Grande parte do desenvolvimento científico nas análises em alimentos está relacionado à identificação e quantificação de resíduos de drogas veterinárias e contaminantes ambientais em matéria-prima. Dentre as substâncias mais amplamente estudadas como resíduos em alimentos estão os praguicidas. Cada vez mais as legislações e normas reguladoras buscam garantir que os alimentos levados aos consumidores estejam apropriados à ingestão, diminuindo o risco negligenciável à saúde, através da exigência de níveis cada vez menores dos limites máximos de resíduo, e muitas vezes, banindo diversas substâncias com altos e médios graus de toxicidade. Para tal, tem sendo intensificado o desenvolvimento de métodos precisos, exatos, robustos e baratos para a identificação e quantificação de praguicidas, de forma que tanto os órgãos públicos como as empresas privadas possam realizar o monitoramento dos alimentos oferecidos pelos produtores e fornecedores, e assim identificar possíveis fontes de exposição à substâncias que levem risco através da ingestão diária. Os indivíduos que apresentam maior suscetibilidade aos efeitos nocivos causados pela presença de praguicidas em níveis tóxicos nos alimentos são crianças e idosos, o que exige cuidados e limites ainda mais rígidos. Para garantir que os alimentos infantis fornecidos no mercado se mantenham dentro das condições adequadas para a ingestão, a sua produção deve ser controlada e monitorada. O presente trabalho visa avaliar a presença de praguicidas em Solanum tuberosum (batata), Daucus carota (cenoura) e Arracacia xanthorrhiza (mandioquinha) destinadas para a produção de baby-food e produtos similares, cultivados na área de São José do Rio Pardo, no estado de São Paulo, e disponíveis no varejo da cidade de São Paulo, através da técnica QuEChERS e identificação e quantificação por LC-MS/MS. Através da otimização dos parâmetros de espectrometria de massas e validação do método de extração QuEChERS para 216 compostos, foram identificados quais praguicidas possuíam a capacidade de serem detectados e quantificados com a performance adequada por cromatografia líquida acoplada a espectrometria de massas em tandem nas commodities estudadas. Amostras de batata, cenoura e mandioquinha de fornecedores da área de São José do Rio Pardo e fontes de varejo da cidade de São Paulo foram analisadas para identificar a presença dos analitos validados. Para as amostras investigadas, somente a commodity cenoura apresentou praguicidas quantificados acima do valor da Capacidade de Detecção (CCβ), sendo eles o Linurom, o Tebuconazol e o Triciclazol. Realizada a Avaliação de Risco, verificou-se que a exposição aos praguicidas nas commodities, mesmo nos casos de maior concentração, não era evidenciada como um risco, tendo em vista que os mesmos obtiveram resultados de 0,25% (Linurom), 0,1% (Tebuconazol) e 0,03% (Triciclazol) dos valores de suas Ingestões Diárias Aceitáveis (IDA). / Great part of the scientific development on food analysis is related to the identification and quantification of veterinary drugs and environmental contaminants residues in raw materials. Among the most studied residue substances in food are the pesticides compounds. Increasingly, legislations and regulatory standards seek to ensure that the food served to consumers are appropriate to the intake, reducing a negligible health risk, by requiring each time lower maximum residue levels, and often banning various substances with high and medium levels of toxicity. With this purpose, the development of accurate, robust and cheap methods has been intensified for the identification and quantification of pesticides, so that both public bodies and private companies are able to carry out the monitoring of food and feed offered by the producers and suppliers, and by doing so, identify possible sources of exposure to substances that lead to risk by daily intake. The individuals who are more susceptible to adverse effects caused by the presence of pesticides in toxic levels in food are children and the elderly, and because of this fact, the requirement for extensive care and limits even stricter is higher. In the attempt to ensure that children\'s food and feed market supplies fall within the right conditions for ingestion, its production should be controlled and monitored. The present study aims to evaluate the presence of pesticides in Solanum tuberosum (potato), Daucus carota (carrot) and Arracacia xanthorrhiza (mandioquinha) in samples grown in the area of São José do Rio Pardo, in the State of São Paulo, and directed to baby-food and similar products production, and in samples available at the market retail in the city of São Paulo, through the QuEChERS technique, and identification and quantification by LC-MS/MS. The pesticides molecules which had the ability to be detected and quantified with adequated performance by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry in the studied commodities were identified by optimizing the mass spectrometer parameters and validating the QuEChERS extraction method of 216 compounds. Potato, carrot and mandioquinha samples, provided by suppliers in the area of Sao Jose do Rio Pardo and retail sources from São Paulo, were analyzed for the presence of the validated pesticides. Among the investigated samples, only the carrot commodity presented quantified pesticides above the value of Detection Capability (CCβ), namely Linuron, the Tebuconazole and Tricyclazole. Held the chemical risk assessment, it was found that the exposure to pesticides by the commodities, even in cases of higher concentrations, was not shown as a risk, given that they achieved results of 0.25% (Linuron), 0, 1% (Tebuconazole) and 0.03% (Tricyclazole) of the Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) values.

Grande parte do desenvolvimento científico nas análises em alimentos está relacionado à identificação e quantificação de resíduos de drogas veterinárias e contaminantes ambientais em matéria-prima. Dentre as substâncias mais amplamente estudadas como resíduos em alimentos estão os praguicidas. Cada vez mais as legislações e normas reguladoras buscam garantir que os alimentos levados aos consumidores estejam apropriados à ingestão, diminuindo o risco negligenciável à saúde, através da exigência de níveis cada vez menores dos limites máximos de resíduo, e muitas vezes, banindo diversas substâncias com altos e médios graus de toxicidade. Para tal, tem sendo intensificado o desenvolvimento de métodos precisos, exatos, robustos e baratos para a identificação e quantificação de praguicidas, de forma que tanto os órgãos públicos como as empresas privadas possam realizar o monitoramento dos alimentos oferecidos pelos produtores e fornecedores, e assim identificar possíveis fontes de exposição à substâncias que levem risco através da ingestão diária. Os indivíduos que apresentam maior suscetibilidade aos efeitos nocivos causados pela presença de praguicidas em níveis tóxicos nos alimentos são crianças e idosos, o que exige cuidados e limites ainda mais rígidos. Para garantir que os alimentos infantis fornecidos no mercado se mantenham dentro das condições adequadas para a ingestão, a sua produção deve ser controlada e monitorada. O presente trabalho visa avaliar a presença de praguicidas em Solanum tuberosum (batata), Daucus carota (cenoura) e Arracacia xanthorrhiza (mandioquinha) destinadas para a produção de baby-food e produtos similares, cultivados na área de São José do Rio Pardo, no estado de São Paulo, e disponíveis no varejo da cidade de São Paulo, através da técnica QuEChERS e identificação e quantificação por LC-MS/MS. Através da otimização dos parâmetros de espectrometria de massas e validação do método de extração QuEChERS para 216 compostos, foram identificados quais praguicidas possuíam a capacidade de serem detectados e quantificados com a performance adequada por cromatografia líquida acoplada a espectrometria de massas em tandem nas commodities estudadas. Amostras de batata, cenoura e mandioquinha de fornecedores da área de São José do Rio Pardo e fontes de varejo da cidade de São Paulo foram analisadas para identificar a presença dos analitos validados. Para as amostras investigadas, somente a commodity cenoura apresentou praguicidas quantificados acima do valor da Capacidade de Detecção (CCβ), sendo eles o Linurom, o Tebuconazol e o Triciclazol. Realizada a Avaliação de Risco, verificou-se que a exposição aos praguicidas nas commodities, mesmo nos casos de maior concentração, não era evidenciada como um risco, tendo em vista que os mesmos obtiveram resultados de 0,25% (Linurom), 0,1% (Tebuconazol) e 0,03% (Triciclazol) dos valores de suas Ingestões Diárias Aceitáveis (IDA). / Great part of the scientific development on food analysis is related to the identification and quantification of veterinary drugs and environmental contaminants residues in raw materials. Among the most studied residue substances in food are the pesticides compounds. Increasingly, legislations and regulatory standards seek to ensure that the food served to consumers are appropriate to the intake, reducing a negligible health risk, by requiring each time lower maximum residue levels, and often banning various substances with high and medium levels of toxicity. With this purpose, the development of accurate, robust and cheap methods has been intensified for the identification and quantification of pesticides, so that both public bodies and private companies are able to carry out the monitoring of food and feed offered by the producers and suppliers, and by doing so, identify possible sources of exposure to substances that lead to risk by daily intake. The individuals who are more susceptible to adverse effects caused by the presence of pesticides in toxic levels in food are children and the elderly, and because of this fact, the requirement for extensive care and limits even stricter is higher. In the attempt to ensure that children\'s food and feed market supplies fall within the right conditions for ingestion, its production should be controlled and monitored. The present study aims to evaluate the presence of pesticides in Solanum tuberosum (potato), Daucus carota (carrot) and Arracacia xanthorrhiza (mandioquinha) in samples grown in the area of São José do Rio Pardo, in the State of São Paulo, and directed to baby-food and similar products production, and in samples available at the market retail in the city of São Paulo, through the QuEChERS technique, and identification and quantification by LC-MS/MS. The pesticides molecules which had the ability to be detected and quantified with adequated performance by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry in the studied commodities were identified by optimizing the mass spectrometer parameters and validating the QuEChERS extraction method of 216 compounds. Potato, carrot and mandioquinha samples, provided by suppliers in the area of Sao Jose do Rio Pardo and retail sources from São Paulo, were analyzed for the presence of the validated pesticides. Among the investigated samples, only the carrot commodity presented quantified pesticides above the value of Detection Capability (CCβ), namely Linuron, the Tebuconazole and Tricyclazole. Held the chemical risk assessment, it was found that the exposure to pesticides by the commodities, even in cases of higher concentrations, was not shown as a risk, given that they achieved results of 0.25% (Linuron), 0, 1% (Tebuconazole) and 0.03% (Tricyclazole) of the Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) values.

The aim of the thesis is to present a correct way of proper child nutrition under three years of age, describe the baby food market and trends in this category. Then, apply the theoretical knowledge of the marketing mix to one of the strongest players in the baby food market, the company Nutricia. In conclusion, using the results of the research, suggest for this company marketing recommendations . The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part describes the proper child nutrition from birth to three years of age, components of the marketing mix and competitive enviroment. In the practical part, the baby food market in the Czech Republic, the trends in this category, market competition, the company Nutricia and its marketing mix are beying suscribed. The practical part has its own research. At the end of the work the hypothesis are confirmed or disproved and marketing recommendations for Nutricia are made.

No description available.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru H. Peterson / This study investigates consumers’ preferences for organic baby meals. The growth of the U.S organic industry has been notable during the last two decades. The U.S. organic farmers do not produce enough quantity to meet the increasing U.S demand for organic food, and increasingly more organic foods are manufactured from organic ingredients produced outside the U.S. Tensions have emerged in the organic sectors as large-scale companies have seized opportunities to sell products differentiated with the organic label. The study aimed to estimate U.S. consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for selected attributes (type of brand, production attributes, and origin of ingredients) of baby meal products using a choice-based conjoint analysis. The organic offerings represent a nontrivial share of this market. In recent years, offerings under store brands have also been increasing. The study identified that consumers preferred a major national brand with a large market share such as Gerber (80%) to the other types of brands including store brands. In terms of product characteristics, pesticide free and non-GMO products were seen as consumers’ top priorities. Consumers would not buy products that did not exhibit these two characteristics. Minimally processed products seemed not to matter for the majority of consumers, and these products (sold frozen) were expected to be a niche market. Besides, a product made with U.S ingredients (organically or non-organically grown) was associated with a higher utility. Firms can run a cost-benefit analysis to see if sourcing U.S. ingredients could increase profit. Running experimental auctions are recommended to firms that want to elicit WTP for U.S grown ingredients and implement an efficient marketing strategy. This study is a preliminary analysis that highlighted consumers’ preferences in the baby food market, and future analysis would complement the findings.

This research addresses life cycle environmental and economic sustainability in the baby food sector. In the UK, this sector has been growing rapidly, expanding by around 30% between 2009 and 2014, by which time it was worth an estimated £181 million per year. This growth sits within a context of high emissions from the food sector: in 2015, UK net GHG emissions were estimated to be 496 million tonnes (Mt) and the domestic food chain was responsible for 115 Mt CO2 eq. emissions. However, within this overall food chain, very little is known about the sustainability of the baby food sector, with almost no prior literature in the area. The research presented here begins with market research to identify the characteristics of products available in the ready-made food market, in which wet and dry products in jars and pouches dominate sales. Subsequently, 12 representative products are selected from those available on the market and each is assessed in detail to establish its environmental and economic impacts using life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and value added (VA) assessment. The findings of these product-level assessments are then compared to home-made equivalents and finally scaled up according to sales volumes to provide an overall view of the baby food sector as a whole. Wet and dry variants of ready-made porridge products are assessed first as the most commonly consumed breakfast option. The dry product is shown to have 5%-70% the impacts of the wet, on average, and the importance of product formulation is clear: for dry porridge, reformulation could reduce impacts by up to 67%. For the wet porridge, switching from glass jars to plastic pouches is also shown to decrease impacts by up to 89%. Assessment of 11 wet ready-made products demonstrates that the highest impacts are found in spaghetti Bolognese and salmon risotto, and that raw materials are the major hotspot of the life cycle, contributing 12-69%, followed by manufacturing at 2-49%. When combined into a range of weekly diets limited differences are observed between diets, except in cases where dairy-free diets result in compensatory increases in meat consumption. When the aforementioned selection of ready-made products is compared to its home-made equivalent, the home-made options are shown to have lower impacts by 50% to 17 times. This is due to the avoidance of manufacturing and extra packaging stages, as well as shorter supply chains resulting in less waste overall. At the product level, the LCC of ready-made meals ranges from £0.08 to £0.26 per 125 g product, compared to £0.02-£0.20 for the home-made equivalents. Value added is, on average, approximately four times higher for ready-made meals than homemade, illustrating the potential profit of the sector. Annually, the ready-made baby food sector has an LCC of £40m and carbon footprint of 109 kt CO2 eq. This carbon footprint represents only 0.1% of the UK food and drinks sector. The results of this research show that considerable improvements can be made to the environmental and economic sustainability of baby foods, both ready- and homemade, while home-made options tend to have lower costs and environmental impacts. The outputs provide benchmarking and improvement opportunities for industry and government, as well as insight for consumers.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka konsumentbeteendet för barnmat i Kina som i sintur ledde till identifierade faktorer som svenska företag bör ta hänsyn till när de funderar på enexpansion till Kina. På grund av säkerhetsbrister i barnmaten i Kina så finns det en ökadefterfrågan för utländsk barnmat som lett till potential för många företag. Därför har faktoreridentifierats som kan påverka hur en expansion ska gå tillväga för ett svenskt barnmatsföretagi Kina.Uppsatsen har utförts genom en mixad metodologi där en självadministrerande enkätgenomfördes i Kina riktad mot kinesiska konsumenter och en semistrukturerad intervjuutfördes med det svenska barnmatsföretaget Child Food Factory. Enkäten undersöktekonsumentbeteendet som finns för barnmat i Kina för att identifiera vilka attityder ochvärderingar som finns. Vidare undersöktes de köpvanor och behov som konsumenterna harför barnmat, samt åsikter kring utländsk barnmat och ekologiskt producerad barnmat. Densemistrukturerade intervjun undersökte det koncept som Child Food Factory har bakom sinbarnmatsprodukt och hur produkten kommer att tas emot av den kinesiska marknaden, dettadå Child Food Factory var i processen med att ta in sin barnmatsprodukt i Kina.De empiriska fynden analyserades och resultat innefattar identifierade egenskaper hos dekinesiska konsumenterna vad gäller konsumentbeteende och värderingar kring barnmat.Några av de egenskaper som identifierats är att de kinesiska konsumenterna påverkas främstav familj, vänner och släkt när det gäller inköp av barnmat och det vanligastetillvägagångssättet till inköp av barnmat är i mataffär. De ansåg också att säkerhet var detviktigaste attributet vad gäller barnmat.Vidare har också faktorer om den kinesiska marknaden för barnmat identifierats för svenskabarnmatsföretag att ta hänsyn till om de planerar en expansion till Kina. Några av de faktorersom identifierats är att ett barnmatsföretag måste ta hänsyn till sin marknadsföring så att denär anpassad till den kinesiska kulturen. Barnmatsföretagen måste också beakta det faktum attfamilj och säkerhet har stor påverkan. Vidare är en faktor också att kunna använda sig utavfördelen av att vara ett utländskt företag på ett styrkande sätt för expansionen till Kina. / The purpose of this research was to examine the consumer behavior for baby food in China,which in turn led to identifying factors, which Swedish baby food companies should considerwhen thinking about an expansion to China. Due to the lack of security for baby food inChina, there has been an increase of the demand for foreign baby food in China. This has ledto potential for many companies. Factors have therefore been identified which can affect theapproach for an expansion for a Swedish baby food company in China.The research was conducted through a mixed method methodology where a self-administeredquestionnaire was executed in China towards Chinese consumers and a semi-structuredinterview was executed with the Swedish baby food company Child Food Factory. Thequestionnaire examined the consumer behavior for baby food in China in order to identify theattitudes and values that exist. Furthermore, consumers' buying habits and needs for babyfood was examined, as well as opinions regarding foreign baby food and organically producedbaby food. The semi-structured interview examined the concept which Child Food Factoryhas for their product and how the product will be received by the Chinese market, this sinceChild Food Factory was in the process of bring their baby food product in to China.The empirical findings were analyzed and the results comprises of identified characteristics inthe Chinese consumers concerning consumer behavior and values for baby food. Some of thecharacteristics that were identified was that the Chinese consumers are affected mostly byfamily, friends and relatives when it comes to purchasing baby food and the most commonway to purchase baby food is in a supermarket. They also felt that safety was the mostimportant attribute for baby food.Furthermore, the factors regarding baby food in the Chinese market were identified forSwedish baby food companies to consider if planning an expansion to China. Some of thefactors that were identified was that baby food companies need to consider their marketing sothat it is adapted to the Chinese culture. The baby food companies also need to bear in mindthe fact that family and security have a big influence. Another factor is to be able to use theadvantage of being a foreign company in a strengthening way for the expansion to China.Please note that this research is written in Swedish.

This thesis deals with category management of baby food on the Czech market. The goal of the thesis is to determine the theoretical basis of category management and define the category management process. Subsequently, based on the analysis of primary and secondary data, will be characterized the change in current shopping behaviour of mothers. Next goal is to design a general model structure of baby food exposure and through this model to determine whether the current situation on the baby food market, in the field of presentation of products, meets the needs and desires of customers. Primary data will be collected through the quantitative on-line questionnaire survey. The source for the secondary analysis will be the data from the project Market&Media&Lifestyle, market data and shopper behaviour research 2013.

The aim of this thesis was to determine the authenticity of fruit food for infants using molecular and instrumental methods. In the experimental part, plant DNA isolations from fruit leaves (peaches, apricots, plums and apples) and bananas were performed. Further, DNA was isolated also from five commercial products, and from model mixtures that were prepared in terms of content identical to the commercial mixtures. The isolated DNA was characterized and verified by qPCR with plant DNA-specific ITS2 primers. Three triple primer pairs were selected, and their specificity was evaluated when performing multiplex PCR. This method makes it possible to detect more types of fruit in one reaction, reducing the economic and time requirements for detection. As none of the selected primer pairs were sufficiently specific for the apricot, the evidence from the plum and peach was further realized using duplex PCR. High resolution melting curve analysis was used for better DNA type recognition. Subsequently, agarose gel electrophoresis was performed to analyse the fragment lengths. Furthermore, experiments have been made to identify some specific phenolic substances in commercial and model fruit mixtures by HPLC. Since phenolic substances are degradable under unsuitable storage conditions, the presence of individual compounds was not detected by this method.

No description available.