The study has defined the position with regard to existing and evolving United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) legislation, world trade agreements and institutions, global trade in chicken meat and market Quality Assurance (QA) standards in a series of peer-reviewed published papers and working papers. The development of global food supply chains can be a key driver in the harmonisation of international legislation, product and private assurance standards. Indeed compliance with legislation and retailer requirements has been a key market driver in the development of private assurance standards. The key objectives of the research were to examine current assurance schemes within the integrated poultry meat supply chain and the influence of regulation and external market drivers within the integrated poultry meat supply chain; develop and test a QA model for the poultry meat supply chain with a view to both baseline and higher level standards including the development of a business benchmarking system utilising a pre-requisite programme (PRP) and key performance indicators (KPI); and to assess the ability of the QA model to deliver regulatory and policy compliance whilst meeting varied business and market needs for an internationally traded product. This study has shown that a QA model is capable of providing a framework within which the poultry meat supply chain can operate. The legislative and performance requirements have been translated into quantifiable performance indicators which can be used to measure supply chain performance. This can assist differentiation of products at the point of consumption and give a quantifiable measure of the extrinsic value that has been added. This approach will therefore aid the communication of the benefits of differing methods of poultry meat production and afford the consumer the opportunity to make a more informed choice when purchasing meat products.

Thesis (MAgricAdmin (Agricultural Economics)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / HIV/AIDS has become a major concern globally as it affects different facets of a country’s economy as well as household economics. This study aimed to determine the impact of the disease on household food security. This was done by investigating the impact of the disease on household livelihoods, agricultural production for subsistence purposes and household consumption patterns. The study followed a case study approach, and Bokaa village in Kgatleng district, Botswana was selected as the study area. Data collection was done with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire in multiple households as well as by gathering information from secondary sources. The study focused on the concept of food security as a theoretical base for the analysis, which was mainly a cross-case analysis. The analysis of individual cases is not presented in this thesis; nonetheless, individual cases are presented as illustrations and as backup for the synthesis. Furthermore, the analysis of food security only focused on calorie availability and not on nutritional quality. The study revealed that the impact of HIV/AIDS varied according to the status in which the household was before the onset of the disease or the subsequent death. Coping strategies also varied, depending on household status and the level of contribution the sick family member made to the household’s food budget. Inter-household effects and gender differentials have been observed during the time of caring for the sick family member. Inter-household effects have also been observed during times of food shortages. A high dependence on government safety nets has also been observed among these households, which contributed to some extent to lack of livelihood diversification. The results of this study reveal the need for empowering households through training for income-generating skills and practise of small-scale home gardening in a more sustainable way. The need for nutrition education was also revealed, in order that traditional and nutritious options can be included in the household food consumption patterns and not only be regarded as an option when preferred foods such as meat are not available.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Achieving food security and reducing hunger requires comprehensive measurement for proper identification of the food insecure, the severity of food insecurity, its causes, and progress in reducing food insecurity. Measuring food security is challenging due to its multidimensional nature as all four dimensions (availability, access, utilisation, and stability) need to be achieved simultaneously. Comprehensive measurement has not been achieved as most existing indicators have a unidimensional focus and efforts to find a ‘composite indicator’ (a catch all measurement tool) have thus far been unsuccessful. This study therefore identified how the three most widely used indicators of food security, the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) and the Coping Strategies Index (CSI), can complement one other in capturing the multiple dimensions of food security. The study brought them together in one cross-sectional household survey of 409 randomly selected households in Taraba State, Nigeria. The results show that 69 percent of households in Taraba had a very low food security status, 23 percent had low food security, and 8 percent had high or marginal food security. About 34 percent of the households used very erosive coping strategies. Very low food security status was found to be associated with: a household head who is a farmer, less educated, or divorced; low household income and expenditure; large household size; and not owning large plots of land. The survey revealed that most households that obtain the greater proportion of their food from own production, and spend most of their income on the purchase of starchy staples were in the very low food security category. Those that sourced their food mainly through purchase, and spent more on fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, and processed foods were in the high or marginal food security category. The study showed that the key indicators followed a clear complementary pattern. The bivariate analysis showed a significant difference (P<0.01) in DDS and CSI across HFIAS categories. The HFIAS very low food security category is characterised by the lowest food diversity and highest CSI, revealing that the depth of food insecurity is intense among the extreme group. The study demonstrated that these three indicators can be used together for a fuller understanding of the relationships between the different dimensions of food security, and recommended more studies in using complementary indicators to measure food security. This thesis is presented as the two academic articles option: the first article reviews the measurement of food security and complementarity of the three measures, while the second article discusses the findings of the survey. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die bereiking van voedselsekerheid en die bekamping van hongersnood vereis omvattende meting vir die korrekte identifikasie van voedselonsekerheid, die erns daarvan, die oorsake daarvan, en die proses van voedselonsekerheidvermindering. Die meting van voedselsekerheid is ʼn uitdaging as gevolg van die multidimensionele aard daarvan, aangesien die onderskeie dimensies (beskikbaarheid, toegang, benutting, en stabiliteit) tegelyktydig bereik moet word. Omvattende meting is nog nie bereik nie, aangesien bestaande aanwysers ʼn eendimensionele fokus het, en aangesien pogings om ʼn ‘saamgestelde aanwyser’ (‘n allesomvattende metingsinstrument) te vind, tot dusver onsuksesvol was. Hierdie studie het dus geïdentifiseer hoe die drie mees algemene aanwysers vir voedselsekerheid, naamlik die Huishoudelike Voedselonsekerheid Toegangskaal (HFIAS), die Dieetkundige Diversiteitstelling (DDS) en die Hanteringstrategieë Indeks (CSI), mekaar kan aanvul om die verskeie dimensies van voedselsekuriteit vas te vang. Die studie het die bogenoemde instrumente saam geïmplementeer in ʼn deursnee-huishoudelike opname van 409 ewekansig-geselekteerde huishoudings in Taraba Staat, Nigerië. Die resultate het 69 persent van huishoudings in Taraba met ‘n baie lae voedselsekerheid-status getoon, 23 persent met ʼn lae voedselsekerheid-status, en 8 persent met ʼn hoë of geringe voedselsekerheid-status. Ongeveer 34 persent van die huishoudings het baie verwerende hanteringsstrategieë gebruik. Baie lae voedselsekerheid-status is bevind om meer geassosieer te word met: ʼn huishoudelike hoof wat ʼn boer is, minder opgevoed is, of geskei is; waar daar lae huishoudelike inkomste en uitgawes teenwoordig is; ʼn groot huishoudelike grootte; en die nie-besitting van eiendom. Die opname het geopenbaar dat die meeste huishoudings wat die grootter proporsie van hulle voedsel vanaf eie produksie verkry, en die meeste van hulle inkomste op die aankoop van styselagtige stapelvoedsel spandeer, in die baie lae voedselsekerheid-kategorie geval het. Diegene wat hulle voedsel hoofsaaklik deur aankope verkry het, en meer spandeer het op vars vrugte, groente, vleis, vis, eiers en geprosesseerde kosse, was in die hoë/ geringe voedselsekerheid kategorie. Die studie het bevind dat die sleutelaanwysers ʼn duidelike aanvullende patroon gevolg het. Die tweeveranderlike ontleding het ʼn beduidende verskil (P<0.01) in DDS en CSI oor HFIAS-kategorieë getoon. Die HIFIAS baie lae voedselsekerheidkategorie word gekenmerk deur die laagste voedseldiversiteit en hoogste CSI, wat openbaar dat die diepte van voedselonsekerheid intensief is onder die uiterste groep. Die studie het gedemonstreer dat hierdie drie aanwysers saam gebruik kan word om ʼn beter begrip van die verhoudings tussen die verskillende dimensies van voedselsekuriteit te verkry, en daar is aanbeveel dat meer navorsing onderneem word aangaande die gebruik van aanvullende aanwysers om voedselsekuriteit te meet. Hierdie tesis word aangebied as die twee-akademiese-artikels opsie: die eerste artikel bied ʼn oorsig van die meting van voedselsekerheid en die aanvullendheid van die drie instrumente, terwyl die tweede artikel die bevindinge van die studie bespreek.

This study critically investigated the argument whether intellectual property rights over life forms and processes would ensure food security. It only considered the issue from the perspective of developing countries, as they are the ones who are hardest hit by recurrent drought and food insecurity. Protections within TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) and debates underpinning it formed the essence of the research.

<p>The food security crisis which gripped the sub Sahara Africa after the drought in 1999/2000 threatened development initiatives in these countries. Zimbabwe&rsquo / s situation has since worsened and the country has failed to recuperate from the food problems, even after an improvement in the climatic conditions. International and local food aid activities then became a priority in the fight to sustain the right to food for the affected regions. It is argued in this research that if food aid is distributed on the basis of need it will enable the vulnerable populations recuperate form food insecurity problems. It is also postulated that if well implemented, food aid programmes are also able to play the dual role of averting starvation and leading to long term development. This thesis departs from the allegations of food aid politicisation in Zimbabwe.</p> <p><br /> Using the rational choice and neopatrimonial theories of individual behaviour, this research endeavored to ascertain whether political decisions influenced the government food aid distributions which were conducted through the Grain Marketing Board. In line with these theories, it is argued in this study that politicians behave in a manner that maximizes the fulfillment of their individual needs rather than the needs of the people who vote them in positions of power.</p> <p><br /> A qualitative approach was adopted in this study and data was gathered through household interviews in the Seke and Goromonzi districts of the Mashonaland East province in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with food aid experts from the governmental and non governmental organisations dealing with food security issues in Zimbabwe.</p>

Alternative food systems (AFSs) are so defined because they purport to challenge a value or ameliorate a negative impact of the dominant conventional food system (CFS). Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a type of AFS whose alterity is defined by socially proximal economic exchanges that are embedded in and regulated by social relationships. This relational closeness is argued to have benefits with respect to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. However, it would be a mistake to assume that AFSs and CFSs are paradigmatically differentiated or that their structures engender particular outcomes. The first article traces a misguided attempt to find indicators of success for farms participating in short food supply chains. The effort was misguided, because in designing the original study there was an assumption that producers participating in these AFSs shared similar goals, values, and definitions of success. The true diversity of these variables was discovered through the analysis of eighteen semi-structured interviews with Burlington and Montpelier area farmers who participate in SFSCs. This diversity motivated an exploration of the origins, common applications, and recent academic skepticism regarding assumptions of the relationship between certain food systems structures and broader food systems outcomes. The second article undertakes to develop a framework for exploring the actual motivations of SFSCs farmers and challenging common AFS assumptions. A framework that differentiates motivations guided by formal and substantive rationality is used to code the aforementioned data. Common themes amongst the responses are discussed demonstrating that producer motivations for participating in AFSs can be diverse, contradictory, and subject to change.

This research report serves to explore how women living in Tembisa, the second largest township in Johannesburg, South Africa, create and maintain highly flexible and mobile personal networks, to maximize their access to financial and social capital in order to improve individual and household resilience to food insecurity. What are the strategies that are adopted, created and manipulated in the daily lives of the food insecure in an attempt to attain a semblance of food security for themselves, their households and their communities?

Background. The production of food requires great amounts of natural resources. Although, not all the food produced is consumed. Food waste is a global issue with the potential to create resource scarcity for future generations. Preventing food waste is an effective approach to avoid this outcome. Moreover, the prevention of food waste could decrease the environmental human print and balance the access to food around the world. In developed countries, the households contribute in a significant amount to the food waste problem.. It is mainly attributed to the behaviours that the consumers develop consciously and unconsciously. Therefore, it is significant to research further in the implications of awareness in the behaviours linked to food waste. Aspiration. The following research aims to find the effect of awareness in the consumer behaviours linked to food waste in the household through an experiment.    Method. A survey with 52 respondents was used to sample the participants of the experiment. From the respondents, 12 young adults aged between 18 to 29 years old, living by themselves in Visby, Sweden participated in the experimental study. The participants of the experiment were divided in two groups, the experimental and the control group. A treatment, consisting of an educational video regarding prevention of household food waste, was provided to the experimental group. The experiment measures how the participants were affected by the treatment.  Key findings. Regarding the awareness of household food waste, the experimental group had a significant improvement compared to the control group after the treatment. This proves that the consumers whose awareness of household food waste is increased present a higher potential to have their behaviours changed thus reducing household food waste. The hypothesis was proven, while the main finding indicates that as consumer advanced in the experiment the reported behaviours change considerably. While it was expected that the self-reporting of household food waste in the participants would be reduced, in fact, this incremented in some cases.

Introdução: O ritmo da vida urbana, dado pelo processo de produção, invade a vida social e acaba impondo aos cidadãos metropolitanos alguns comportamentos de consumo. No que se refere à padronização do consumo alimentar, nota-se que é cada vez mais frequente a realização de refeições fora de casa, o que contribui na persistência de ameaças para o alcance da Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (SAN), devido à alta ingestão de alimentos não saudáveis. Objetivo: Caracterizar o ambiente alimentar no interior das estações de metrô da cidade de São Paulo, sob o ponto de vista da SAN, incluindo a comercialização de alimentos e a instalação de pontos comerciais de alimentos. Métodos: Este estudo foi realizado em 19 estações distribuídas nas cinco linhas existentes do metrô administradas exclusivamente pelo Governo do Estado. Nas estações que comercializavam alimentos, foi utilizado instrumento que caracterizou: os estabelecimentos; a disponibilidade de informação para o cliente e forma de apresentação dessa informação; a disponibilidade dos itens marcadores de alimentação saudável e não saudável; os preços, promoções e propagandas de alimentos comercializados. Para a compreensão das políticas, das normas e da regulamentação da presença de estabelecimentos, foi realizada uma busca de documentos com auxílio de um roteiro e, posteriormente, foi realizada uma entrevista individual semiestruturada com o Chefe do Departamento de Negócios da Companhia. Dessa forma, foi realizada análise descritiva do comércio de alimentos em relação às variáveis coletadas e foram calculadas as frequências relativas e absolutas, médias e medianas com auxílio do programa SPSS (IBM, New York, USA). Os documentos para a instalação de pontos comerciais foram organizados em forma de textos no Word (Microsoft Word 2010) e de planilhas no Excel devidamente identificados para serem compreendidos e analisados de acordo com os itens propostos no roteiro. A entrevista transcrita serviu para complementar as informações obtidas pela análise documental, partindo do referencial teórico da SAN. Resultados: Foi observada uma baixa disponibilidade de alimentos saudáveis em relação aos alimentos não saudáveis nos pontos comerciais encontrados, sendo que, aqueles que comercializavam alimentos saudáveis os apresentavam com pouca variedade e a preços não tão competitivos em relação aos alimentos não saudáveis. Além disso, a presença de estratégias de marketing de alimentos e bebidas não saudáveis e a ocultação de informações nutricionais também foram fatores considerados como um incentivo aos alimentos não condizentes a uma alimentação adequada e saudável. Na descrição dos documentos da Companhia, o Cadastro Municipal de Vigilância em Saúde é a única \"garantia de qualidade\" dos alimentos presentes nos pontos comerciais e não são mencionados os aspectos de SAN para a comercialização de alimentos nas estações. Considerações finais: A presente investigação pode despertar o interesse do poder público na formulação de intervenções, políticas públicas e regulamentação, que considerem a realização do direito humano à alimentação adequada como um objetivo central, aplicadas a esse contexto. Uma vez que, por se tratar de um equipamento que presta serviços à população, onde circulam milhões de pessoas todos os dias, e pela existência de políticas, ações e estratégias no Brasil e na cidade de São Paulo que buscam a garantia da SAN, esse deve promover ambientes saudáveis aos seus usuários. / The rhythm of urban life, given by the production process, invades the social life and ends up imposing to the metropolitan citizens some consumption behaviors. Regarding to the standardization of food consumption, it is noted that meals are increasingly frequent outside home, which contributes to the persistence of threats to the reach of Food and Nutrition Security (FNS), due to the high intake of unhealthy food. Objective: Characterize the food environment inside the subway stations of the city of Sao Paulo, in the point of view of FNS, including the food commercialization and the installation of food stores. Methods: This study was done in 19 stations distributed in the five existing subway lines administered exclusively by the State of Sao Paulo. In the stations where food was commercialized, an instrument was used to characterize: the stores; the availability of information for the customers and how this information is displayed; the availability of healthy and unhealthy food markers; the prices, sales promotions and advertisements of the commercialized food. In order to understand the policies, norms and regulation to the installation of these stores, a document search was done with the help of a script and, later, an individual semi-structured interview was made with the Business Department Chief of Metro. Thus, a descriptive analysis of the food commercialization was made in relation to the collected variables, also the relative and absolute frequencies, mean and median were calculated with the aid of the SPSS program (IBM, New York, USA). The documents for the installation of a set were arranged in text form in Word (Microsoft Word 2010) and in spreadsheets in Excel properly identified to be understood and analyzed according to the proposed items of the script. The transcribed interview was useful to complement the information obtained by the documental analysis, starting from the theoretical reference of the FNS. Results: It was noticed that there was a low availability of healthy foods in relation to unhealthy foods at the stores found, and those who sold healthy foods presented them with little variety and at prices not so competitive in relation of unhealthy foods. In addition to that, the presence of marketing strategies for unhealthy food and beverages and the concealment of nutritional information were also factors considered as an incentive for an unhealthy and not adequate food consumption. In the description of the Metro\'s documents, the Municipal Health Surveillance Register is the only \"quality assurance\" of the foods in the stores and the aspects of FNS are not mentioned for the commercialization of food in the stations. Final considerations: This investigation may arouse the interest of the public power in the formulation of interventions, public policies and regulation, which consider the human right to adequate food as a central objective, applied in this context. Since it is an equipment that provides services to the population, where millions of people circulate every day, and the existence of policies, actions and strategies in Brazil and in the city of Sao Paulo that seek for the guarantee of FNS, it should promote healthy environments for its users.

Esta pesquisa aborda a organização do abastecimento de gêneros alimentícios no bojo da transformação da cidade de São Paulo em metrópole industrial e da modernização do seu espaço urbano central, nas últimas décadas do Império e iniciais da República. Com esse objetivo, investigamos a criação da primeira Praça do Mercado na Rua 25 de Março e a transferência do Matadouro do bairro do Bexiga para a Vila Mariana. O estabelecimento de espaços institucionais para a produção e comércio de gêneros de primeira necessidade visava concentrar os segmentos comerciais do abastecimento com o propósito de retirá-los do triângulo central, bem como de aprimorar a fiscalização tributária e sanitária sobre esse setor. Por meio da utilização dos informes dos memorialistas, das atas da câmara e da imprensa diária da cidade, analisamos os conflitos suscitados pela organização do comércio de abastecimento, vinculado ao mercado e ao matadouro. E reconstituímos os movimentos coletivos e suas formas de protesto para viabilizar interesses econômicos e políticos dos vários segmentos comerciais dos armazéns de secos e molhados na cidade, dos locatários dos quartos do mercado, dos marchantes e açougueiros em conflito entre si e com os administradores públicos. O alinhamento político desses segmentos com os grupos em disputa na Câmara se mostrou relevante para a viabilização de demandas no setor. Os conflitos deflagrados pela intervenção e organização do comércio de abastecimento em São Paulo indicaram a existência de um campo de disputas entre interesses econômicos que envolviam diretamente os responsáveis por administrar a cidade. A pesquisa demonstra, também, o quanto a análise sobre o processo de modernização da cidade de São Paulo e de sua modernidade não pode passar ao largo das questões relativas à alimentação e ao abastecimento de gêneros de primeira necessidade. / This research discusses the food supply organization due to the transformation of São Paulo in an industrial metropolis and the modernization of its central urban area, in the last decades of the Brazilian Empire and the initials of the Republic. In order to fulfill this objective, we investigated the creation of the first public market square on the Vinte e Cinco de Março Street and the Slaughterhouse transfer from Bexiga`s neighborhood to Vila Mariana. The settlement of institutional spaces for both production and trade of the essential foodstuffs aimed to concentrate the traditional food supply merchants with the purpose of withdrawing them from the urban central area. In addition, this attempt to control the foodstuff supply was designed to improve sanitary conditions and tax collecting. The documentation survey includes memorialists reports, minutes of municipal chamber and the city press release. We analyze the conflicts raised from the food supply trade organization due to the changes established with the market creation and the slaughterhouse transfer. We reconstitute the collective movements of traditional merchants (grocery stores, the market square renters, cattle and meat dealers and butchers) and their rivalries among themselves and forms of protest against the changes in the food supply organization. The political alignment of the food trade traditional merchants with the groups in dispute at municipal chamber was relevant to promote their demands. In São Paulo, we found the existence of a field of contention among the economic interests that directly involved those responsible to manage the city. The research also demonstrate how much the analysis of São Paulo\'s urban modernization e and its modernity should not pass off questions concerned to the essential food supply chain.