U.S. imports of fresh fruits and vegetables have increased sharply since the late 1980's. With increased imports come increased concerns that pests and diseases may infest shipments of fresh agricultural products. To address this concern, USDA's APHIS implements phytosanitary measures that mitigate pest and disease risks. These regulations vary from documentation requirements, inspection, or requiring that shipments receive a phytosanitary treatment. A growing body of literature attempts to assess the generic trade flow effects of SPS measures. Still, little evidence is available to shed light on the nature, size, and scope of SPS standards and their role as "trade barriers" versus "trade catalysts." This thesis fills the void in the literature in two respects. First, a novel database on phytosanitary measures pertaining to U.S. imports of 47 fresh fruit and vegetable products from 95 countries is developed for the period 1996-2007. This disaggregated approach allows for the effects of specific phytosanitary treatments to be identified. Second, following recent literature, the issue of "zeros" is addressed while estimating a gravity model of international trade. The findings suggest that phytosanitary treatments initially inhibit fresh fruit and vegetable imports. However, their trade reducing effects are uneven across product sectors, development status categories and treatment types. Finally, globally large exporters facing a treatment requirement ship more fresh fruits and vegetable relative to small exporters facing the same regulation, suggesting the role of SPS measures as "trade barriers" versus "trade catalysts" depends on the relative size of the exporter in the global market. / Master of Science

Problem: Food waste is a major issue from both an environmental as well as an economic perspective. In Europe alone, 90 million tons of food is wasted in the food supply chain every year. In order to reduce these excessive costs and the environmental impact, new food waste management strategies need to be developed and established. The food waste management strategies established in the retail stage are limited as the retail stage is an area of the food supply chain that has been neglected in research.   Purpose: This thesis explores the food waste management of fresh fruits and vegetables out of retailer´s perspective. In specific, it assesses the potential effects for Swedish supermarkets in which have established processes where non-sellable products are recycled through conversion in-house.   Method: This qualitative study has been performed through observational studies with semi-structured interviews to complement the observational findings. The empirical data is collected at Swedish supermarkets that have conversion processes established in their organization. The respondents were either store managers or managers for perishable goods. The data were analysed using the content analysis approach.   Findings: The results of our research reveal that conversion activities of fresh fruits and vegetables result in less food waste and positive economic outcomes. To create higher economic value of the food waste conversion, the conversion of fresh fruits and vegetables should be performed in combination with other product categories.

La present tesi doctoral es centra en l'aplicació dels bacteris de l'àcid lactic (BAL) com a agents bioprotectors davant microorganismes patògens i deteriorants.Es van aïllar i seleccionar BAL de fruites i hortalisses fresques i es van assajar in vitro davant 5 microorganismes fitopatògens i 5 patògens humans.Es van realitzar assajos d'eficàcia en pomes Golden Delicious amb tots els aïllats enfront les infeccions causades pel fong Penicillium expansum. La soca més eficaç era Weissella cibaria TM128, que reduïa el diàmetre de les infeccions en un 50%.Les soques seleccionades es van assajar enfront els patògens Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli i Listeria monocytogenes en enciams Iceberg i pomes Golden Delicious.Els BAL interferien eficientment amb el creixemet de S. typhimurium, and L. monocytogenes, però van mostrar poc efecte enfront E. coli.Finalment, es van realitzar assajos dosi-resposta amb les soques Leuconostoc mesenteroides CM135, CM160 and PM249 enfront L. monocytogenes. De totes les soques assajades, la soca CM160 va ser la més efectiva. / The present thesis focuses on the use of lactic acid bacteria as bioprotective cultures to inhibit pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms.Lactic acid bacteria were isolated and selected from fresh fruit and vegetables and tested in vitro against five plant pathogens and five human pathogen test bacteria.Efficacy trials with all the isolates were performed in Golden Delicious apples against the blue mould rot infections, caused by Penicillium expansum. The highest effectivity found in this assay was of about 50%, with strain Weissella cibaria TM128.Selected lactic acid bacteria were tested against Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes in Iceberg lettuce and Golden Delicious apples. Lactic acid bacteria interfered efficiently with the growth of S. typhimurium, and L. monocytogenes, but showed little effectivity over E. coli.Finally, dose-response assays were done with Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains CM135, CM160 and PM249 against L. monocytogenes.Among the three strains tested, strain CM160 showed the highest effectivity.

No description available.