Vegetable Basket Research Articles

The Price of Foods, Beverages, and Diets in Australia: An Updated Systematic Review

Abstract Context The price and affordability of food are priorities for public health and health equity; however, Australia lacks a consistent method to evaluate healthy versus unhealthy diets, creating a gap in routine food price reporting. Objective This review aimed to identify and summarize recent methods used to assess and monitor the price and/or affordability of food and beverages in Australia using a health lens. Data Sources Four academic databases (MEDLINE Complete, Global Health, CINAHL Complete, and Business Source Complete) were searched in English from 2016 to 2022. Relevant gray literature was searched through Google Scholar and government websites. Data Extraction Five reviewers screened titles and abstracts, and full-text screening was conducted by 1 reviewer, with eligibility confirmed by a second reviewer. The quality of studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute “Checklist for Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies.” Data Analysis Twenty-five eligible studies were identified. Eleven studies used a version of the Healthy Diets Australian Standardized Affordability and Pricing protocol to collect prices for a “healthy” diet modelled on dietary guidelines and an “unhealthy” diet based on a habitual Australian diet. These studies consistently found unhealthy diets to be more expensive than healthy diets. Other identified methods included assessing the price of household diets across healthy baskets (n = 6), store types (n = 5), a planetary health diet (n = 1), packaged foods according to their Health Star Rating (n = 1), a fruit and vegetable basket (n = 1), school canteen foods against a traffic light system (n = 1), and weekly healthy meal plans (n = 1). Healthy diets tended to be less costly than less healthy diets, but both diets were often unaffordable in regional areas, for people on low incomes, and for First Nations peoples. Conclusion Consistent country-wide application of methods for monitoring the price and affordability of foods and diets in Australia is needed—including tailored approaches for priority groups. Systematic Review Registration PROSPERO registration no. CRD42022333531.

Development Path and Problem Analysis of the "Vegetable Basket" Project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

This paper examines the current agricultural product supply dynamics within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, focusing on the vegetable supply chain. By investigating the five main participants involved in supplying vegetables to Hong Kong, it delves into the operational aspects of these enterprises, including their distribution networks, logistical arrangements, and customs procedures. Moreover, it analyzes the characteristics and influencing factors behind the distribution of supply bases. Through this comprehensive study, it becomes evident that each participant follows a distinct development trajectory, resulting in various associated challenges. In light of these findings, the paper puts forth strategic recommendations aimed at fostering the value-added development of the entire industry chain. Additionally, it offers forward-looking insights into the burgeoning distribution centers, emphasizing the need for collaborative efforts to address existing issues and seize emerging opportunities. By implementing the proposed strategies, the sustainability and efficiency of the Greater Bay Area's agricultural supply chain can be enhanced, paving the way for its continued growth and development.

Spread of plasmids carrying antibiotic resistance genes in soil-lettuce-snail food chain.

Fertilization can change the composition of antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs) and their host bacteria in agricultural fields, while complex microbial activities help ARGs into crops and transmit them to humans through agricultural products.Therefore, this study constructed a farmland food chain with soil-lettuce-snail as a typical structure, added genetically engineered Pseudomonas fluorescens containing multidrug-resistant plasmid RP4 to track its spread in the farmland food chain, and used different fertilization methods to explore its influence on the spread and diffusion of ARGs and intl1 in the farmland food chain. It was found that exogenous Pseudomonas can enter plants from soil and pass into snails' intestines, and there is horizontal gene transfer phenomenon of RP4 plasmid in bacteria. At different interfaces of the constructed food chain, the addition of exogenous drug-resistant bacteria had different effects on the total abundance of ARGs and intl1. Fertilization, especially manure, not only promoted the spread of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the transfer of RP4 plasmid levels, but also significantly increased the total abundance of ARGs and intl1 at all interfaces of the constructed food chain. The main ARGs host bacteria in the constructed food chain include Proteobacteria, Bacteroides, and Firmicutes, while Flavobacterium of Bacteroides is the unique potential host bacteria of RP4 plasmid. In conclusion, this study provides a reference for the risk assessment of ARGs transmitted to the human body through the food chain, and has important practical significance to reduce the antibiotic resistance contamination of agricultural products and ensure the safety of vegetable basket.

Photothermal and Photovoltaic Utilization for Improving the Thermal Environment of Chinese Solar Greenhouses: A Review

A Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) is an agricultural facility type with Chinese characteristics. It can effectively utilize solar energy during low-temperature seasons in alpine regions. The low construction and operation costs make it a main facility for agricultural production in the northern regions of China. It plays an extremely important role in “Chinese vegetable basket projects”. Energy is one of the important issues faced by CSGs. The better climate resources in the northern regions of China make it possible to apply solar energy as a green and sustainable energy source in the production of CSGs. Faced with the increasingly serious environmental problems of the new century, the Chinese government has made a decision and put it into practice to improve the rate and efficiency of solar energy utilization in agricultural facilities. In this paper, we summarize the research on the application of photovoltaic power generation and solar thermal technology in CSGs. The application of these advanced solar technologies has made great progress. With the further improvement of economic benefits and the establishment of relevant support policies and incentive mechanisms, the combination of CSG and solar energy technology will have certain application prospects and satisfy China’s requirements for long-term sustainable development.

Roof top Kitchen Garden Basket of fresh vegetables for urbanites

Roof top Kitchen Garden Basket of fresh vegetables for urbanites

Sustainable production systems of urban agriculture in the future: a case study on the investigation and development countermeasures of the plant factory and vertical farm in China

IntroductionIn recent years, innovative sustainable agricultural production technologies, including vertical farms and plant factories, have been developing rapidly around the world. The development of plant factories and vertical farms is currently receiving a lot of attention from Chinese academia and industry. However, the recognition and satisfaction of the government, producers, sales companies, and consumers are low, and their attitudes are mixed, mainly due to high pre-construction and post-operation costs, low comprehensive utilization of resources, low product diversity, low market share, high prices, and low core competitiveness, which limit its healthy and sustainable development. This paper designed a questionnaire from the perspectives of industrialization, commercialization, and sustainability in order to understand the respondents' level of awareness, doubts and concerns, purchase intentions and consumption expectations, as well as their trust and recognition of branded products in this new agricultural production system.MethodTo determine the diversity of respondents, this paper examines the group structure of participants from management, research and development, manufacturing, sales, consumers, regional development, and other industrial sectors. The survey was conducted using both face-to-face interviews and electronic questionnaires. As an online survey, the questionnaire was distributed to social groups through social media platforms. A total of 729 valid questionnaires were submitted. For the purposes of categorizing, enumerating, compiling statistics, and analyzing the questionnaires used in this study, descriptive statistics, multi-factor cross-analysis, and other statistical methods were employed. The social roles, functions, and interaction styles of various plant factory practitioners are examined from the perspective of social relationships, and pertinent development concepts and suggestions are proposed based on the survey results.Results and conclusionsThe study found that an increasing number of consumers are understanding and accepting this new form of plant production and are willing to purchase plant products from plant factories and vertical farming. Plant factories and vertical farms are widely regarded as one of the most important methods of future urban agricultural production. Awareness, purchase intent, price expectations, brand awareness, and price expectations of plant factories and vertical farms varied significantly by gender, age, education level, occupation, and income. In addition, there are numerous findings that provide governments, producers, marketers, managers, and consumers with great value and assistance.Development recommendationsWe should take the opportunity of developing plant factories to adjust the structure of the plant industry, enrich the “vegetable basket” of urban residents, increase the supply capacity of the market, enhance agricultural modernization and technological innovation, improve the quality of agricultural products from plant factories, strengthen the brand sales of plant products, and develop more functional plant products with high added value. Through the development of plant factories and vertical farms, we can improve the nutrition and healthy diet structure of citizens' diets, increase the modern plant industry's contribution to the national economy, and promote the comprehensive and sustainable development of the urban productive plant industry.

Research on the Construction of "Vegetable Basket" Project in Zhoushan City from the Perspective of Government Governance Capacity

Research on the Construction of "Vegetable Basket" Project in Zhoushan City from the Perspective of Government Governance Capacity

Cold Chain Logistics Distribution Path Planning of Fresh Products in Beijing Subcenter

With the gradual development of a capital city subcenter, numerous residents gradually move to the subcenter, increasing the demand for fresh food. Thus, an adequate supply of fresh food to the subcenter should be guaranteed, while reducing the logistics costs, maintaining the quality and quantity, complying with sustainable development, and cooperating with the city to complete the food basket logistics and distribution. Accordingly, we propose the optimization of logistics distribution paths for fresh products. After field research, we found that the main fresh product distribution point in the Beijing subcenter is the Baliqiao wholesale market, one of Beijing’s vegetable basket projects, and the main distribution targets are large- and medium-sized markets in the subcenter. We optimize a fresh food distribution path model using minimum total cost and carbon emissions as the objective function according to the layout of the subcenter, and the best path is determined using improved ant colony optimization. The optimization results provide a basis for fresh food distribution in the capital city subcenter. We use scientific methods to analyze the travel routes of vehicles transporting fresh products in the subcenter to obtain the best distribution path for logistics companies, aiming to reduce the waste of resources and pollution to the environment by reducing the overall distribution costs and carbon emissions. Therefore, this type of study can benefit logistics companies and the subcenter population while contributing to sustainable development.

Comprehensive Food System Planning for Urban Food Security in Nanjing, China

Food system planning is important to achieve the goal of “zero hunger” in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2016). However, discussion about comprehensive planning for food security is scarce and little is known about the situation in Chinese cities. To narrow this gap, this study collected and analyzed four medium-term plans and two annual plans for the “vegetable basket project” in Nanjing, China. This study examines the strategies for urban food security in Nanjing to shed light on how the city developed a comprehensive approach to food system planning over the past three decades. The evolution of incremental food system planning in Nanjing provides valuable lessons for other cities facing food security challenges and shortages of financial resources. Reducing food insecurity is an ongoing challenge for the city governments in the Global South and comprehensive planning is a useful tool for addressing the challenge of urban food insecurity.

Oliverio O. Segura, MD (1933-2021) Through A Son’s Eyes – A Tribute to Dad

Oliverio O. Segura, MD (1933-2021) Through A Son’s Eyes – A Tribute to Dad

Research on enhanced absorption technology of odour pollution

The Odor pollution problem in the feed industry was particularly prominent, which restricts the development of the industry and threatens the “vegetable basket” livelihood project. The air pollutant emission of feed processing enterprises were investigated in Pearl River Delta and its surrounding areas, find out the peculiar odor pollutants in feed industry through analysis and monitoring. With the characteristics of many kinds of odor pollutants and low threshold in feed industry, high efficient adsorbent was developed to explore the influence of adsorbent concentration, residence time, temperature and space velocity on the purification efficiency of odor gas, so as to achieve more efficient coordination of odor VOCs pollutants. In this study, a highly effective SCOP adsorbent was developed, and the removal rate of the main odor pollutants was more than 90%. It provides technical support for air pollution control and government environmental management of feed industry.

Impact of state-led food localization on suburban districts’ farmland use transformation: Greenhouse farming expansion in Nanjing city region, China

State-led efforts of food localization have been conducted across mainland China under the umbrella of Vegetable Basket Project since the end of the 1980s, with the purpose of addressing urban food security. Food localization as a counter movement to globalization has been extensively studied for its debatable role in promoting the sustainability of food systems in developed economies. Previous studies failed to recognize food localization initiatives driven by the state and its significant impact on suburban farmland use. To fill this gap, this study discusses the key features of state-led food localization with the case of Nanjing, China through examining governmental policy documents, local food production plans and the remote sensing data of greenhouse expansion. Furthermore, the impacts of a state-led food localization strategy on the transition of suburban farmland use, particularly on the expansion of greenhouses, have been investigated by employing the binary logistic regression model. We argue that state-led food localization has substantially promoted the expansion of greenhouse farming for the purpose of stabilizing a sufficient local food supply, particularly vegetables. It has also provided support through means such as subsidy, agriculture extension service and technology training to smallholders, including local and migrant farmers.

Achieving urban food security through a hybrid public-private food provisioning system: the case of Nanjing, China

Chinese cities have been able to maintain much higher levels of household food security than many other cities in the Global South, according to recent surveys. Yet, little is known about the governance of the food provisioning system that underpins its urban food security. Based on a combination of household survey data, unstructured interviews and analyses of government documents, regulations and laws, we reveal that both Nanjing’s food provisioning system and its governance employ a public-private hybrid model. The hybridity is reflected in the mixed ownership structure of food wholesale and retail markets, the companies that manage them, and the involvement of both public and private capital in these markets. This hybridity prevents market failure in food system operation and thus is the underlying mechanism that ensures physical accessibility to and affordability of food in the city; it also balances food affordability and the profitability of food markets. This paper identifies various food security policies and regulations implemented by the Nanjing municipal government, such as the “vegetable basket” policy, the “crawling peg” policy in urban planning, the financial supports for upgrading wet market facilities and reducing rental fees, and the regulations on the retailing of fresh produce in supermarkets. These policies ensure that there is relatively equitable and easy access to healthy food for Nanjing residents and that the establishment of new wet markets keeps up with urban population growth. These food policies in Nanjing provide important lessons for other cities in the world to foster urban food security.

It's all in the timing: The effect of a healthy food cue on food choices from a pictorial menu

The contemporary food-rich environment has been consistently linked to unhealthy eating. Emerging research suggests that changing the presentation context of unhealthy foods by introducing a subtle nudge in the form of a healthy food cue may promote healthier dietary choices. This study investigated the effect of the timing of a healthy food cue (before or simultaneously with food options) on food choices. Participants (n = 210) were presented with a pictorial café-style menu displaying a healthy food cue (basket of fruit and vegetables) either on the menu cover or inside the menu, or they received a control menu. Participants were asked to make one choice from each of three menu sections (meals, beverages, afters), and then completed a measure of dietary restraint. As predicted, participants chose a greater proportion of healthy food from the healthy-cue-before menu compared to both the healthy-cue-simultaneous and control menus. Furthermore, this effect was stronger for restrained eaters. The findings demonstrate that the timing of presentation of a healthy food cue is critical, and could be used to inform the design of menus in real-world environments, such as cafés and fast-food outlets, to promote healthier dietary choices.

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on Indian fruits and vegetables export, postharvest management supply chain and future strategies

India is the fruit and vegetable basket of the world. It grows a variety of fruits and vegetables and has huge production of both fruits and vegetables. Country is the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables in the world after China. India is the largest producer of ginger and okra amongst vegetables and ranks second in production of potato, onion, cauliflower, brinjal, cabbage etc. Amongst fruits, the country ranks first in production of banana (25.7%), papaya (43.6%) and mango (40.4%). Grapes, pomegranate, mango, banana and orange account for larger portion of fruits exported from the country while onion, mixed vegetables, potato, tomato and green chillies contribute largely to the vegetable export basket. The major destinations for Indian fruits and vegetables are Bangladesh, UAE, Netherlands, Middle East countries, Nepal, Malaysia, UK and Sri Lanka. After the arrival and attack of Covid-19 pandemic in India from first week of March 2020 it has lot of negative impact in the postharvest supply chain, transportation, retail marketing and trade of fruits and vegetables. But in long term point of view we can take the lessons and strengthen our production, management as well as postharvest management practices for benefits of the fruit and vegetable growers of India.

Bubbles of Vegetable Basket Prices: Evidence, Characteristics and Enlightenments

This paper focuses on the periodic bubbles of vegetable basket prices. As the primary part of consumer price index, the vegetable basket agricultural prices are very important to keep the normal order of daily life and social development. Since the start of the national vegetable basket project in 1988, the tension between supply and demand has been relieved. However, with the accelerated process of urbanization in China, the supply-demand relation of vegetable basket products is challenged in many aspects in recent years. One of the biggest challenges is the expanding price spread between the supply side and the demand side, and the prices of some vegetable basket products demonstrate large fluctuations. Furthermore, based on the vegetable basket products industry, the steady employment demand is also formed by the scaled agricultural firms stemming from the deep-manufacturing procedures in rural areas. Therefore, another challenge to the steadiness of agricultural employment is the threat brought by the price fluctuations. Correspondingly, based on the characteristics of vegetable basket agricultural prices, it is necessary to guide the planting industries and employ feasible regulating policies, hence to hit the speculative forces and reduce the price risks for the farmers in the main production areas related with vegetable basket agricultural products. Therefore, the supply-side reformation should take more efforts on the elimination of price bubbles. To examine the existence of the periodic price bubbles in the vegetable basket agricultural products, firstly we use the X-12 method to decompose the vegetable basket price index into four different time series and obtain the irregular influences series. Based on the periodic characteristics of the irregular influences in the vegetable basket price index, we assume that there exist periodic price bubbles in the vegetable basket products. Two hypotheses are given based on the characteristics of the vegetable basket price index: the existence of speculative bubbles and the periodic characteristic of speculative bubbles. With the utilization of the sup ADF test, we find that there are price bubbles in four subclasses from the nine subclasses in the vegetable basket price index. Considering the detailed backgrounds of the related subclasses, we take the garlic as an example for further analysis. Our results demonstrate that the vegetable basket price index is influenced significantly by the irregular factors, and the prices of four subclasses among nine subclasses contain price bubbles with periodic characteristic, hence the same to the instance of garlic price. Based on the findings, the governments should enforce the supervision on the vegetable basket products, and guide the farmers to improve the planting plan and sales. Surely, to buy agricultural insurance or to hedge in the financial markets are better choices. However, such measures are not available for the long process of training and developing in rural areas, especially on the researches of developing available agricultural indices. Second, the price bubbles related to indices should be taken into the supervision of the market sectors. Furthermore, stricter normalization of the electronic trading programs should be employed, especially on the ways of margin trading and the money flow management. Simultaneously, the procedures of the logistics and the warehousing sectors should be cared enough. In conclusion, the government sectors should hit the speculative bubbles actively, help the farmers to make feasible planting plans, and regulate the market timely for the realization of supply-side reformation.

India’s Horticultural Export Markets: Growth Rates, Elasticities, Global Supply Chains, and Policies

Digital Economy, Ecommerce and fortune economy depend on export market information. Globally, horticulture industry is one of the noteworthy sectors. India is major fruit and vegetable basket of the world. This study estimates exports, price growth rates, elasticity’s, identifies major destinations and trace global supply chains for horticultural commodities. The study period is 1990-1991 to 2012-2013. Compound annual growth rates, elasticities and instability index are the methodological tools employed. All fruits’, vegetables’ and flowers’ elasticities are shown to be elastic excluding walnut & mushrooms. Tea’s & Coffee’s elasticities are elastic. The supply chain channels to Europe, UK, US and Middle East highly developed and no middlemen involved. In case of South Asia, Africa and South East Asia, lengthy and middlemen involved. Global supply chain model must be connecting directly producers with exporters and importers or consumers of importing countries. This is possible digitalization of data and single window processing.

Prevalência de parasitas intestinais nas dependências de uma instituição prisional

Este estudo teve como objetivo determinar a prevalência de parasitas intestinais em diversos locais (cantina, dos sanitários, do bebedouro e do pátio) de uma instituição prisional de uma cidade do interior de Goiás. As amostras foram coletadas utilizando uma fita adesiva transparente (tipo Durex ou Scotch), essa fita foi aplicada à superfície de cada local pesquisado e, posteriormente, recolocada sobre uma lâmina para a microscopia, as lâminas foram lidas por dois examinadores, diretamente, em microscopia óptica comum, em aumentos de 100 a 400 vezes. Ao todo, foram coletadas 177 amostras, sendo nove (5,1%) positivas para Ascaris lumbricoides, uma (0,5%) apresentou ácaro e outra (0,5%) apresentou cisto de Endolimax nana. Todas as lâminas positivas com Ascaris lumbricoides referiam-se à cantina (fogão, freezer, balcão, panela, cesto de verduras e, faca) e as amostras de Endolimax nana e ácaro estavam presentes nos sanitários (vasos sanitários). A instituição prisional analisada representa um local de risco para as pessoas que a frequentam.Descritores: Parasitas; Prisões; Higiene; Manipulação de Alimentos, Parasitologia.

Preliminary Study on Deltamethrin Residues in Cabbage, Soil and Water from Dalaguete, Cebu, Philippines

Pesticides pose a threat to the environment and eventually human health. Extent of contamination of pesticides can be determined and monitored by analysis of pesticide residue in surface water, sediments, soil, and biota. Samples were collected from Manlapay, Barangay Mantalongon in Dalaguete, reportedly the vegetable basket of Cebu, from October to November 2013. Concentration of the pesticide deltamethrin was determined by Gas Chromatography-Electron Capture Detector along with organic matter content (OM), potassium (K) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) using standard methods of analysis. Data showed that deltamethrin was found to be present in soil and cabbage and beyond detection limit in water. Inverse relationship was found between residue in cabbage and in soil confirming pesticide leaching as supported by rainfall data. Organic matter and cation exchange capacity in soil showed significant correlation to detected deltamethrin residue confirming that pyrethroids are strongly bound to organic matter and free exchangeable potassium ions. Deltamethrin residue in water does not show any correlation to any other parameters as it is beyond detection limit, probably due to volatilization and photodegradation of deltamethrin in water. Temperature variation does not show significant difference to deltamethrin residue in all three matrices. The detected deltamethrin residue concentrations in the cabbage (<0.001-0.029 ppm), soil samples (0.007-0.008 ppm) and water samples (<0.0005 ppm) were all below international guideline limits (ASEAN maximum level of 0.5 ppm deltamethrin in cabbage, EC ecologically accepted concentration of 1290 mg deltamethrin/kg soil, and a maximum limit of 0.0025 ppm deltamethrin according to Canadian water quality, respectively). Inspite of the low concentrations detected in cabbage, soil and water samples, an extensive pesticide monitoring on environmental samples within the area is advisable. This will help the adoption of an efficient risk assessment strategy to inform appropriate interventions.

Estimating the demand curve for sustainable use of pesticides from contingent-valuation data

Stated-preference valuation techniques are often used to assess consumers' willingness-to-pay for food items produced in farming systems that adopt a sustainable use of pesticides (SUP). We propose an innovative valuation methodology in which dichotomous-choice contingent valuation is used to estimate the demand curve (price-quantity relationship) for such food items where price means price premium for the SUP output, quantity is the probability of choosing SUP and the conventional food product is kept available in the market at the current market price. This methodology can be used to evaluate market differentiation as a policy option to promote the SUP.The methodology is tested with data from a sample of urban consumers of fruits and vegetables in Portugal. The estimated demand curve is used to define the price level maximizing the total premium revenue for the SUP sector as a whole. This optimal level of the price premium is €77.55 (or 163% of the value of the monthly basket of fruits and vegetables at current prices). Adopting the optimal price premium will decrease the number of consumers of SUP food by 54%. The reduction is even higher for low income consumers (80%) leaving them more exposed to the risks of pesticide use.