This study was conducted in conjunction with the Saskatoon Regional Food Assessment with the intent of identifying structures that contribute value and promote engagement among participants. Currently, the assessment process lacks theoretical grounding, its implementation is dictated by a set of best practices. A constructivist grounded theory approach was employed in an effort to establish a theoretical basis to guide the food assessment process. Steering committee members were invited to participate in a two stage interview process examining their experience and perceptions of the process. Existing ideological deviation amongst committee members plays a significant role in perception of work in the food system. In the context of the SRFA two general ideological positions were prominent, with members harbouring either a business or community food security orientation. These ideological underpinnings played a significant role in value associated with the process and its potential role in future action. This ideological deviation also had noticeable implications on the perception of other members. While the structure employed by this assessment was not conducive to promotion of high levels of engagement amongst the membership, participants indicating higher levels of value with the assessment process and its potential to facilitate subsequent action were more inclined to advocate for increased engagement. The food assessment process is growing in popularity and working towards a strong theoretical base is an important step. Establishing a deeper understanding of how the assessment process operates will allow it to be tailored to fit the needs of any given situation. This understanding will also facilitate an understanding of aspects required to provide the greatest level of value for participants involved in such short term collaborative efforts.

A geléia real é um dos principais produtos da colméia que serve como alimento para as larvas em desenvolvimento, assim como para a abelha rainha por toda a sua vida. Tem sido utilizada pelas pessoas como um complemento alimentar devido às suas propriedades revitalizantes. O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi estabelecer as análises físico-químicas e químicas que poderão ser usadas para a caracterização da geléia real e detecção de sua autenticidade ou adulteração, enfatizando-se a determinação do ácido 10-hidroxi-trans-2-decenóico (10-HDA). A proposta do trabalho está justificada pela falta de legislação com relação a padrões de identidade e qualidade da geléia real e derivados. Foram determinados emalostras puras e adulteradas (com clara de ovo, água potável, iogurte natural, pasta de amido e uma mistura de leite condensado com própolis) os teores de umidade, cinzas, Iípides, proteínas, carboidratos, 10-HDA, pH, acidez titulável, reação com lugol e teste de solubilidade em meio alcalino. Como análises complementares foram determinados os teores das vitaminas B6 , A, pró-vitamina A (β-caroteno) e vitamina E nas amostras puras. Considerando-se os resultados obtidos preconizou-se as determinações de umidade, cinzas, lípides, proteínas, carboidratos, 10-HDA e teste de solubilidade em meio alcalino como os principais itens a serem observados. / Royal jelly is one of the most important products from beehive, which is used by growing up larves like food, and also for the queen bee for her entire life. It has being used by people as a complement because of the revitalizing properties. The main objective of this work was to establish the physicalchemical and chemical analysis, which could be used for characterization of the adulteration of royal jelly, mainly the 10-hidroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). The purpose of this study is justified by the lack of legislation concerning the quality and identity standards of royal jelly and derivatives. There were determined in pure and adulterated samples (with condensed milk, water, yogurt, starch, egg white) the analysis of moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, 10-HDA, pH, titrate acidity, iodine reaction, solubilíty test in alkaline solution. For complementary tests It was determined the values of vitamin B6 , A, provitamin A, and E in pure samples. Considering the obtained results it was suggested the use of moisture content, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, 10-HDA and solubility in alkaline solution, as the main items to be observed.

A geléia real é um dos principais produtos da colméia que serve como alimento para as larvas em desenvolvimento, assim como para a abelha rainha por toda a sua vida. Tem sido utilizada pelas pessoas como um complemento alimentar devido às suas propriedades revitalizantes. O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi estabelecer as análises físico-químicas e químicas que poderão ser usadas para a caracterização da geléia real e detecção de sua autenticidade ou adulteração, enfatizando-se a determinação do ácido 10-hidroxi-trans-2-decenóico (10-HDA). A proposta do trabalho está justificada pela falta de legislação com relação a padrões de identidade e qualidade da geléia real e derivados. Foram determinados emalostras puras e adulteradas (com clara de ovo, água potável, iogurte natural, pasta de amido e uma mistura de leite condensado com própolis) os teores de umidade, cinzas, Iípides, proteínas, carboidratos, 10-HDA, pH, acidez titulável, reação com lugol e teste de solubilidade em meio alcalino. Como análises complementares foram determinados os teores das vitaminas B6 , A, pró-vitamina A (β-caroteno) e vitamina E nas amostras puras. Considerando-se os resultados obtidos preconizou-se as determinações de umidade, cinzas, lípides, proteínas, carboidratos, 10-HDA e teste de solubilidade em meio alcalino como os principais itens a serem observados. / Royal jelly is one of the most important products from beehive, which is used by growing up larves like food, and also for the queen bee for her entire life. It has being used by people as a complement because of the revitalizing properties. The main objective of this work was to establish the physicalchemical and chemical analysis, which could be used for characterization of the adulteration of royal jelly, mainly the 10-hidroxy-trans-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). The purpose of this study is justified by the lack of legislation concerning the quality and identity standards of royal jelly and derivatives. There were determined in pure and adulterated samples (with condensed milk, water, yogurt, starch, egg white) the analysis of moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, 10-HDA, pH, titrate acidity, iodine reaction, solubilíty test in alkaline solution. For complementary tests It was determined the values of vitamin B6 , A, provitamin A, and E in pure samples. Considering the obtained results it was suggested the use of moisture content, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, 10-HDA and solubility in alkaline solution, as the main items to be observed.

The growing human population puts pressure on our ecosystems and natural resources. One of the major causes of household’s environmental impact has been found to be the consumption of food, which is why actions need to be taken to decrease it. One such action has been taken by the Swedish grocery store Coop, who by sharing Sustainability Declarations for food products provides information on the sustainability impacts caused by their products. Coop has identified a need to further develop their framework and to ensure its legitimacy, something that this master’s thesis aims to contribute too.  Seven sustainability assessment tools of food used within Europe were compared: Beelong Eco-Score, Eco Impact, Eco-Score, Impact Score Shopping, Köttguiden, Vegoguiden and the Sustainability Declarations, for which similarities and differences were identified. Some of the main similarities that were identified were that all tools applied a life cycle perspective, that they mainly focused on consumers and that they aimed to ease the decision of what food to purchase by providing information on sustainability impact. Some of the main differences were the range of scores, type of scores, which functional units were applied and from where the data were collected. Differences were also found in transparency, where some tools provided both scores and detailed descriptions of their framework, whilst others provided a few scores with a brief description of their framework. Whether social sustainability indicators were included or not also differed, and only the Sustainability Declarations were found to include it to a large extent, whilst Impact Score Shopping included it to some extent.  To deepen the apprehension of the tools' methodologies and how these impacted the assessments, scores for six products: Almonds, Chocolate, Flour, Milk, Pork and Rice were also compared. The assessments of flour were similar across all tools, whilst the assessment of almonds differed the most. The Beelong Eco-Score generally assessed products lower than the others, whilst the Sustainability Declarations assessed the products higher. The differences were deemed to both be a result of different methodological approaches, but also to be a result of varying food regulations in the country of origin of the food products.  To further develop the Sustainability Declarations, Coop could consider integrating Agribalyse in their assessments, and to widen their indicators to include seasonality and packaging to a larger extent. It could also be advantageous to provide their customers with alternatives and ideas of more sustainable products. The method used for the Sustainability Declarations seems to be in line with many of the choices and assumptions made for the methodologies within the other tools, and to be in line with the current state of knowledge in the scientific field. / Den växande mänskliga populationen utsätter ekosystemen och våra naturliga resurser för påtryckningar. En av de största orsakerna till miljöpåverkan skapad av hushållen har identifierats som konsumtionen av mat, varför insatser behöver implementeras för att minska denna. Ett sådant initiativ har skapats av Coop, som genom att förse sina kunder med Hållbarhetsdeklarationer innehållande information om vilken påverkan produkter har på olika hållbarhetsaspekter möjliggör för sina kunder att göra mer informerade val av produkter. Coop har identifierat ett behov av att fortsätta att utveckla detta regelverk samt att försäkra sig om regelverkets legitimitet, något som denna masteruppsats syftar till att bidra till.  Sju hållbarhetsbedömningsverktyg för mat som används inom Europa analyserades inom ramarna för denna masteruppsats. Verktygen som inkluderades var Beelong Eco-Score, Eco Impact, Eco-Score, Impact Score Shopping, Köttguiden, Vegoguiden och Hållbarhetsdeklarationerna, och dess likheter och olikheter identifierades. Några av de huvudsakliga likheterna som identifierades var att alla verktygen applicerar ett livscykelperspektiv, att de i huvudsak fokuserar på konsumenter och att deras mål är att bidra med information om matens hållbarhetsavtryck i syfte att förenkla valet av vilken mat konsumenterna ska köpa. Några av de huvudsakliga skillnaderna var vilken poängskala verktygen använde, vilken typ av poäng, vilken funktionell enhet som användes och var data hämtades från. Även verktygens transparens skilde sig åt, då några verktyg både hade tillgängliggjort alla sina produktbedömningar och detaljerade beskrivningar av deras regelverk, medan andra hade tillgängliggjort bedömningarna för några få produkter och endast redogjort för några grundläggande delar av deras metod. Det skiljde sig även mellan verktygen om sociala hållbarhetsindikatorer hade inkluderats eller inte. Endast Hållbarhetsdeklarationerna inkluderade specifika indikatorer och poäng för hållbarhetsaspekter, medans Impact Score Shopping inkluderade några få sociala hållbarhetsaspekter i deras indikatorer.  För att ytterligare fördjupa förståelsen för metoderna bakom bedömningsverktygen och hur dessa tar sig i uttryck jämfördes också poängen för sex produkter, dessa var: mandlar, choklad, vetemjöl, mjölk och ris. Poängsättningen för mjöl var lik inom alla de analyserade verktygen, medan bedömningen för mandlar varierade mest. Verktyget Beelong Eco-Score gav generellt produkter lägst poäng, medan Hållbarhetsdeklarationerna generellt gav produkterna högst poäng. Skillnaderna bedömdes både bero på skillnader i metodval och vara ett resultat och skillnader i lagar och regelverk som påverkar matproduktionen inom länderna.  För att utveckla Hållbarhetsdeklarationerna skulle Coop kunna utvärdera möjligheten att integrera Agribalyse i deras bedömningar, och att utöka deras indikatorer till att också inkludera säsongsvariationer och förpackningar i större utsträckning. Det skulle också kunna vara fördelaktigt att förse deras kunder med alternativa idéer på mer hållbara produkter. Metoden som använts för Hållbarhetsdeklarationerna fanns vara i linje med de val och antaganden som gjorts inom de undersökta verktygen. Metoden fanns även vara i linje med det nuvarande kunskapsläget i det vetenskapliga området.

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