Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Food Technology, 1952. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 22-23). / by Herbert David Brody. / Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Food Technology, 1952.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Social Work at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / For many poor people globally, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa, food security continues to be a challenge today. Ever rising poverty levels, an increase in the prevalence of the HIV/ AIDS pandemic, reduced rainfall accompanied by changing climatic patterns, environmental degradation, the complexities associated with urbanization, globalization as well as technology shift in the agricultural sector and capitalistic market economies all play a role in the food security crisis. This research has highlighted some of the factors that influence the food economy and related these to the household food security of poor rural dwellers. Achieving household food security for poor rural households requires an integrated approach in terms of poverty eradication as well as deliberate efforts with regards to food production and distribution within a framework of ecological integrity, with an aim of empowering the poor and ensuring that their household food security is guaranteed. The basic finding, and one which impacts directly on the household food security of residents of the Manguzi rural settlement, is that the majority of them consisted largely of households that depended on casual employment, and were therefore classified as poor. However, as a survival mechanism, some households with experience in agriculture from rural areas have resorted to home gardens, as well as initiated group gardens.

Dissertation submitted in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Development Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / The aim of this study was to explore how food security at household level is affected by lack of infrastructural and institutional services. This study particularly looks at how these constraints affect access to food and assess the availability institutional services such as the availability of extension services in Ntambanana. The study recommends that improved rural infrastructure and support services sustains food security as well as contributes to the improvement in the living conditions of rural households. The availability of infrastructure and institutional support in rural areas regarded as means of rural development which eliminate problems of access to food and other services. The study concluded that lack of infrastructural services such as poor storage facilities, roads, irrigation system and transport facilities that creates food insecurity in Ntambanana. The general findings of the study reveal that assessment and evaluation of policies that are based on rural development and food security is very important. These include improving communication amongst various stakeholders, creating an enabling environment for local businesses, ensuring the availability of facilities such as storage, communication and transport facilities. This study concludes that the cost effective ways to improve access to food is to assist local small scale businesses to earn cash through creating market for them and invest in infrastructure that lead to improving food security. The results reflect that socio – economic conditions play an important role in accessing food by looking the level of purchasing power in the community.

A study was conducted to analyze reproductive data gathered over a ten-year period at the Utah State University Dairy Farm. The study utilized 289 complete first lactations of Holstein cows, including 150 daughters of 10 sires in Trial I and 139 daughters of 8 sires in Trial II. One sire was used in both trials; this was sire 4 in Trial I and sire 18 in Trial II. The study measured ration, season, and sire effects and their interactions on the reproductive performances of dairy cows. Reproductive traits analyzed were: days from calving to first estrus, days from calving to first breeding, days from first breeding to pregnancy, days open, number of services per pregnancy, pregnancy rate, calving interval, number of estrous cycles to first breeding, and number of estrous cycles to pregnancy. Sire effect examined the effect of predicted difference for milk (PDM) of sires on reproductive performances of their daughters. There was 1352- kg PDM difference between lowest and highest sire. There was no sire effect among North American sires, but daughters of one sire from New Zealand had significantly lower reproductive performance. Reproductive performance of daughters was not related to PDM of sire. Ration affected calving interval in the comparison of all four rations. But more data is needed to verify this because only one sire had daughters on all rations. Effect of season of calving on days open and days from first breeding to pregnancy is also very questionable because of small numbers of daughters in some seasons. Ration by season interaction affected days open, services per pregnancy and pregnancy rate. The high energy ration enhanced reproduction in cold season and low energy was more beneficial in cows calving in hot season. There was no sire by ration interaction effect.

The selection of milk has for many years been based upon the use of bacteriological tests such as the standard plate count, methylene blue, and resazurin tests. Such tests demoted the numbers of bacteria in milk and thus were well accepted as a close correlation of sanitary practices on the farm. However, improvements in equipment, cleaning procedures, sanitizers and handling methods have greatly improved milk quality over the past decade. The farm bulk tank is a much more efficient system of cooling use in many areas. However, its very efficiency in cooling milk poses many new problems for those engaged in the selection of milk. Since the low storage temperatures associated with bulk tanks practically eliminate growth as a cause of high bacterial count, milk producers may neglect various sanitary precautions and still meet current bacterial-count standards. Thus, since efficient cooling can mask faulty production practices, the results of the standard plate count, methylene blue, and resazurin tests as currently conducted non longer portray the true quality of milk supply because they are a measure of number rather than types of bacteria.

A total of 33 common fruit juices and drinks representing 15 different fruits were analyzed for ascorbic acid content by a slight modification of the method of Loeffler and Ponting (1942). The juices ranged from 0.96 to 50.88 mg per 100 ml. The drinks ranged from 2.12 to 66.10 mg. All the citrus juices ranked high in ascorbic acid content. One drink was fortified with sufficient ascorbic acid to contain considerably more vitamin than was found in pure orange juice. The ascorbic acid values of different forms of orange drinks and pure orange juices were compared. Except for one brand, all of the fortified orange drinks contained less ascorbic acid than the pure orange juice. Most of these drinks contained medium levels of the vitamin, 16 to 24 mg. One orange drink in cartons and one frozen orange drink had extremely low levels, 3 and 1 mg, respectively. Reconstituted frozen orange juice retained 99 per cent after 24 hours of refrigerated storage at 40 F and 96 per cent after six days storage. The method of mixing during reconstituting frozen orange juice had no effect on ascorbic acid content. Results were the same for all three methods. It is recommended that all consumers read the labels before purchasing fruit juices and drinks when the products are to be used as a source of ascorbic acid in the diet.

The relative sweetness, flavor, texture and overall acceptance of sucrose and fructose was determined at various sugar levels in sugar cookies, white cake, vanilla pudding and lemonade. Because of the reported increased sweetness of fructose and its increased tolerance in individuals with diabetes mellitus, the study was designed to investigate the possibility of fructose as an alternative sweetener. Taste panel members were used to evaluate the products. All products were served in duplicate and only data from those judges who had sampled both replications were used for the statistical analysis. Each product was prepared at 100%, 50% and 25% of the specified recipe quantity, using three different sugars: sucrose, fructose equal to sucrose by weight and fructose equal to sucrose by volume. A second objective of this study was to determine if quantities less than suggested in traditional recipes for either sugar could be used without damaging product acceptability. The results of this study indicated that sucrose was both preferred and considered sweeter than fructose in sugar cookies, however; the reverse held true in lemonade. Based on the results of this study the author does not recommend that individuals substitute fructose for sucrose. In addition to panels comparing sucrose and fructose in baked products, the difference in diabetic and non diabetic taste sensitivity was also evaluated. Detection and recognition thresholds were determined for diabetic and non diabetic youth (19-15 yrs.) and adults (16 yrs. and older) for sweet, sour, salty and bitter taste stimuli. Diabetics showed a lower sensitivity, especially in older individuals, with the exception of sour stimuli. As previously reported, detection thresholds were lower than recognition thresholds. The youth groups were better able to detect the presence of stimuli at lower levels than the adult groups, however, they were not as good at recognizing the stimuli.

The effect of breed, backfat thickness, and methods of cooking on quality of beef roasts was determined by sensory and objective methods. Arm and rib roasts from Hereford, Shorthorn, Charolais, and Shorthorn-Charolais animals were cooked by several methods. Roasts of the ninth to twelfth ribs were all dry roasted at 325 Farenheit. Boned and unboned roasts (sixth to eighth ribs) were cooked by conventional and electronic methods. Only significant results are reported herein. Objective tests using the Warner-Bratzler shear indicated roasts of Shorthorn animals to be the most tender of the four breeds. Sensory analysis by an experienced panel of judges rated roasts of Hereford and Shorthorn to be most tender, juicy, and flavorful. Conventional methods of cooking resulted in higher quality beef than did electronic cooking. Greater total losses, less juiciness, less flavor, and less tenderness were recorded for meat cooked by microwave activity. There was a high correlation between objective and sensory measurements for tenderness and juiciness. Age of animal and shear values showed high correlation with the younger animals (11 months) in this study being less tender. Flavor was shown to be related to backfat thickness.

At the present time the Swiss cheese making process is a prolonged one requiring several operations and considerable space. The cheese is made in wheels weighing approximately 200 pounds and is covered by a thick rind. There is considerable waste in cutting these large wheels to fit the present merchandising methods. The first reason for this problem was to attempt to reduce handling by adapting the manufacture of Swiss cheese to a cheddar procedure, and at the same time reduce waste by ripening the cheese in loaves of various sizes. If this were possible there would be a considerable reduction of labor and handling in the manufacturing of Swiss cheese, especially during the eye formation period. The second phase of this problem deals with the use of hydrogen peroxide treated milk in the production of Swiss cheese in comparison with raw and pasteurized milk. Investigators have applied this treatment to market milk and cheddar cheese making with some success. The bacterial kill (35) (26) (33) with little affect upon the enzymes present indicated that it may be an excellent treatment in the making of Swiss cheese. Lane (21) analyzing Swiss cheese for 13 factories in Northwestern Wisconsin for a period of thirteen months, found that 73 per cent of the cheese was either A, B, or C grade. The other 27 per cent was open Standard or Standard. This meant that of these 13 factories, 27 per cent of the cheese was of inferior grade, selling at a much reduced price. If hydrogen peroxide could be used to improve the general quality of Swiss cheese, it would prove to be another tool for the industry. This, with the adoption of an easier make procedure using cheddar cheese facilities, was the underlying thought which provoked this problem.

Various temperatures and concentrations of the hydrogen peroxide catalase treatment of milk were studied in an attempt to discover the optimum temperature and concentration that would destroy unfavorable organisms and yet allow favorable ones to grow. The Federal Food and Drug Administration in their November, 1959, Definitions and Standards of Cheeses and Cheese Products states that "the amount of the hydrogen peroxide solution used shall be such that the weight of the hydrogen peroxide added thereby does not exceed 0.05 percent of the weight of the milk treated." Within the maximum level allowed, it was found that in day old manufacturing milk treated with 0.05 percent peroxide for 10 minutes at either 32 C or 49 C, more than 64 percent of all microorganisms present were destroyed. Coliform organisms were very sensitive to peroxide, exhibiting a 92 percent kill at 32 C, and a 100 percent kill at 49 C. Lactic acid producing organisms were next in sensitivity to bacterial destruction, showing an 80 and 83 percent kill respectively for the same temperatures. Spore-forming organisms showed a 42 and 73 percent kill respectively at the above temperatures, but due to the refractory nature of spores to peroxide, the difference was not significant (p .05). In addition to the foregoing, related studies were conducted on the hydrogen peroxide treatment of milk without the addition of catalase. Storage milk was treated over night at 4 C for 16 hours with two peroxide concentrations, 0.025 and 0.05 percent. At the lower concentration the kill was not satisfactory, while at the higher concentration 50 percent of the spore-formers and 99 percent of the coliforms were killed. There was, however, a peroxide residue which would have to be eliminated to meet Federal Food and Drug Administration standards.