and where available, frequency of contact is irregular. A limited number of farmers received training in fruit processing; and few were engaged in transformational value addition activities but were willing to add value through processing into powder. Probit regression analysis showed that a unit increase in training would increase transformational farm level value addition into mango fruit powder by 22.9%. The majority of the food enterprises source fruits within Ghana while 79% experienced mango fruit shortage in the off-seasons. Only a few of the enterprises used mango fruit-based substitutes to serve customers in off-seasons. Probit regression analysis showed that a marginal increase in processors’ use of substitute significantly (p≤0.05) increased willingness to use mango fruit powder as a substitute by 47%. The study has revealed that local production of mango fruit powder could serve as a substitute to fill the seasonal gap in mango supply and also reduce post-harvest losses.

Operational Characteristics of Women Street Food Vendors in Rural South Africa.

ObjectiveTo characterize the operations of the street food enterprise in the Vhembe district, focusing on business profile, sold foods, inputs, pricing, record-keeping practices and total running cost.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional face-to-face study of 511 vendors was done using a structured researcher-administered questionnaire comprising demographic and operational characteristics. Convenience sampling was used to choose the vending sites. Chi-square tests were conducted between four categorical variables (gender, age, marital status and citizenship) and operational characteristics. P-values were considered significant at p < 0.05. However, a Bonferroni adjustment decreased the significant value to p < 0.013.ResultsThe findings highlight the dominance of single middle-aged (35–44) women (63.1%) with some high school education. About 14% migrated from Zimbabwe. Most vendors were owners (86.1%), with 70.0% in business for at least 1–10 years. Food sold included mielie pap (stiff porridge) served with beef or chicken, sometimes with vegetables. Plate prices were R40.00 (2.6 USD) for a full plate and R30.00 (2 USD) for half a plate. The typical street food consumers were government officials, middlemen, and schoolchildren. Social media such as Whatsapp were used to communicate between the street food vendors and customers. The results highlight poor managerial skills as only 15.5% kept records, most of which were sales records (59.5%). On average, street vendors made a monthly profit of R3200.00 (213 USD) while spending R1800.00 (120 USD) on daily running expenses. There were statistically significant variations in some operational characteristics of vendor variables and gender, age, marital status, and citizenship.ConclusionsThere is a need for capital and management for small businesses and food training for rural street food vendors. Therefore, government officials, policymakers, and NGOs could target street vendors to offer training and microfinance to improve their business skills while promoting food safety and consumption of nutritious foods.

Ontological support system of managerial decision-making of production tasks for a food enterprise

Resource and energy efficiency of industrial production, in particular, food production, is a defining requirement that will ensure its functioning without loss of quality and quantity of final products. This is achieved by observing the requirements for the operational parameters of the company’s technological processes and their operational changes. Given the complexity of the functioning of the energy component of the world and Ukraine due to military operations and their consequences, the issue of quality/cost ratio has become more acute. Therefore, for large manufacturing enterprises, the development of systems for supporting management decision-making in accordance with the Industry 4.0 concept becomes relevant. This will contribute to improving the production and economic indicators of the enterprise through coordinated actions of all links of production activities by structuring and processing large amounts of heterogeneous information. The purpose of the study is to develop a decision support system for the task of choosing the structure of an automated control system based on an ontological knowledge base. The developed application ontology uses descriptive logic and is interpreted as part of a digital production double implemented by a single ontological knowledge base and ontological repository. Considering existing international standards, the OWL2 language was chosen for the implementation of the ontological knowledge base. The ontology system architecture contains an ontology server, a Node-Red application, and a user form. A project decision support system that issues recommendations based on requests for the structure of the control system for a technological facility with uncertainties, considering the requirements and restrictions set for each technological process of a food enterprise, reduces the time to choose the appropriate structures, schemes, and methods. Thus, the designer receives the necessary information, supported by knowledge from the subject area, for the synthesis of an effective automated control system. It is also assumed that the ontological system will be expanded by connecting new created applied ontologies that implement related tasks of an industrial enterprise

Investigation of the structure transformation effect of ion-exchange membranes on a separation processes efficiency of technological solutions and an ecological safety of food production enterprises

A membrane separation of solutions, along with other purification methods, plays an important role in the effective and ecological safety of food production enterprises and is used for softening and demineralization of water, separation, concentration and purification of technological solutions, as well as for other processes. An important problem of membrane and electromembrane separation methods is to increase the used membrane selectivity. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the structure transformation effect of ion-exchange membranes on a separation processes efficiency of technological solutions and an ecological safety of food production enterprises using the methods of X-ray diffraction analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The analysis of the calculated values of crystallinity degree (CD) by X-ray diffractograms allowed us to identify the different effect of water saturation on the studied membranes. The structure of their material changes, which in turn affects the transport characteristics of the membranes, the efficiency of separation and, ultimately, the environmental ecological safety food enterprises. The cation-exchange membrane MK-40L was characterized by an increase in CD by 5.83%, and the anion exchange membrane MA-41P on the contrary was characterized by a decrease in CD by 5.87%. The crystallite sizes were distributed in the range of 0.096-0.345 nm for the MA-41P membrane and 0.096-0.193 nm for the MK-40L membrane. During thermal studies by DSC one endothermic and exothermic sections were revealed on the obtained curves in the temperature range of 30-202 and 202-498 °C for the MK-40L membrane and 30-223 °C and 223-498 °C for the MA-41P membrane, respectively. The endothermic sections of the curves were characterized by one endothermic peak. Four or five pronounced exothermic peaks were registered on the exothermic sections. At the same time, the MK-40L membrane was characterized by more intense peaks in a water-saturated sample and the MA-41P membrane in the dry one.