Thesis (M. Tech. (Food and Beverage management, Dept. of Hospitality, Tourism and Project Management) -- Vaal University of Technology / Background: About 66 percent of South Africans are urbanised. The majority of this population is forced by circumstances to live in informal settlements. Despite the income challenges faced, the market expenditure by these low-income consumers amounts to R129 billion per year. A lack of information exists regarding food product attributes that guide purchasing choice for maize meal. Objective of the study: To identify and describe the food product attributes experienced as most important during purchasing of maize meal by low-income consumers in informal settlements in the Johannesburg-Vaal region. Methods: Phase 1 comprised a quantitative survey in three informal! and one formal settlement (n=502), testing the level of importance perceived for 14 food product attributes. In Phase 2, focus group discussions were conducted to describe and compare the understanding of the food product attributes between groups and with literature. Results: Phase 1 defines income level as the boundary within which low-income consumers perceived the importance of food product attributes. Satiety value and the affordability of food products override sensory attributes as the main decision choice, as usually applicable to higher income groups. Nutrient content was ranked least important. These findings can probably be allocated to the need of low-income consumers to satisfy priorities for survival (satiety value). Phase 2 reported no distinctive differences in the meaning of terms between groups. However, a difference exists in the depth of meaning. The majority of descriptive elements indicated a link to economic attributes. Strong cross-links between attributes were revealed through the findings. No major differences were found in the understanding of food product attributes between the respondents' groups and with existing literature. Two concept elements, the versatility of product use as linked to taste and the ability of sensory qualities to report quality of maize meal as linked to product safety, were revealed by the current study. Key words: Food product attributes, low-income households, staple food, maize meal, informal settlement, purchase choice.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2016. / Resource selection by animals is a hierarchical process, reflecting the spatio-temporal heterogeneity in biotic and abiotic environmental conditions and resources. In savannah ecosystems, the availability and nutritional quality of forage resources across the seasonal cycle constitute two of the main drivers of feeding choices, seasonal movements, and, ultimately, population dynamics of large herbivores. As a consequence of the increasing insularisation of protected areas in southern Africa, the understanding of the ecological requirements of confined populations of nomadic ungulates constitutes a crucial issue for their management. The study aimed at determining the effects of forage quality and availability across the seasonal cycle on the home range occupation and resource selection by eland in an insular-like protected area, the Kgaswane Mountain Reserve (KMR) in South Africa. I focused on three spatio-temporal scales of selection: seasonal home range selection over the available landscape; habitat selection within the seasonal home range; and selection for plant species included in the diet. The main objectives at the scales of landscape and habitat selection were: 1) to determine the extent and location of the seasonal home ranges utilised by collared adult female eland in the KMR, in order to identify the seasonally favoured resource units within the available landscape; and 2) to determine the influence of environmental drivers, including the seasonal variation in forage quality and abundance, on resource selection by eland at the two different scales. Four adult female eland were fitted with GPS collars, over the course of two years. The extent and location of annual and seasonal home ranges were estimated using a-LoCoH. The influence of environmental factors, including vegetation-type, burnt areas, and NDVI, on landscape- and habitat-scale selection of used locations at peak feeding times over available scattered points was tested using mixed-effects logistic regression models. Despite the small size of the KMR, eland occupied spatially distinct dry and wet season ranges. The dry season ranges were smaller than their wet season counterparts, and During the dry season, seasonal ranges were small, and were located in moderate to very green (as indicated by NDVI values) woodland areas in respect to the available landscape. Eland selected for dry grassland, wet grassland, and open shrubland (associated with low NDVI levels) during the wet season, when they coalesced into a nursery herd and occupied a relatively large home range. The selective use of burnt areas over the available landscape units was mostly restricted to the wet season, after a green herbaceous flush had been prompted by rainfall events. Within the seasonal home ranges, eland preferentially foraged on burnt woodland and open shrubland, where re-growth of woody plants was also available. The study animals also selected for locations characterized by low vegetation greenness and biomass as a consequence of the concentration of foraging activities in open areas where low-lying browse was accessible. At the smallest scale considered for this study, the two main objectives were: 1) to determine the changes in the use of vegetation types and burnt areas during foraging activities between two different seasons; 2) to determine forage selection at the plant species scale, as influenced by the phenophase of grasses and browse. In March-April 2015 (wet-early dry transition season) and July-August 2015 (mid-dry season), feeding sites of eland were located through both VHF-tracking and scanning from vantage points. Characteristics of used feeding sites were only descriptively addressed, and included vegetation type, burning, canopy cover, and soil catenal position. The greenness and basal cover of plant species were also recorded. Availability, acceptance, and dietary contribution for each species were calculated for the two seasons, while the influence of phenological traits on plant species selection was investigated through mixed-effects logistic regression models. Woody plants were consumed in larger proportions than grasses and herbaceous forbs during the entire study period. Woody forbs and shrublets such as Lippia javanica and Athrixia elata were particularly favoured. Eland targeted species offering high proportions of green leaves. During the wet-early dry transition, the deciduous Vangueria parvifolia was particularly selected for, while the consumption of evergreen species, including Searsia lancea, increased during the dry season. Most of the observed grazing took place on flushing burns during the wet-early dry transition. The decline in grass consumption was paralleled by a considerably lowered use of the burns and of the dry grassland during the dry season, as also reflected by collars data. The results indicated that eland in the KMR adjusted their landscape and habitat selection in response to spatio-temporal variations in the availability and quality of food resources. During the wet season, flushing burns provided accessible green forage to nursery herds. Conversely, evergreen woody plants probably represented a crucial resource for eland during the limiting dry season, when herbaceous plants were mostly dormant and foliage on deciduous species was unavailable. Therefore, environmental heterogeneity at different spatial scales likely constitutes a key factor for the persistence of eland populations in small, fenced reserves. / LG2017

FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / nÃo hà / Estudo sobre educaÃÃo do gosto alimentar construÃdo por meio de prÃticas curriculares e cotidianas de uma escola da rede pÃblica estadual do PiauÃ, localizada na cidade de Teresina, considerando a relaÃÃo currÃculo, prÃtica alimentar, cotidiano escolar e educaÃÃo para o gosto alimentar. A metodologia teve base etnogrÃfica, conjugando abordagens de natureza qualitativa e quantitativa. Ocorreu em uma escola da rede pÃblica estadual de ensino, em Teresina/PI, da qual participaram alunos e pais de alunos, docentes e funcionÃrios, alÃm de moradores e comerciantes da alimentaÃÃo da regiÃo prÃxima à escola. A coleta de dados se deu por meio de: observaÃÃo do cotidiano escolar; entrevistas semi-estruturadas, fundamentadas na HistÃria Oral; QuestionÃrio de FreqÃÃncia do Consumo Alimentar (QFCA). Os dados quantitativos foram prÃ-analisados, estatisticamente pelo programa GraphPad Prism para estimar aspectos da educaÃÃo do gosto alimentar, especificando os variados gÃneros alimentÃcios consumidos; os dados qualitativos foram examinados a partir dos fundamentos da HermenÃutica de Profundidade que consta de: anÃlise sÃcio-histÃrica; anÃlise formal ou discursiva; e interpretaÃÃo/ reinterpretaÃÃo. Os resultados indicam: duas dimensÃes da educaÃÃo do gosto alimentar, sendo uma relacionada ao currÃculo instituÃdo na escola e outra voltada para o currÃculo oculto, expresso no cotidiano escolar; a disciplina Horta Escolar no currÃculo da escola estudada, ensejou experiÃncias sensoriais, lÃdicas e de vÃnculo com os alimentos naturalmente cultivados na escola, como estratÃgia para estimular o consumo de alimentos saudÃveis e de ampliaÃÃo do conhecimento acerca da procedÃncia dos gÃneros alimentÃcios a serem consumidos. No cotidiano escolar, as prÃticas alimentares se destacam, uma vez que nÃo alÃm de serem apresentados modelos saudÃveis de alimentaÃÃo nas quatro refeiÃÃes oferecidas da escola, priorizam as socializaÃÃes realizadas e mediadas pelas prÃticas alimentares, os vÃnculos construÃdos, as aplicaÃÃes prÃticas dos conhecimentos estudados acerca da alimentaÃÃo, preconizando a sensibilizaÃÃo dos alunos para um consumo alimentar consciente e promotor do bem-estar por meio da alimentaÃÃo saudÃvel. As vertentes identificadas constituem um processo formativo da educaÃÃo do gosto alimentar nos escolares, fomentando, sobretudo, o consumo de hortaliÃas e frutas, que quase dobra com a experiÃncia vivida de um ano letivo. Constatou-se a reduÃÃo de mais de 50% do consumo semanal de aÃÃcares e frituras, com substancial aumento do consumo de carne branca. Houve diminuiÃÃo da predisposiÃÃo por alimentos enlatados e progressiva minimizaÃÃo do consumo de carne vermelha, salgadinhos, vÃsceras e Ãleos. Enfim, evidenciou-se que para desenvolver a educaÃÃo do gosto alimentar como processo formativo a ser construÃdo tambÃm na escola, à indispensÃvel a integraÃÃo de trÃs Ãreas: educaÃÃo/currÃculo, alimentaÃÃo/nutriÃÃo e ambiente escolar/comunidade. / This study assessed the education of food preferences that are constructed from curricular and everyday practices at a public school in Teresina. It examined the relationship between the curriculum, eating practices, daily school life and education about food preferences. Using an ethnographically-based methodology, the study combined qualitative and quantitative approaches. It took place in a public state school in Teresina, Piaui. Students, parents of students, teachers and school workers participated in the study, as well as residents and food sellers in the school vicinity. Data were collected by observation of the school routine, semi-structured interviews based on oral history, and a Questionnaire of Food Consumption Frequency (QFCF). Quantitative data were statistically analyzed using GraphPad Prism to estimate aspects about the education of food preferences and the different types of foods consumed. Qualitative data were examined using principles of Depth Hermeneutics, and consisted of: socio-historical analysis; formal or discursive analysis; and interpretation/reinterpretation. The results indicated that there were two dimensions of education on food preferences: the school curriculum and the concealed curriculum that is expressed in daily school life. The School Allotment, a subject that forms part of the school curriculum, encourages sensory, playful and bonding experiences with foods that are grown at school, and this strategy encourages consumption of healthy food and increases knowledge about the origin of food products. In daily school life, eating practices are particularly important: they not only provide healthy eating models in the four meals offered at the school, but they also prioritize socialization, bonding with food, are a way of practically applying the knowledge that has been acquired about food, and advocate the conscious consumption of food by the students to promote wellness through healthy eating. The identified educational dimensions are part of a formative process of the education of food preferences of students, and stimulate the consumption of vegetables and fruit (which nearly doubled during the course of a school year). There was a more than 50% reduction of weekly consumption of sugars and fried food and a substantial increase in the consumption of white meat. There was also a reduction of canned foods and a gradual minimization of the consumption of red meat, snack foods, animal organs and oils. It was clear that in order to develop the education for food preferences as a formative process that can be constructed at school, it is essential to integrate three areas: education/curriculum, food/nutrition and school environment/community.

Food selectivity exhibited by children with autism creates a myriad of barriers for families and children, ranging from social to nutritional. The typical approach to food selectivity is pathological. The pathological approach attempts to eliminate food selectivity through the use of techniques such as escape extinction. While successful in decreasing aspects of food challenges, such as food refusals, the pathological approach does not necessarily establish desired responses to foods or mealtimes (e.g., favorable affect, approach, generalized sampling, etc.). The purpose of the current study was to explore an alternative, constructional approach to food challenges presented by two children diagnosed with autism. This approach focuses on the development of favorable responses to food through the use of shaping. Furthermore, the shaping process involved a conceptual and procedural widening of the stimulus and response classes selected. The results of a non-concurrent multiple baseline experiment, suggest this approach was successful in expanding the number of food the children tasted and ate while maintaining favorable or neutral affect and child assent.

Rural adolescents suffer from poor nutrition, increasing their risk for obesity and other chronic diseases. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), an off-shoot of the National School Lunch Program, provides meals to qualifying children, including low-income, rural adolescents, under the age of 18. The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the impact of the SFSP on the nutrition–related knowledge, self-reported fruit and vegetable (SRFV) consumption, and the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions) of rural, low-income adolescents; and 2) examine the relationship between nutrition behaviors (quality food selection and consumption) and participation in the SFSP using digital photography. The participants (N = 78) were recruited from those enrolled in the Upward Bound (UB) Summer Program at a mid-sized university that utilized the SFSP. The UB, a federally funded program, provided the opportunity to reach high school students from low-income, rural areas to study the aforementioned effects of the SFSP. The quasi-experimental pre- post-intervention design used a survey (n = 57) to determine predictors of positive nutrition behaviors and digital photography (n = 43) to determine actual food selection and consumption of those enrolled in the SFSP. A nutrition quality scale (0-6, with 6 indicating higher quality) was developed in order to categorize food items within food groups according to their nutritional value, and aided in determining quality of foods selected and consumed. Paired samples t-test showed a significant increase in knowledge (t(56) = -8.09, p = .000) and SRFV consumption (t(56) = -3.20, p = .002) from pre- to post-intervention. Regression analysis demonstrated that all constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were significant (F(4, 52) = 14.56, p < .001 with an R2of .53) for predicting behavior intentions, with perceived behavioral control (PBC) being the most salient predictor of intentions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. A one-way repeated measures MANOVA was not significant for the comparison of pre- and post- survey scores for knowledge, SRFV consumption, and the constructs of the TPB, F (4, 53) = .604, p = .660. Digital photography showed a significant increase in consumption from week 1 (baseline) to week 5 (program completion) for fruit (t(42) = -2.04, p = .048) and milk (t(42) = -3.13, p = .003) at lunch, for milk (t(42) = -3.01, p = .003) at supper, and for milk overall (all three meals combined), t(42) = -3.08, p = .004. Vegetable consumption decreased significantly from week 1 to week 5 t(42) = 2.47, p = .018 at supper and overall (all three meals combined) t(42) = 2.65, p = .011. Two proportion z tests showed a statistically significant decrease in the selection of food items at quality level 2 from week 1 (.34) to week 5, z = 3.11, p = .002, and statistically significant increases in the selection of quality level 3 (.20), z = -2.15, p = .031, and quality level 5 (.17), z = -3.33, p < .000, item. Two proportion z tests showed a statistically significant decrease in the consumption of food items at quality level 5 from week 1 (.62) to week 5, z = 2.94, p = .003. However, the analysis showed no consistent increase in the quality of foods selected or consumed from week 1 to week 5. Opportunities for shaping adolescent nutrient intake and eating behaviors during and outside of enrollment in the SFSP exist. Reinforcing positive attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control while participants are enrolled in the SFSP may help to increase nutrition behavioral intentions and therefore, nutrition behaviors. Opportunities also exist for offering healthier food options for those participating in the SFSP. SFSP participants are a captive, impressionable group, and providing a supportive social and physical environment, and high nutritional quality choices in the SFSP more often may provide the potential for behavior change that may lead to an increase in healthy nutritious habits for adolescents from rural areas.

Preference for palatable and energy-dense foods may be a risk factor for body weight gain and has both genetic and environmental components. Once obesity develops in an individual, weight loss is difficult to achieve. Indeed, obesity is often characterized by repeated attempts to reduce the overconsumption of energy-dense foods, followed by food craving and relapse to overconsumption. Relapse and loss of control over intake are observed also in drug addicts, and it has been shown that obesity and drug addiction not only share behavioural features but also neural circuitry, e.g. the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. In this thesis, we sought to investigate the mechanisms related to food preferences and craving using animal models previously used in addiction research. The risk of gaining weight may implicate behavioural traits and emotional states. We showed in rats that a risk-taking behavioural profile was associated both with increased preference for a high-fat (HF) diet and with increased motivational response to a palatable high-sucrose (HS) diet. Hypothalamic urocortin 2 expression was associated with the preference for the HF diet. We also tested the hypothesis that consumption of HS and HF diets separately or provided simultaneously (HFHS) affect anxiety-like behaviour and locomotion. Furthermore, we showed that withdrawal from HFHS food affects diet-induced obesity-prone (OP) and obesity-resistant (OR) animals differently. OP animals had increased motivation (craving) for HS food pellets as measured by the operant self-administration technique during withdrawal. Dopamine receptor expression in the striatum differed between OP and OR animals both at access to HFHS and during withdrawal. This strongly implicates dopaminergic signaling in the OP phenotype. In humans, food preferences may be monitored using questionnaires. We analyzed food preference data from parents of preschool children, and identified an inverse association of parental preference for high-fat high-protein food and overweight in children. In conclusion, we have employed animal models previously used in the addiction field to identify molecular mechanisms related both to food preference and vulnerability to obesity, and to food craving associated with withdrawal from palatable food. These findings add to our current understanding of obesity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between adolescents' food preferences and their mothers' attitudes and knowledge about foods and nutrition in Phitsanulok Province, Thailand. Subjects included 30 boys and 35 girls randomly selected from 11th grade classrooms at two high schools in Phitsanulok, and their mothers. An Attitudes Toward Foods and Nutrition Ouestionnaire (ATFN) and Knowledge About Foods and Nutrition Questionnaire (KAFN) were used to assess mothers' attitudes and knowledge about foods and nutrition, respectively. A Food Preference Questionnaire (FPQ) and a 24-Hour Dietary Recall Interview (DRI) were used to assess adolescents' food preferences and to determine their dietary nutrient intakes, respectively. Application of path analytic procedures to the data revealed that while fathers' and mothers' education, occupation and family income were significantly related together in complex ways, only mothers' occupation had a direct negative effect on their attitudes toward "food preparation and caring about nutrition". In addition, mothers' attitudes toward the "importance of nutrition and meals" had a direct positive effect on their attitudes toward "food preparation and caring about nutrition". Furthermore, mothers' "general nutrition knowledge" had a direct positive effect on their knowledge about "food composition", which in turn had a direct positive effect on their knowledge about a "well-balanced diet and protein". Finally, while mothers' attitudes toward "food preparation and caring about nutrition" had a direct positive effect on their adolescents' food preferences, mothers' "general nutrition knowledge" had a direct negative effect on their adolescents' food preferences. With respect to the relationships between adolescents' food preferences and their nutrient intakes, their preferences for foods in the Meat food group were significantly and positively related to their calorie, carbohydrate, and total fat intakes. In addition, adolescents' preferences for foods in the Vegetable and Vegetable Products food group were significantly and positively related to their total fat intake. Furthermore, adolescents's preferences for foods in the Fats and Oils food group were significantly and positively related to their calorie, carbohydrate, protein, and total fat intakes. Finally, a significant curvilinear relationship was found between adolescents' preferences for foods in the Cereal and Grain Products food group and their iron intake. / Graduation date: 1993

During the 1960´s and 1970´s the number of grey seals in the Baltic Sea was decreasing rapidly, mostly due to hunting and toxic substances like DDT and PCB. When hunting became less intense and toxic substances decreased in the environment the grey seal population started to increase. Today grey seals are found common in the Baltic Sea and have started to become a big treat and a problem to the fishing industry. The grey seal destroys and enters fishing traps and consumes large quantities of the fish that have been caught. The knowledge of the grey seal, like abundance and food preferences, is today limited. It is also important to define the position of the grey seal in the ecosystem in the Baltic Sea and to be able to predict changes that could occur if the population would rapidly decrease or increase. This project was therefore started in an attempt to increase the knowledge about the grey seals food preferences. The study was made in tree separate parts. Part one contained analyses of prey remains from stomachs and digestive tract from fourteen individuals put down in two geographically separate areas. The collected material from the seal digestive tract was cleaned and otoliths (hearing stones from fish), scales and back vertebra from fish eaten by the grey seal were sorted out. With the help of hard parts collected from the intestines the food preferences of the seals could be estimated. Eight different species of prey was found. The species were herring (Clupea harengus membras), sprat (Sprattus sprattus), common whitefish (Coregonus spp), perch (Perca fluviatilis), salmon (Salmo salar), trout (Salmo trutta) and roach (Rutilus rutilus). In two of the digestive tracts several individuals of the isopod Saduria entomon were found. No earlier studies describe the isopod as a food source for the grey seals in the Baltic Sea. The findings are therefore unique information. The results showed that during summer the main part of the grey seal diet in the gulf of Sundsvall and in the surrounding coastal area of Hårte was herring and sprat. No significant difference in food preferences was shown between the investigated seals from the gulf of Sundsvall and seals from the surrounding coastal area of Hårte. The second part was made to investigate if it was possible to build a floating platform that would work as a resting place for the grey seal. The surface of the platform was covered by a layer that keeps the seal scats on the platform so that it could be collected. Otoliths from herring and common whitefish were found on the floating platform. Because the platform could not be under surveillance during the whole study some uncertainties about whether the otoliths found came from grey seal or from resting cormorants or other fish eating birds. However, the otolit size is linearly related to the fish size and this relationship can be used to track the predator. Otoliths from herring taken by grey seals and otoliths found on the platform were significantly bigger than the otoliths originating from the prey of cormorants. The results indicated that the common whitefish size was too big for a full grown cormorant bird to consume. The common whitefish size showed that it probably not had been cormorants that had deposited the otoliths on the platform. The platform method was concluded promising but it needs to be modified in order to work more effective in the future. In the third part scats were collected from the area of Österåsen to increase the amount of information about the grey seals food preferences. The knowledge of the grey seals diet in the Baltic Sea is today limited and few similar study’s have earlier been made. The collected scats and otoliths in this project are therefore unique. 2008:Bi 2

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-73).

This study examines references to foods mentioned in elementary school texts used in Montreal English schools. A study of 58 language arts and math texts used in grades 1-6 revealed a total of 4,391 references to foods in words and/or pictures. A large proportion of these references were to sugar-rich foods. A higher percentage of adult females prepared foods, followed closely by adult males. Boys were shown as eating food more frequently than any other group. Eating with one's peers was far more frequent than eating with the family, while a surprising number of children depicted in texts used in grades 1-3 consumed their food alone. The results of this study suggest that, because unintended information may influence childrens' nutritional habits, more attention should be paid to concomitant messages in elementary school textbooks.