The retail business has been negatively affected due to the increasing customer concerns about food safety and the recent events related to microbiological and chemical contamination of food products, such as the melamine in infant formula and the multiple cases of produce pathogen contamination. It has been shown that a scientific-based food safety system, such as, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), help reduce the likelihood of food safety incidents. Nevertheless, companies with these kinds of systems have too experienced public food safety issues. Food safety professionals have created instruments to measure food safety based on lagging indicators, such as pathogen presence or food safety incident reduction. Though, they have not created metrics based on leading indicators to measure the behavior driven by the culture of employees who handle the food. The employees who handle food are influenced by cultural values and behave in a company based on the company's cultural influence; hence, food safety should also be measured in cultural terms as a leading indicator. In order to measure food safety culture of a retail company and understand differences among groups, the researcher used case study methodology to select a USA based retailer. The researcher described the culture of the retailer, as well as the leadership styles. Based on these descriptions, the food safety culture of the company and the employee constructs were defined and piloted for construct validity and construct reliability. Once validated, a food safety culture survey instrument was implemented in the operations area of this retailer. The results showed that the employees agreed or strongly agreed that food safety was part of the corporate culture. One of the factors influencing the food safety culture was service to the customer. The results showed that there were differences in food safety culture across the different groups, but with negligible or small effect size. One of the main contributions of this study was the development of a metric to measure food safety culture in the retail industry. It also suggests that besides food safety audit scores and incident reduction, food safety needs to be measured in terms of the corporate culture of the retailer. In an effort to improve food safety around the world, organizations should consider that culture plays an important role.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-107). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of which culture influences the food consumption process. More specifically, our research will focus on the consumption process of Swedish consumers, as well as their motivations when buying food products. The overall objective of our research is to analyse the extent of applicability the Swedish model of consumption might possibly have in a country like France with a strong food culture. To conduct our research, a qualitative method was used along with an interpretivist approach. This was in accordance with the overall aim to highlight social and cultural facts by analysing consumer behaviour. Based on the theoretical framework studied in the report, ten in-depth interviews were conducted on Swedish and French students. The findings include good insights and advice that retailers and suppliers in the food industry could use to improve the grocery shopping experience and make it a better fit to the consumers’ expectations. Some limitations could be observed in our research, mainly due to the language barrier, concerning both the research material and the interviews. The results were also influenced by the location of the study and the past experience of the respondents. Further research can be recommended to investigate the effect of food and culture on larger cities and in different locations. Doing so, the findings could give a more representative overview of the food consumption process. The study could also be expanded on different market niches with different age groups allowing comparisons from different generations. Another idea would be to target consumers with varying levels of incomes, in order to see to what extent income influences the food consumption process.

O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar os interstícios do mercado kasher na cidade de São Paulo. No que diz respeito à alimentação, as leis dietéticas, rígidas leis, são uma parcela significativa da identidade judaica religiosa ortodoxa. Inclusive, em muitos casos, distingue-se um judeu religioso de um laico pela alimentação. Os conflitos alimentícios são tão intensos que ocorrem ate mesmo no interior das famílias judaicas. Buscamos assim, verificar a relação, dentre outras coisas, da sacralização do judaísmo, da teoria à pratica, em que tal resulta em um mercado de proporções progressivas e onerosas aos consumidores, sobretudo judeus ortodoxos. / The objective of this work is to analyze the interstices of the market to kasher in the city of São Paulo. In what it says respect to the feeding, the dietary laws, rigid laws, are a significant parcel of the orthodox religious Jewish identity. Also, in many cases, a religious Jew distinguishes itself from a lay one for the feeding. The nourishing conflicts are so intense that they occur even though in the interior of the Jewish families. We search thus, to verify the relation, amongst other things, of the sacralization of the judaism, the theory to practises, where such results in a market of gradual and onerous ratios to the consumers, over all Jewish orthodox.

O presente trabalho aborda questões relativas à pluralidade e ao dinamismo da mesa paulistana, explorando a comida para além de sua característica nutricional, em seus aspectos sócio-cultural e econômico. Para tanto, considera as condicionantes que levam a essa diversidade que caracteriza a gastronomia paulistana, como o passado colonial e os intensos fluxos migratórios, destacando também a realidade de uma cidade cosmopolita, global. Discute, igualmente, transformações que vêm ocorrendo na cidade de São Paulo e que impactam o mercado de alimentação; caracterizando-a como o principal polo gastronômico do país e maior mercado brasileiro. Em adição à discussão teórica, expõem-se entendimentos e percepções sobre esse mercado de alimentação em São Paulo, colhidos em entrevistas realizadas com chefs e proprietários de restaurantes e jornalistas especializados na área. Assim, oferece um panorama da mesa paulistana e fomenta uma atitude reflexiva a respeito da gastronomia na cidade de São Paulo. / This dissertation deals with issues regarding the plural and dynamic aspects of the cuisine from the city of São Paulo (paulistana cuisine), approaching food from its sociocultural and economic aspects and going beyond its nutritional content. In order to do so, it considers the factors that have created the diversity that characterises paulistana gastronomy, such as its colonial past, the intense migration flows that marked it, as well as its reality as a cosmopolitan, global, city. It also discusses the changes that have been taking place in the city, as Brazil\'s main gastronomic hub and market, and which have an impact on the food market. In addition to the theoretical investigation, the dissertation presents interviews carried out with chefs, restaurant owners and journalists specialised in gastronomy, showing their opinions and perceptions regarding the food market in São Paulo. Hence, this dissertation portrays São Paulo\'s food scene and foments a reflective attitude towards gastronomy in the city.

O presente trabalho aborda questões relativas à pluralidade e ao dinamismo da mesa paulistana, explorando a comida para além de sua característica nutricional, em seus aspectos sócio-cultural e econômico. Para tanto, considera as condicionantes que levam a essa diversidade que caracteriza a gastronomia paulistana, como o passado colonial e os intensos fluxos migratórios, destacando também a realidade de uma cidade cosmopolita, global. Discute, igualmente, transformações que vêm ocorrendo na cidade de São Paulo e que impactam o mercado de alimentação; caracterizando-a como o principal polo gastronômico do país e maior mercado brasileiro. Em adição à discussão teórica, expõem-se entendimentos e percepções sobre esse mercado de alimentação em São Paulo, colhidos em entrevistas realizadas com chefs e proprietários de restaurantes e jornalistas especializados na área. Assim, oferece um panorama da mesa paulistana e fomenta uma atitude reflexiva a respeito da gastronomia na cidade de São Paulo. / This dissertation deals with issues regarding the plural and dynamic aspects of the cuisine from the city of São Paulo (paulistana cuisine), approaching food from its sociocultural and economic aspects and going beyond its nutritional content. In order to do so, it considers the factors that have created the diversity that characterises paulistana gastronomy, such as its colonial past, the intense migration flows that marked it, as well as its reality as a cosmopolitan, global, city. It also discusses the changes that have been taking place in the city, as Brazil\'s main gastronomic hub and market, and which have an impact on the food market. In addition to the theoretical investigation, the dissertation presents interviews carried out with chefs, restaurant owners and journalists specialised in gastronomy, showing their opinions and perceptions regarding the food market in São Paulo. Hence, this dissertation portrays São Paulo\'s food scene and foments a reflective attitude towards gastronomy in the city.

Este estudo tem o objetivo de validar um instrumento (questionário) em português do Brasil para avaliação de cultura de segurança de alimentos (CSA). O cenário do estudo foi composto por áreas de manipulação de alimentos prontos para consumo de uma rede de lojas de hipermercado (RLH). A empresa possuía 2204 colaboradores de manipulação de alimentos em 28 lojas hipermercado. Foi realizada uma revisão da literatura científica nacional e internacional para identificar qual instrumento se adequa melhor segundo a realidade brasileira para autoavaliação da percepção dos colaboradores que manipulam alimentos a respeito da CSA. Os critérios para escolha do instrumento foram a disponibilidade do questionário para ser avaliado, a explicação dos elementos que compõem a CSA, itens condizentes com o dia a dia de manipulação de alimentos e limite de até 50 itens. Um instrumento de 31 itens e escala Likert de sete pontos foi escolhido. O processo de validação do instrumento baseou-se no trabalho de Borsa et. al. (2012) que estabeleceram seis passos: tradução do instrumento para o novo idioma, síntese das versões traduzidas, avaliação da síntese por experts, avaliação pelo público- alvo, backtranslation (retradução) e estudo piloto. Uma entrevista com um responsável pela segurança de alimentos da RLH foi coletada para obter outra fonte de informação sobre a CSA. O instrumento foi aplicado em 383 participantes de 15 lojas da RLH. Após a aplicação empírica do instrumento na RLH sucederam-se análises estatísticas descritivas e multivariadas dos dados. O instrumento foi validado para diagnosticar CSA em português brasileiro após as etapas descritas. Os resultados das respostas do instrumento demonstraram que a CSA possui tendência positiva. A entrevista corroborou as respostas dos participantes e mostrou uma CSA desenvolvida. / This study aims to validate an instrument (questionnaire) in Brazilian Portuguese for assess food safety culture (FSC). The study scenario was composed of ready-to-eat food handling areas of a hypermarket chain network (HCN). The company had 2204 food handling workers in 28 hypermarket stores. A review of national and international scientific literature was carried out to identify which instrument is best suited to the Brazilian reality for the self-assessment of food handlers\' perception of FSC. The criteria for choosing the instrument were the availability of the questionnaire to be evaluated, the explanation of the elements that make up the FSC, items consistent with the day to day food handling and limit of up to 50 items. An instrument of 31 items and a seven-point Likert scale was chosen. The validation process of the instrument was based on the work of Borsa et. al. (2012), which established six steps: translation of the instrument into the new language, synthesis of translated versions, evaluation of synthesis by experts, evaluation by the target audience, backtranslation and pilot study. An interview with an HCN food safety representative staff was collected for another source of information about FSC. The instrument was applied to 383 participants from 15 HCN stores. After the empirical application of the instrument in the HCN, descriptive and multivariate statistical analyzes of the data were succeeded. The instrument was validated to diagnose FSC in Brazilian Portuguese after the steps described. The results of the instrument responses showed that the FSC has a positive trend. The interview corroborated participants\' responses and showed a FSC developed.

This dissertation investigates the symbolic uses of food in twentieth-century America using, as case studies, major works by Edith Wharton, Toni Morrison, W.H. Auden, and Wallace Stevens. By incorporating different literary genres - poetry, the novel, and expository prose - by authors from distinct geographic locations, classes, genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnic backgrounds, and eras, my principles of selection offer a broad and significant representation for analysis that serves two related ends: to understand the different ways food functions in literature and thereby to establish the importance of food to literary study. After-Taste argues that food and eating in the novel, in canonical twentieth-century American literature, have been used predominantly for social critique rather than made an integral part of individual psychopathological investigation. In poetry, however, the reverse holds true: Auden and Stevens, two very different poets, shared a common goal - reconciliation of the self with world, rather than social critique, imagined through food and eating. While literary critics have made significant contributions to the discourse surrounding food as a field of study, their works are primarily historical, political, anthropological, and cultural in scope, rather than literary. After-Taste revises Brillat Savarin's fourth aphorism, "Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are[,]" into an injunction to the literary critic: 'Tell us what, how, when, where, and why the author deploys food in her literature, and we shall learn new meanings that have been obscure to us.' This study asks, and seeks to answer, the following questions: What narrative possibilities does food enable in the novel and in poetry? Is the usage of food symbolic only, or is it in some cases part of a deeper narrative logic? What social and individual meanings can food carry that other material objects cannot? Not all authors utilize food in their writing, but those who do have made a decision with narrative, theoretical, literary, and ontological consequences. My pages attempt to explain why food has such a powerful appeal for specific writers, those whose works would be aesthetically and rhetorically incomplete had they not employed a logic of food in their writing.

O objetivo desse trabalho é analisar os interstícios do mercado kasher na cidade de São Paulo. No que diz respeito à alimentação, as leis dietéticas, rígidas leis, são uma parcela significativa da identidade judaica religiosa ortodoxa. Inclusive, em muitos casos, distingue-se um judeu religioso de um laico pela alimentação. Os conflitos alimentícios são tão intensos que ocorrem ate mesmo no interior das famílias judaicas. Buscamos assim, verificar a relação, dentre outras coisas, da sacralização do judaísmo, da teoria à pratica, em que tal resulta em um mercado de proporções progressivas e onerosas aos consumidores, sobretudo judeus ortodoxos. / The objective of this work is to analyze the interstices of the market to kasher in the city of São Paulo. In what it says respect to the feeding, the dietary laws, rigid laws, are a significant parcel of the orthodox religious Jewish identity. Also, in many cases, a religious Jew distinguishes itself from a lay one for the feeding. The nourishing conflicts are so intense that they occur even though in the interior of the Jewish families. We search thus, to verify the relation, amongst other things, of the sacralization of the judaism, the theory to practises, where such results in a market of gradual and onerous ratios to the consumers, over all Jewish orthodox.

The context of this study is Bangladesh`s food retailing sector. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) and customer retention. Since Independence in 1971, Bangladesh has made solid progress and made substantial improvements in its economy, with GDP growth of 5-6% consistently over the past decade. With the real economic growth coupled with rapid urbanisation, the country has witnessed a new form of organised retailing that started to emerge in early 2000. This organised retail format is undergoing a period of unprecedented expansion, something that is driving additional demand and as well as creating opportunities for further enterprise. There are clear signs of substantial and potential growth in future. The economic growth coupled with the growth of urbanisation, changes in demographic factors, increases in employment and income levels has had a profound influence on consumers shopping behaviour and hence, Customer Relationship Marketing. The core aim of Relationship Marketing is to build a long lasting mutually bonded relationships with customers and various other important stakeholders. The concept has attracted considerable attention among scholars in recent decades and has appeared in service marketing literature as a new marketing paradigm. The concept is considered to be critical to the success of any organisation as it has been an accepted phenomenon that maintains that existing customers are far easier to retain than is the process of acquiring new customers. In order to stay in business and cope with the challenging business dynamism, organisations are continuously searching for reliable and serviceable strategies to be employed in order to increase customer retention. However, there is a lack of an accepted level of consensus among researchers on the core antecedents of relationship marketing that can be used to achieve the above aims, especially while the concept is new in the context of organised retailing sectors in Bangladesh. In response, this thesis developed a conceptual framework of customer retention strategy to conduct an empirical investigation in one holistic model: (i) the relationships between relationship quality and customer retention; (ii) how bonds influences the relationship quality? As well as (iii) the effect of CRM on customer loyalty and retention. The model incorporates bonds, service quality and components of relational quality (Trust, commitment and satisfaction) into one relationship model to show the relationship between these five constructs and customer loyalty and finally the independent variable of customer retention. The model establishes eleven hypotheses to understand the relationships between various constructs. Furthermore, in order to understand the intensity of grocery food consumers loyalty, Oliver`s Four Stages loyalty model was used. A sample of 202 grocery food retail customers were selected in a random sample from four selected superstores located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Data were collected via mail questionnaires. The questionnaires content validity was tested by conducting a pre-test of 50 households before conducting the final survey. The results support hypothesized relationships built on the model. Correlation analysis indicates that all the coefficient correlate significantly except commitment that shows the least strengths of the correlation coefficient. Nevertheless, correlations were statistically significant. Therefore, all eleven hypotheses are confirmed to some degree. The findings indicate that service quality, trust, bond and customer satisfactions are vital for creating positive customer loyalty which in turn creates customer retention. In regards to the intensity of four types of loyalty (cognitive, affective, co-native and action) results indicate that the intensity of cognitive loyalty was higher than affective loyalty, co-native and action loyalty. Co-native loyalty is also higher than action loyalty. This thesis provides evidence for the first time in Bangladesh of various linkages between bonds, service quality, relationship quality, loyalty and retention and hence, contributes to both theoretical and practical knowledge. The findings suggest that by employing adequate service quality provisions and bonds it is possible to enhance and build quality relationships between parties.