One third of all food that is produced ends up as waste, making it an important for society. Companies in food sector offer various packaging sizes to consumers to meet different household needs, where smaller packaging sizes often have a higher unit price than larger packaging sizes. In Sweden, 70% of households consist of 1-2 person households, which indicate a need for smaller packaging sizes. Price is a determining factor in the choice of products, which may mean that consumers choose packaging size by price and not after their need.  This master thesis has focused on dairy products because it is one of the product groups where wastage is highest. Furthermore, dairy products are important in the Swedes diet, have high emission of CO2-equivalents and can be bought in different packaging sizes.  The purpose of this master thesis was to investigate how companies’ price strategy influence product price of small versus large packaging and also to investigate the emission of CO2-equivalents of different packaging sizes. This was done in order to get a better understanding of the subject and to find a recommendation for companies to help households to reduce food waste. A case study was used as research strategy, and through a mixed-method with calculations, interview, price gathering and collection of secondary data a result has been presented.  The results indicate that more food can be wasted from an economical perspective than from the perspective with emission of CO2-equivalents, which is true for all investigated products. It results in lower emission of CO2-equivalents if the customers purchase smaller packaging instead of waste food. However, there will be difficult to reduce the amount of household food waste if it continues to be economically motivated to waste food instead of purchase smaller packaging. A cost based pricing of food products is not useful if the consumers shall reduce their food waste, since price is an important factor when choosing products. One way to reduce the household food waste is to shift towards more value-based strategies when pricing products. This might reduce the unit price gap between different packaging sizes. / En tredjedel av all mat som produceras slutar som matavfall, vilket gör det till en viktig samhällsfråga. Livsmedelsföretagen erbjuder olika förpackningsstorlekar till konsumenterna för att möta olika hushålls behov, där mindre förpackningsstorlekar oftast har ett högre jämförelsepris än större förpackningar. I Sverige är 70% 1-2 personers hushåll vilket innebär ett behov av mindre förpackningsstorlekar. Pris är en avgörande faktor vid val av produkter, vilket kan innebära att konsumenterna väljer förpackningsstorlek efter pris och inte efter behov.  Denna examensuppsats har fokuserat på mejeriprodukter eftersom det är en av produktgrupperna som det slängs mest av. Mejeriprodukter är dessutom en viktig del av svenskarnas diet, har ett högt utsläpp av CO2-eqvivalenter och kan köpas i olika förpackningsstorlekar.  Syftet med denna examensuppsats var att undersöka hur företagens prisstrategi påverkar produktpriset på små kontra stora förpackningar och också att undersöka utsläppet av CO2-eqvivalenter på olika förpackningsstorlekar. Det gjordes för att få en ökad förståelse av ämnet och för att hitta en rekommendation till företag att hjälpa hushållen att minska matsvinnet. En fallstudie användes som forskningsstrategi och genom en mixad metod med beräkningar, intervju, prisinsamling och insamling av sekundärdata har ett resultat presenterats.  Resultatet visar att det går att slänga mer mat ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv än ur ett perspektiv med utsläpp av CO2-ekvivlaenter, vilket överensstämmer för samtliga undersökta produkter. Det resulterar i mindre utsläpp av CO2-eqvivalenter om konsumenterna köper mindre förpackningar istället för att slänga mat. Det kommer däremot att bli svårt att minska mängden matsvinn från hushållen om det fortsätter att vara ekonomiskt motiverat att slänga mat istället för att köpa mindre förpackningar. En kostnadsbaserad prissättning av produkter är inte användbar om konsumenterna ska minska sitt matsvinn eftersom priset är en viktig faktor vid val av produkter. Ett sätt att minska hushållens matsvinn är att byta till mer värdebaserade strategier vid prissättning av produkter. Detta kan minska skillnaden i jämförelsepris mellan olika förpackningsstorlekar.

Despite continued pursuit of development interventions to improve people’s livelihoods and reduce poverty, intended and actual outcomes of developments interventions may differ. Some scholars attribute this variation to flawed conceptualisation of development interventions while others view this divergence as evidence that implementation processes are complex and actual outcomes result from adaptations of the interventions by actors. To move beyond the discursive approaches to analysis of development interventions, this thesis addresses the question how do actors adapt them, why and with what outcomes in the long run? Empirically, it looks at how project officers and farmers adapted the National Dairy Development Project (NDDP), a dairy intervention implemented in Kenya between 1980 and 1995, and its long run outcomes. The intervention promoted zero grazing, intensive management of dairy cattle whose implementation by farmers was expected to increase land productivity as a means to address land scarcity, increase milk production and reduce poverty through generation of incomes from milk sales. The methodology of this thesis links mechanisms, contexts, and outcomes, three elements of realist explanation, to understand adaptations and outcomes of development interventions. Through thematic synthesis of in-depth interviews and analysis of project documents, this thesis explains adaptations and long run outcomes of the NDDP. Findings reveal that developers and farmers adapted several components of the intervention. With close reference to context, incentives and continuity pressures, this thesis utilises intervention effectiveness and matching mechanisms to explain how project officers adapted the NDDP. Further, through fit and resistance mechanisms, this thesis explains how farmers adapted zero grazing in the context of inadequate fodder, labour shortage and lack of resources to invest in dairy. In the long run, findings show that the intervention diminished as evident in coexistence of indigenous and modern dairy technologies and non-implementation of any dairy technologies by farmers. Despite adaptations of zero grazing by project officers and farmers, intensification of dairy cattle management has diminished in the context of resource constraints, neoliberal policies and labour shortage. Consequently, the objective to increase land productivity through intensive dairy cattle management, the rationale for initiation of the intervention, remains unresolved. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2014.

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Milk proteins are known to bind volatile flavour compounds to varying extents, depending on the nature of the protein and flavour compound. Processing conditions, such as temperature and pH, are also known to have an influence on the interactions between milk proteins and flavour compounds. These interactions cause a great challenge for flavour scientists because they influence the perceived aroma profile of food products significantly, in particular in low-fat food products. The objectives of this research were to develop a headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method followed by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) for the investigation of protein-flavour interactions, and to determine binding parameters of the hydrophobic flavour compound, 2-nonanone, to individual milk proteins - namely, β-lactoglobulin (β-lg), α-lactalbumin (α-la), bovine serum albumin (BSA), αs1-casein, and β-casein -, whey protein isolate (WPI), and sodium caseinate. Secondly, it was the aim to compare the binding of the structurally similar flavour compounds - 2-nonanone, 1-nonanal, and trans-2-nonenal – to WPI in aqueous solution, and to investigate the effect of heat and high pressure treatment, and pH on the extent of protein-flavour binding. The final objective was to investigate the in vivo release of the reversibly bound flavour compound, 2-nonanone, from WPI and sodium caseinate using proton transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), and to understand the effect of viscosity on flavour release in vivo. The binding of the model flavour compound 2-nonanone to individual milk proteins, WPI, and sodium caseinate in aqueous solutions was investigated, using headspace SPME followed by GC-FID. The 2-nonanone binding capacities decreased in the order: BSA > β-lg > α-la > αs1-casein > β-casein, and the binding to WPI was stronger than the binding to sodium caseinate. All proteins appeared to have one binding site for 2-nonanone, except for BSA which possessed two classes of binding sites. The influence of heat treatment, high pressure processing and pH of the protein solutions on the binding of 2-nonanone, 1-nonanal, and trans-2-nonenal to WPI was determined. The binding of these compounds to WPI decreased in the order: trans-2-nonenal > 1-nonanal > 2-nonanone. The binding of 2-nonanone appears to involve hydrophobic interactions only, whereas the aldehydes, in particular trans-2-nonenal, also react through covalent binding. Upon both heat and high pressure denaturation, the binding of 2-nonanone to WPI decreased, the binding of 1-nonanal remained unchanged, while the binding of trans-2-nonenal increased. The binding affinity of the flavour compounds and WPI increased with increasing pH, which is likely to result from pH dependent conformational changes of whey proteins. The in vivo flavour (2-nonanone) release from solutions of WPI and sodium caseinate was investigated using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry. During consumption, 2-nonanone was partly released from WPI, whereas there was no significant release from sodium caseinate. Even after swallowing of the samples, a substantial amount of flavour was detected in the breath, suggesting that the milk proteins interact with the mucosa in the mouth and throat, resulting in a further release of flavour from mucosa-bound proteins. An increase in viscosity of the protein solutions by the addition of carboxymethylcellulose enhanced the release of 2-nonanone from WPI, and resulted in 2-nonanone release from sodium caseinate. This may be due to a thicker coating of the mucosa with the sample solution after swallowing due to the higher viscosity, resulting in additional release of protein-bound flavour. These findings contribute to the knowledge of the interactions that occur between flavour compounds and proteins, which is required to improve food flavouring and to make protein based foods, e.g., low-fat dairy products, sensorily more acceptable to the consumer. The results also emphasize a careful choice of food processing conditions, such as temperature, high pressure or pH to obtain a desirable flavour profile.

Lactose represents approximately one third of the total solids in bovine milk. In the dairy industry, lactose is recovered from whey and whey permeates using a crystallisation process that involves both evaporation and a cooling stage. A good understanding of the lactose crystallisation kinetics enables both these processes to be operated at conditions that maximise the yield and minimise capital and processing costs. This study has looked at the nucleation and growth kinetics of the lactose crystallisation process. A model has been produced that can accurately predict the changing concentration profile as lactose is removed, via growth, from an industrial solution. This model incorporated the available literature information and expanded on it where required. The primary nucleation of alpha lactose monohydrate was investigated on the laboratory scale. The work identified the changing relationship, which occurs with increasing supersaturation, as lactose nucleation moves from being dominated by the heterogeneous mechanism to the homogenous mechanism. The absolute supersaturation at which the mechanism changes was found not to be affected by the solution temperature and agitation rate; however the presence of impurities lowered the supersaturation required for homogeneous nucleation. The effect of mixing on the primary nucleation rate was studied in a Rushton turbine agitated vessel and through a Venturi. Increasing the agitation rate increased the frequency of activated molecular collisions but the critical nucleus size remained constant. A strong correlation was found, for both mixing systems, between the nucleation rate and the frequency of vortex shedding.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.