Quality Labels Research Articles

Integrating child’s health promotion in schools – local mechanisms and strategies

Abstract Background Evidence shows the importance of promoting awareness towards healthy nutrition; sports and health literacy in childhood, as early-incorporated behaviour often shape life-long behaviour patterns. Despite the legally formulated mission by the Austrian government to promote children's health, the available support for this purpose is still disproportionate and does not meet the expectations and demands of health care experts, insurances, and teaching staff regarding the pace and consistency of implementing necessary measures. Thus, local and regional stakeholders (e.g., insurances or education departments) are indispensable to accelerate implementation in the federal province of Tyrol. One measure is the “Quality Label Healthy School Program” which contains a strict set of requirements (e.g. healthy snacks/drinks; psychosocial health, sports and so forth) to promote the overall health of children. Methods We conducted 11 focus groups with five Participants on average to explore enabling and restricting factors, which may determine the successful implementation of the healthy school program. We recruited schools who joined the quality label and invited directly involved teachers as a source to provide insights into the practices, restricting and enabling factors for various health promotion measures. For processing the data, we used partially content analytical tools and the documentary method. Results Influencing factors include: a) lack of resource provision b) creativity in devising strategies for health promotion c) decision-making sovereignty d) support from local authorities & parents e) collaboration & networks f) school-specific needs & circumstances g) Workload & capacity and h) professional ethics. Conclusions Despite the lack of national support for required efforts, local authorities, health insurances and education departments developed own mechanisms and creative strategies to implement child health promotion. Key messages Local authorities, health insurances and education departments developed own mechanisms to promote child’s health and the teaching staff established creative strategies for its implementation. Despite the existing legally formulated mission to promote children's health in Austria, the national support made available for this purpose is still disproportionate to the required efforts.

Comparison of artificial neural networks and multiple regression tools applied to near infrared spectroscopy for predicting sensory properties of products from quality labels

In products from quality labels a sensory analysis is obligatory although this is a slow and expensive process. This study examines the prediction of the sensory parameters of chorizo dry-cured sausage by using NIRS technology and the application of chemometric methods such as MPLS (Modified Partial Least Square regression) and ANN (Artificial Neural Networks). The results show that by applying ANN it is possible to predict the 20 sensory parameters analyzed with RSQ values of from 0.61 to 0.92; these values are always higher than those obtained by prediction using MPLS. Moreover, the combination of NIRS and RMS-X residual discrimination allowed the correct classification of 94.4% of the samples according to whether or not they belonged to a certain Quality Label.

Once a quality-food consumer, always a quality-food consumer? Consumption patterns of organic, label rouge, and geographical indications in French scanner data

The aim of this study is to analyze the behavior of French consumers with respect to food products under various quality labels (organic, label rouge, and geographical indications). In particular, we investigate if consumers who purchase once a product under a given label tend to purchase a large fraction of this product (and other products) under the same label. Using a large scanner database, the regularity of quality-food consumption is analyzed through the relative frequency of conventional and quality purchases. The respective roles in regular consumption of product attributes, availability, and household characteristics are then examined using a random utility model. Regular organic consumers purchase around 28% of the organic market value, with variations depending on products. We find that product attributes are more related to regular organic behavior than household characteristics. In particular, product availability and product family (vegetables, eggs, milk, etc.) play a key role whereas low-price organic products are not associated with more regular consumption. Acknowledging the existence of regularity in organic consumption and understanding its variation between product categories should lead public policies to more often target specific products in order to develop quality-food consumption.

Labeling effect in insects: Cue associations influence perceived food value in ants (Lasius niger).

Humans usually assess options not in terms of absolute value, but relative to reference points. The framing of alternatives can strongly affect human decision-making, leading to different choices depending on the context within which options are presented. Similar reference-point effects have been recently reported in ants, in which foragers show contrast effects: Ants overvalue a medium-quality food source if they were expecting a poor one, and vice versa for expectations of good food. However, studies of human consumer psychology have demonstrated that expectations, for instance, from product labels, can drive value perception in the opposite direction, via a process of assimilation. For example, an expensive bottle of wine is perceived as more enjoyable compared with a cheaper bottle, even if the wine is the same. In this study, we demonstrate a similar labeling-association effect in an insect: Ants showed assimilation effects by spending twice as long drinking at medium-quality food if it was scented with an odor previously associated with high quality than if it was scented with a poor-quality label. The presence of odor cues in the food during consumption and evaluation is critical, as without them, odor-driven expectations of quality result in contrast, not assimilation effects. The addition of a quality label in the food thus reverses contrast effects and causes value to be aligned with expectations, rather than being contrasted against them. As value judgment is a key element in decision-making, relative value perception strongly influences which option is chosen and ultimately how choices are made. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A time-scale modification dataset with subjective quality labels.

Time Scale Modification (TSM) is a well-researched field; however, no effective objective measure of quality exists. This paper details the creation, subjective evaluation, and analysis of a dataset for use in the development of an objective measure of quality for TSM. Comprised of two parts, the training component contains 88 source files processed using six TSM methods at 10 time scales, while the testing component contains 20 source files processed using three additional methods at four time scales. The source material contains speech, solo harmonic and percussive instruments, sound effects, and a range of music genres. Ratings (42 529) were collected from 633 sessions using laboratory and remote collection methods. Analysis of results shows no correlation between age and quality of rating; expert and non-expert listeners to be equivalent; minor differences between participants with and without hearing issues; and minimal differences between testing modalities. A comparison of published objective measures and subjective scores shows the objective measures to be poor indicators of subjective quality. Initial results for a retrained objective measure of quality are presented with results approaching average root mean squared error loss and Pearson correlation values of subjective sessions. The labeled dataset is available at http://ieee-dataport.org/1987.

Quality Labels as Drivers of Peri-Urban Livestock Systems Resilience

Livestock farming systems have an important role in the territorial systems of the Mediterranean, but in the last twenty years the sector has undergone serious changes with an important decrease in the number of farms. The purpose of this study is to show the contribution of a local food certification to the resilience of peri-urban livestock farming system and of its food supply chain at territorial level. The focus is on the “Carne Bovina di Pisa” project, a private label promoted by the local livestock producers’ association, with the purpose of preserving biodiversity and provide farmers with an opportunity to strengthen their local marketing power. The case study is the peri-urban area of Pisa (Tuscany, Italy), representative of the urbanized Mediterranean coastal plains with high urban pressure on agricultural land and increasing agricultural abandonment in the peri-urban area. The analysis is based on the qualitative analysis of interviews to stakeholders and the quantitative figures about the changes in livestock system. Results show that the label has positively sustained both the resilience of farming systems and the local food supply chains.

Rational and irrational behavior of Slovak consumers in the private label market

Rational and irrational consumer behavior has already been the subject of several studies. Although their attention was mostly focused on traditional brands, these studies and their conclusions may also serve as a model for private label research, which is now increasingly coming to the forefront. Private labels are gradually becoming an adequate purchase alternative to traditional brands. The aim of the paper was to find out the influence of packaging and chosen marketing communication tools, on consumer purchasing decisions in the dairy segment. An anonymous questionnaire survey was chosen as the main research method, where participated 1,116 respondents from all over Slovakia; which was subsequently supplemented by the blind test involving 20 respondents under the age of up to 25 years. Seven chocolate-flavored yogurt samples were examined in the blind test; while the samples were such traditional brands by traditional producers as well as private labels. Interestingly, identical products were investigated - products from the traditional producer, both under its brand and under the retailer's private label. The results of our research proved some interesting findings - more than 28% of respondents buy private label products regularly and more than 53% buy them sporadically; whereas respondents do not buy private labels, mainly because of their lack of interest to try something new, assuming poor product quality and inadequate price; they buy them mainly because of lower prices compared to traditional product brands, comparable quality to traditional brands and good experience; respondents perceive private labels as good products of adequate quality and private labels evoke that products are adequate quality at a reasonable price. Although most respondents have no opinion on the packaging of private label products, more than 31% of them consider their packaging as unattractive and almost 36% think that their packaging does not affect them, but the results of the blind test partially refused this opinion.

Gap Analysis of the Australian cGMP and FACT Immune Effector Cell Standards

Background & Aim The Department of Cell and Molecular Therapies (CMT) adheres to the Australian Code of Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) for human blood and blood components, human tissues and human cellular therapy products. CMT is actively seeking accreditation for immune effector cells from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). In preparation for FACT accreditation a Gap Analysis was conducted to determine the differences between the two quality standards. Methods, Results & Conclusion Methods Gap Analysis was conducted to compare the FACT Immune Effector Cell Standards to the cGMP. This analysis compared Collection Activities (Part C2, Collection Facility Standards) and Processing Facility Standards (Part D) from the FACT Immune Effect Standards (Version 1.1) to the Australian cGMP (Version 1.0). For the purpose of this analysis, gaps were defined as those instances in which FACT Immune Effector Standards demonstrated a variance against cGMP standards. Results The cGMP focuses on manufacturers that undertake the collection, processing, testing storage, release for supply and quality assurance of products, whereas the FACT Immune Effector Cells Standards addresses all quality aspects of cellular therapy including collection, processing, administration and patient care. A total of 95 gaps were identified; with disparities noted in each FACT section. The majority of gaps were identified in the Quality Management, Coding and Labelling of Cellular Therapy Products, Process Controls and Cellular Therapy Product Transportation and Shipping. These results were used to implement changes in CMT in preparedness for FACT accreditation. Conclusions The summary format of this gap analysis tool is an effective method to clearly identify disparities between the cGMP standards and FACT Immune Effector Cells Standards. The gaps identified highlight potential areas for improvement within the department of CMT. This tool can be used by facilities in Australia to identify any gaps when seeking FACT or Therapeutics Goods Administration GMP accreditation

The Impact of Consumer Beef Safety Awareness on U.S. Beef Exports

ABSTRACT We quantified the impact of consumer awareness about beef safety on U.S. beef exports. An index to reflect consumer awareness is constructed based on publicized reports in the media. Results showed a 0.8% reduction in U.S. beef exports arose from foodborne-disease news. In addition, using impulse response functions derived from a panel vector autoregressive model (panel VAR with the system GMM estimator), we found that the negative impact of a shock in food safety news intensified after three quarters and then diminished. Investing in any scheme that minimizes the impact of food safety events, such as quality labeling, is suggested.

Reduced form evidence on belief updating under asymmetric information—consumers’ response to wine expert opinions

Abstract We estimate the effect of quality labels on purchases through a retail field experiment. Utilising product-level panel scanner and product characteristic data for both labelled and unlabelled wines we estimate the average and heterogeneous effect on purchases. Consistent with earlier work, we find an average effect that is positively correlated with scores. We advance the consumer belief and product information literature on two fronts. First, higher scores matter more for lower priced products. Second, spillover effects impact sales of untreated wines; these effects can be positive or negative and are impacted by the average score and label converge within brand.

Examining Attitudes Toward Food Quality Labels: Evidence from Czechia

ABSTRACT The article presents findings of research on consumer behavior in the market of foodstuffs assigned quality labels in the Czech Republic. The sample of the research was 444 respondents interviewed in 2016 in front of retail stores. The aim of the article is to identify important factors that influence customers’ decision-making process when purchasing food products, as well as how the order of factors influences consumers’ decisions when they are buying foodstuffs, and learn respondents’ opinions about food products marked with quality labels, including a presentation of specific examples of Czech food quality labels. Based on the research, the most important factors for the customer are the price, origin, and quality of the product. A food quality label was in the seventh position.

68Ga-labeled PSMA-11\xa0(68Ga-isoPROtrace-11) synthesized with ready to use kit: normal biodistribution and uptake characteristics of tumour lesions

68Ga-PSMA-11, the radiotracer of choice for imaging of prostate cancer (PCa), may be produced with several radiolabeling techniques. Current study aimed to analyze various imaging parameters of the cold kit methodology produced 68Ga-PSMA-11 (68Ga-isoPROtrace-11) and to compare the results to available data in literature. Eighty 68Ga-PSMA-11 positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans were evaluated. 68Ga-isoPROtrace-11 for all the studies was produced by the room temperature cold kit methodology using a lyophilized ready-to-use vial. Normal biodistribution of the tracer was recorded by measuring mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) and compared to the available published data. Pathological tracer uptake was measured using SUVmax in prostate gland (48 patients), lymph nodes (22 patients), bones (20 patients) and soft tissues (6 patients). Average tumour-to-background and tumour-to-liver contrast ratios were calculated. The data of 80 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT scans were analyzed. Radiochemical purity of the tracer was 91% or more. The highest normal tissue uptake value of 68Ga-isoPROtrace-11 was found in the kidneys (average SUVmean 41.7), followed by the parotid (average SUVmean 14.5) and submandibular glands (average SUVmean 13.02). Normal prostate tissue showed low tracer uptake (average SUVmean 2.4). The biodistribution of 68Ga-isoPROtrace-11 in normal tissues was found to be similar to other published results. Pathological uptake (average SUVmax ± standard deviation) in prostate gland was 11.3 ± 7.5, in lymph node metastases 14.6 ± 13.7, in bones 15.9 ± 15.9 and 24.2 ± 16.4 in soft tissues. Average tumour uptake of 68Ga-isoPROtrace-11 in prostate was 11.3, in lymph node metastases 14.6, in bone metastases 15.9 and in soft tissue metastases 24.2. Average tumour-to-liver and tumour-to-mediastinal blood pool ratios were 2.7 and 13.54 respectively. This study presents biodistribution data of 68Ga-isoPROtrace-11 in a large PCa patient subset, showing clinical applicability of the tracer. Using cold kit technology may enable a high quality and easy labeling process.

Assessment of Genetic Diversity of the "Acquaviva Red Onion" (Allium cepa L.) Apulian Landrace.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is the second most important vegetable crop worldwide and is widely appreciated for its health benefits. Despite its significant economic importance and its value as functional food, onion has been poorly investigated with respect to its genetic diversity. Herein, we surveyed the genetic variation in the “Acquaviva red onion” (ARO), a landrace with a century-old history of cultivation in a small town in the province of Bari (Apulia, Southern of Italy). A set of 11 microsatellite markers were used to explore the genetic variation in a germplasm collection consisting of 13 ARO populations and three common commercial types. Analyses of genetic structure with parametric and non-parametric methods highlighted that the ARO represents a well-defined gene pool, clearly distinct from the Tropea and Montoro landraces with which it is often mistaken. In order to provide a description of bulbs, usually used for fresh consumption, soluble solid content and pungency were evaluated, showing higher sweetness in the ARO with respect to the two above mentioned landraces. Overall, the present study is useful for the future valorization of the ARO, which could be promoted through quality labels which could contribute to limit commercial frauds and improve the income of smallholders.

Utilization of Food Quality Labels Included in the European Union Quality Schemes

The paper deals with European Union quality schemes of Protected Designation of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed labels. This paper aims to analyse the share of PDO, PGI and TSG labels in EU countries, selected product categories and their structure, and explains the relationships between country of product origin and number of registered product names. Secondary data from the Database of Origin and Registration are used. As the results show, the highest number of product names is registered under the PDO label, followed closely by the PGI label. The dominant country is Italy followed by other Mediterranean countries such as France, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Impact of Multiple Labelling on Consumer Choices for Olive Oil.

Multiple quality labels that signal whether a particular food has special characteristics relating to geographical origin or production method have become standard within European food policy. The aim of this paper was to investigate how two of these labels in particular influence consumers’ food choices. We assessed consumers’ preferences for an extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) displaying EU quality labels and focus on whether they are complements or substitutes. In order to do so, we used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to estimate main and two-way interactions effects with data from a self-administrated survey in a Spanish region. Results indicate that while consumers positively value both the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the organic labels, the valuation for PDO is almost double that of the valuation of the organic label. Furthermore, the findings show that for a majority of consumers considered both labels substitutes, while a small group considered them complements. These findings can help producers identify an optimal labelling strategy to maximize returns on certification investments.

Developing quality label awareness index of helmet users

PurposeThis research aims to develop an index for measuring Indonesian quality label awareness among motorcycle helmet users. The index measures quality label awareness and its antecedent variables, which are the variables that represent marketing effort on promoting the quality label.Design/methodology/approachThe indicators of the index were derived from a literature review. A survey was performed. The respondents are 487 motorcycle drivers and passengers helmet users in Jakarta. The authors conducted some statistical analyses, namely, exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s α analysis, and multiple regression analysis.FindingsA quality label awareness index was developed and tested. The index consists of quality label awareness and its determinants. The determinants are label marketing clarity and label marketing credibility. The research result showed that the index is valid and reliable.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors performed the survey only at Jakarta using convenience sampling technique. Thus, the findings may not be generalized to other contexts. Given this, replication research is important to be performed in the future in order to test the stability of the findings in other contexts.Practical implicationsThe index can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of quality label and quality label marketing programs.Originality/valueThis study is believed to be the first to develop and test consumers' quality label awareness index.

Consumer knowledge about quality labelling concepts linked to family farming

Family farming is challenged by participating in Long Supply Chains. In this context, production processes must be communicated to the market through quality labels. The product’s added value increases when concepts related to the labels are known by consumers. The objective of this work was to evaluate consumers’ knowledge about quality labeling concepts, in Dracena (São Paulo State). For this, 257 personal interviews were conducted with the help of a structured questionnaire, between April and June 2018. The results indicate that 1/3 of consumers are unaware of organic farming and just over half are unaware of family farming concepts. Quilombo and fair-trade products are virtually unknown in Dracena. There was a positive relationship between educational attainment levels and knowledge of family farming and organic products. In conclusion, the work has shown the need for an extensive and continuous consumer information campaign on quality labelling.Keywords: Family Farming Identification Label (Sipaf); Brazilian Quilombo Label; FairTrade Label; Brazil Organic Product Label; Long Supply Chain.GROOT, Etiénne. Conhecimento sobre os conceitos de selos de qualidade vinculados à agricultura familiar. Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura, v. 28, n. 1, p. 136-155, fev. 2020.Submitted on October 7, 2019.Accepted on January 8, 2020.

Exploring institutional arrangements for local fish product labelling in Tuscany (Italy): a convention theory perspective

Increasing fish consumption along with rising competition in the global seafood market has brought fisheries and aquaculture producers to adopt several differentiation and marketing strategies. Labelling schemes were thus introduced to respond to a growing demand for traceable and sustainable products. However, the proliferation of quality labels brought to general confusion, calling for collective and public fish labels to ease decision-making. In our case study region (Tuscany, Italy), a number of policy-driven efforts were deployed for establishing regional labelling schemes for fisheries products with no observable impact on the market. Meanwhile, local companies have implemented a number of successful private and regional labels. The purpose of this research is to contribute to potential options for collective regional labelling schemes of fisheries and aquaculture products, through a case study analysis, building on agro-food value-chain and management approaches. Our empirical results highlight key issues and perspectives on labelling policies for local fisheries and aquaculture products.

Local image quality measurement for multi-scale forensic palmprints

Numerous studies show that palmprint image quality has a significant effect on every stage of a palmprint recognition system. Although some palmprint image quality measurement(PIQM) methods are proposed, some insufficiency in classification accuracy occurs and attention to detail in measuring local area image quality of multi-scale palmprint images is lacking. On the one hand, the classification accuracy is not very high for 2-class classification and it degrades significantly as the number of classes increases. On the other hand, local area image quality measurement of multi-scale palmprint images has not yet been resolved since the handcrafted features designed through domain knowledge usually works for certain scale image blocks. Meanwhile, the intricate domain knowledge used in the previous methods is difficult for some common users to acquire. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end deep-learning method of strengthening representation ability that learns more abstract, essential, and reliable features to measure the local image quality for multi-scale forensic palmprints. Popular convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are considered because of their powerful representation ability in learning complex features. However, the powerful existing CNNs usually have complex architectures with a large amount of parameters, which need the support of high-performance computers. They are not suitable to be used directly for palmprint image quality assignment and the follow-up palmprint recognition work, which prefers real-time response on commonly available personal computers or even mobile devices. Hence, a new lightweight CNN must be designed to achieve a trade-off between high classification accuracy and practical usability. Considering the attributes of under-processed input images, we reduce the weight of the CNN architecture by reducing the amount of some parameters, and finally a lightweight CNN is designed. As a result, a raw rectangular palmprint image of variable size can be put into the trained model directly and a quality label quickly predicted with high accuracy. After comparison with previous methods, results show that the proposed method can deal with un-pre-processed raw images of a multi-scale input size. Furthermore, it can acquire a richer amount of quality classes with a higher accuracy, which are stable on many different datasets. It also leads to finer and more precise full palmprint image quality maps when compared to previous methods.

Motives for coffee consumption at coffee shops in Mexico

Coffee is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for developing countries. Mexico accounts only 2.68% of the world coffee production, but represent the most important source of foreign exchange in the agricultural sector. The Mexican coffee began to be recognized in recent years, and despite the increase of the consumption, Mexico is not considered an important consumer. The objective was to analyse the motives for coffee consumption at coffee shops with quality labels. A national and a transnational company were selected in central Mexico to carry out a total of 600 questionnaires. Thequestionnaire had four sections: frequency of consumption, Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), some images of coffee quality labels, and a socio-economic. The data were analysed using multivariate statistics, factor and cluster analysis. Indifferent, Pragmatic and Hedonic-Dependent consumers were identified; who are mostly young and middle-aged, single, childless and college educated. Their interest in attending coffee shops is to socialize; they are not interested in quality labels which have negative implications for the use of this type of labels in Mexico. Key words: Consumers; food choice questionnaire; factor and cluster analysis.