As of today, there is a challenge amongst the elderly to get the energy they need. Malnutrition is a fact for too many and protein is one of the most common deficiencies among macronutrients in this age group. Another group, also in the need of extra energy and protein, are those with a higher level of physical activity. Aventure AB in Lund, Sweden, has earlier developed an “in between meal beverage”, based on oats, with high energy and protein content called “Skaka & Smaka”. This beverage has with promising results been distributed to selected hospitals in Sweden as a pilot-trial. As an expansion of this product, Aventure wanted to create an oat-based, energy dense stirred yogurt. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of addition of different protein sources to create an energy dense stirred yogurt with good texture and a balance of macronutrients. Four different types of protein sources were, separately or in combination, added to the original recipe of “Skaka & Smaka” (without added flavour), after which it was fermented and evaluated regarding sensory and physio-chemical properties. Three different fruit purée mixtures were added separately to the fermented oat-base in different proportions and evaluated by taste, color and flavour intensity. Salt concentration was adjusted and two final products were developed and evaluated through a sensory consumer test, at two different retirement homes in Hässleholm, Sweden. To measure the participants opinions a 9-point hedonic scale was used and attributes evaluated were first impression, color, taste, consistency, thickness, spoonability and total impression. All of the 11 individuals who participated were at the age of 75 and over, where of 2 were men and 9 were women. The proportions of added protein in the two final products were 10% casein and 90% whey. The two selected fruit purées, “skogen” and “havet”, were added in the concentration of 30%. The addition of salt was increased with 100%, resulting in a final concentration of 0.08 g per 100 grams. The sensory analysis revealed no statistical significance between any of the related attributes of the two yogurts. The attribute most important for general liking was taste, followed by texture and color.    Seven individuals (64%) said they could consume this kind of product a few times a week and all participants thought that there was a need for this kind of product. The two yogurts developed in this project, “skogen” and “havet”, and the concept behind them seem to have good potential for consumer liking, though further development of taste and texture is needed. / Som det ser ut idag så finns det en utmaning bland de äldre att få i sig den energi de behöver. Undernäring är ett faktum för allt för många och protein är en av de vanligaste bristerna bland makronäringsämnena inom denna åldersgrupp.    En annan grupp som också är i behov av extra energi och protein är de med en hög fysisk aktivitetsnivå. Aventure AB i Lund, Sverige, har tidigare utvecklat en mellanmåls dryck, baserad på havre, med ett högt energi- och proteininnehåll, kallad ”Skaka & Smaka”. Denna dryck har i ett pilot försök och med lovande resultat distribuerats till flertalet utvalda sjukhus i Sverige. Som en vidareutveckling av denna produkt ville Aventure skapa en havrebaserad, energität, rörd yoghurt. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka geomförbarheten i tillsättning av olika proteinkällor för att skapa en energität, rörd yoghurt med bra konsistens och en balans av makronäringsämnen. Fyra olika typer av proteinkällor tillsattes, separat eller i kombination, till originalreceptet för ”Skaka & Smaka” (utan tillsatt smak), vartefter blandningen fermenterades och utvärderades utifrån sensoriska och fysio-kemikaliska egenskaper. Tre olika fruktpurée blandningar tillsattes separat till den fermenterade havrebasen i olika proportioner och utvärderades utifrån smak, färg och smakintensitet. Saltkoncentrationen justerades och två slutliga produkter utvecklades och utvärderades genom ett sensoriskt konsumenttest, vid två olika äldreboenden i Hässleholm, Sverige. För att mäta deltagarnas åsikter användes en 9-punkt hedonisk skala och de attribut som utvärderades var första intryck, färg, smak, konsistens, tjockhet, skedbarhet och totalt intryck. Alla de 11 individer som deltog var av ålder 75 och över, varav två var män och nio var kvinnor. Proportionerna av tillsatt protein i de två slutliga produkterna var 10% kasein och 90% vassle. De två valda fruktpuréerna, ”skogen” och ”havet”, tillsattes i en koncentration på 30%. Tillsatsen av salt ökades med 100%, vilket resulterade i en slutlig koncentration på 0.08g per 100 gram. Den sensoriska analysen visade inte på någon statistisk signifikant skillnad mellan de relaterade attributen för de två olika yoghurtarna. Attributen som var av störst vikt för generellt tycke var smak, följt av konsistens och färg. Sju individer (64%) sa att de kunde konsumera en produkt som denna ett par gånger i veckan och alla deltagande tyckte att det fanns ett behov av en produkt som denna. De två yoghurtarna som utvecklades i detta projekt, ”skogen” och ”havet”, och det bakomliggande konceptet tycks ha god potential bland konsumenter, men vidare utveckling av smak och konsistens är nödvändigt.

Plant-based food has recently been a frequently addressed topic for scientific research, mainly because of its benefits for the environmental sustainability, human health and animal welfare. Nonetheless, there is limited research on how people maintain a plant-based diet, as well as research gaps on the topic in relation to media and communication studies. The purpose of this research is to provide new empirical data on how social media can inspire and/or influence a person to maintain a plant-based lifestyle. Using a qualitative method of in-depth interviews, the aim is to understand how content on social media motivates people to make sustainable movements in their real life. In other words, the research will provide insights on how a lifestyle can be upheld with the help of social media. As a theoretical basis for the study, the following theories have been applied: The uses and gratification theory, cultivation analysis theory and social cognitive theory. The findings suggest that social media is a useful tool for a person that wants to maintain a plant-based diet. Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are preferred online platforms for seeking and sharing information about the lifestyle and the most interesting contents for upholding a plant-based diet are food pictures, personal blogs and vlogs, documentaries about the environment and animal welfare, as well as product news and different discussions in virtual groups. The result also shows that people are most likely to change a behaviour after seeing content on social media that makes them emotional, in a positive or negative way.

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Background: The agro-food sector faces several sustainability challenges and is in clear need of transitions to become more sustainable. A transition in food production, consumption and supply chains that demand fewer resources and fewer animal products is required to attain sustainability in the agro-food sector. This transition can be done by consuming more plant-based food and providing an alternate option to animal protein by substituting it with plant protein. Purpose: This study aims to understand the technological innovation system shaping around the value chain of Swedish legumes. To investigate the above aim, this research intends to address the following questions: RQ1: How is the innovation system built up, and how do the functions of the innovation system perform around the value chain of Swedish legumes? RQ2: What are the barriers connected to the innovation system that hinders the development of the value chain of Swedish legumes? Method: The methodology used was a qualitative case study with an abductive approach. The data was collected from 8 semi-structured interviews and a literature review of relevant articles. The empirical findings were then analysed using a framework based on Technology Innovation System (TIS). Implications: This research study describes the structural causes that form functional barriers in the innovation system that hinders the development of a value chain for Swedish legumes. The findings of this study provides an excellent opportunity for government agencies and policymakers to guide plans and actions through policies to provide incentives for farmers and research projects in favour of a sustainable transition towards more plant-based food. Also, our study contributes to an understanding of sustainability transitions in the Swedish agro-food sector by analysing how the TIS functions perform around the value chain of Swedish legumes.

Malmö vill enligt sitt eget miljöprogram vara “Sveriges klimatsmartaste stad”. Alla livsmedel som köps in av kommunen ska vara ekologiska, och klimatgasutsläppen från maten ha minskat med 40% före utgången av 2020. Det ekologiska målet ser ut att kunna nås, men klimatgasutsläppen har endast gått ner med 15% i skrivande stund. Staden driver nu en ny satsning för att klara målsättningen. Denna undersökning granskar det förfarande som Malmö stads miljöförvaltning tagit fram och sätter det i relation till forskning om klimatkommunikation och beteendeförändring. Det är vanligt att utvärderingar av utbildningar fokuserar på deltagarnas attityd till utbildningen, istället för de beteendeförändringar som utbildningen uppmanar till. Genom gruppintervjuer med utbildare och projektdeltagare, samt innehållsanalys av utbildningsmaterialet söker undersökningen svar på frågan: leder miljöförvaltningens utbildning till ett förändrat beteende hos utbildningens målgrupp? Även om vi utifrån respondenterna kan konstatera att få konkreta förändringar hittills har skett i verksamheterna, har vi kunnat identifiera hinder, förbättringsåtgärder och kartlägga hur deltagarna på olika sätt förhåller sig till utbildningarna och till målet. Vi konstaterar att metoden för hur satsningen ska bedrivas inte använder sig av ett teoretiskt ramverk eller är konsekvent förankrad i vetenskap. Vi konstaterar att kommunen har en stark position för att verkliggöra miljövänligt beteende hos sina anställda, men att kommunen underutnyttjar potentialen. Konsekvenser och möjligheter diskuteras. / Malmö, according to its own environmental program, wants to be "Sweden's most climate friendly city". All food purchased from the municipality should be organic and the greenhouse gas emissions should decreased by 40% by the end of 2020. The ecological target seems to be achievable, but climate emissions have only fallen by 15% at the time of writing. The city is now running a new venture to meet the goals. This study examines the procedure developed by Malmö City Environmental Management in relation to research on climate communication and behavioral change.It is common for evaluations of education to focus on the attitudes of the participants, rather than the behavioral changes that the education encourages. Through group interviews with educators and project participants, as well as content analysis of the educational material, the survey seeks to answer the question: Does the management of the environmental administration lead to a change in behavior in the education target group?Even though, according to the respondents, few changes have taken place so far, we have been able to identify obstacles, improvement measures and map how the participants relate to the education and the goal in different ways. We note thatthe method of conducting the venture does not use a theoretical framework or is consistently rooted in science. We note that the municipality has a strong position to realize environmentally friendly behavior among its employees, but that the municipality underuses the potential. Consequences and opportunities is discussed.

Coccidiosis in chicken causes great economic losses. Increasing resistance of Eimeria species to anticoccidials has forced the search for alternative methods of control. The present study evaluates the anticoccidial activity of some anti-Eimeria tenella antibody fragments expressed in pea plants. Both in vitro and in vivo infection assays including indirect immunofluorescence, in vivo evaluation of antibody neutralization and cell culture invasion-inhibition assays were used to study the inhibitory effect of these antibody fragments on E. tenella sporozoites. Seven of nine antibody fragments (Ab1, Ab4, Ab5, Ab6, Ab7, Ab8 and Ab9) showed binding to sporozoites of E. tenella in an indirect immunofluorescence test. Only two antibodies (Ab4 and Ab5) cross reacted with sporozoites of E. maxima, E. acervulina and E. brunetti. The localization of specific fluorescence differed between species. Ab binding with sporozoites was seen in the area of both anterior and posterior refractile bodies in case of E. tenella, E. brunetti, and E. maxima but was only observed in the posterior refractile body in case of E. acervulina. No antibody binding was observed on merozoites. The suitability of antibody fragments to alter the infectivity of E. tenella sporozoites to Madin Darby Bovine Kidney cells (MDBK) was examined in vitro and the invasion-inhibition rates were quantified by flow cytometry. To assess the inhibitory effect on parasite reproduction, the in vivo antibody neutralization assay was done by retrograde infection of chicken with sporozoites previously incubated with antibody fragments. In vitro invasion rates were reduced by incubation with antibody fragments by approximately 24 to 45 %, with Ab6 and Ab7 showing the most distinct effect. However, proliferation rates (PR) of the respective MDBK cultures were also clearly reduced by 15 to 26 %. PR of MDBK cells treated with 1:1000, 1:100, 1:10 and undiluted mixed antibody fragments were reduced by 1%, 10%, 16%, and 26% with a reduction of invasion rates by 0%, 9%, 15% and 18%, respectively. Immune sera reduced the invasion rates by 16% to 70% and increased PR of the host cells. It appeared that the preparations of the antibody fragments contained compounds cytotoxic to MDBK cells and thus invasion inhibition could not be unequivocally evaluated in vitro. However, after incubation with antibody fragments sporozoites displayed a reduced ability to reproduce after intracloacal application to chicken (especially Ab1, Ab3, Ab5 and Ab9). Other antibody fragments (Ab2, Ab4, Ab6, Ab7 and Ab8) were less capable to reduce sporozoite infectivity and reproduction. More investigations are still required to study the possible use of antibody fragments and their application to infected chicken exposed to coccidiosis.

Individual food choices have a considerable impact on public health and the environment. The incidence of nutrition-related diseases has been continuously increasing during the last decades. Diets higher in plant-based foods have shown to be healthier and more environmentally sustainable.Many urban social innovation projects based on citizen engagement and community building are able to influence food consumption habits. However, there is a large variety of projects, which target specific population groups and focus on different sustainability issues. To understand how social innovation projects located in Germany, and especially Berlin, use citizen engagement and community creation to encourage nutritious and sustainable food choices, the research team conducted a qualitative research study consisting of semi-structured interviews and participant observations. The results were compared and validated using different social change, social innovation, network and leadership theories. When people with various backgrounds come together over a shared purpose and interact with each other, they can influence each other’s opinions and behaviors. A physical community setting was shown to be efficient to create awareness about sustainable and nutritious food choices. In order to include all population groups, citizens need to feel heard and understood, and have to be directly engaged in the decision-making process. A need for a leadership figure or a democratic leadership group is highlighted, and a combination of ‘transformational leadership’ and ‘authentic leadership’ styles proved to be the most effective. Urban food social innovation projects tend to cooperate with each other, as well as with other leaders and organizations, influencing them and serving as role models. These findings can help social innovation projects that implement citizen engagement and community building practices to efficiently promote nutritious and plant-based food choices among an urban population. Since this study is based on a limited number of organizations in Berlin and other regions of Germany, further research in other urban and/or rural environments is needed.

The urgent action needed to achieve the goals within the Paris Agreement and restrict the increase of global warming to 1,5 degrees calls for adaptation across the whole of society. One way to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is to enable a transition towards a sustainable food system, from meat products to more plant-based products including the consumption of more legumes. Legumes have many positive effects, both for arable land in terms of nitrogen fixation, as well as for people’s health in terms of high bioavailability. However, many plant-based alternatives currently on the market are multi-processed, resulting in low bioavailability and a high use of non-natural additives. The aim of this study is to shed light on what enables and hinders the transition towards a sustainable food system based on a more plant-based diet of Swedish-grown crops, including legumes. Furthermore, the purpose is to explore opportunities and challenges within strategy documents that affect the transition toward more sustainable food production. Two Swedish companies, both selling products labeled From Sweden, were interviewed to increase the understanding of opportunities and challenges for them to thrive in the existing meat-dominated market. The Swedish Board of Agriculture was interviewed to increase the understanding of the policy environment. This was complemented by a content analysis of two policy documents, the Swedish Food Strategy and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. The analysis of collected data showed that the development of legume-based, From Sweden products depends on both collaboration between actors in the value chain, and educating Swedish consumers. The findings also reveal that retailers play an important role when it comes to affecting the opportunities and challenges for a transition towards more plant-based diets. In light of this, the study concludes that education, retailers and collaboration are the most important factors at play when it comes to opportunities and challenges that enable or hinder the transition towards a more sustainable food system including more high-legume plant-based diets. Often, these factors can be seen as both opportunities and challenges. However, further research is needed to better understand how these factors fit into the wider policy environment, where more key authorities beyond the scope of this study are included.

The food industry is one of the main contributors to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. The greatest impact is caused by production of animal-sourced foods. To reduce the planetary burden, a dietary shift from animal-based to more plant-based foods is necessary. Policy interventions are tools to achieve such a shift. For policies to be successful, acceptability is a crucial component. Several variables such as age, gender, education level, and geographical residence have previously been identified as decisive for policy acceptability. The aim of the present research is to go beyond these findings and obtain a deeper understanding of acceptability of policy proposals for reduced consumption of animal-sourced foods. Qualitative interviews with Swedish citizens were conducted to investigate which factors influence high respective low policy acceptability. Results indicate that environmental concern, exposure to plant-based foods, perceptions of others’ views, and environmental norms are crucial factors shaping policy acceptability, as these mediate several other critical factors. The discussion pointed out beliefs about the sufficiency of plant-based foods and the necessity of meat, ideas about consumers of plant-based foods as radical, and perceived effectiveness and fairness of the policies to be entry points for increasing policy acceptability, as these beliefs are theoretically established to be susceptible to change. Insights from the research can be used for policy design and communication efforts. The study offers recommendations to communicate the sufficiency and healthiness of plant-based foods, to frame its consumers in a more inclusive and appealing way for meat and dairy consumers to identify with, and to expose the policy tradeoffs by contrasting them with the environmental cause. / Mistra Food Futures WP7

The current study sought to explore the effects of eating behaviors on mental health and the internalization of attitudes toward one's appearance. This was performed through a survey distributed through a global online market research firm, Dynata, and gathered 495 eligible participants. Of those, 78 represented the plant-based group, and 417 represented the non-plant-based group. Each completed the survey containing sections with the Mizes Anorectic Cognitions Scale (MACS) to assess if they were at low or high risk for having/developing an eating disorder, a section determining if participants were plant-based (defined as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meats, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods (Tuso et al., 2013)) or not, and asking what their perceived benefits were from their plant-based (or lack of plant-based) diet, a section on the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance (SATAQ-4), and finally, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS). The status of participants being plant-based or non-plant-based was analyzed as this study sought to explore past research that found plant-based diets to be physically and mentally beneficial (Beezhold et al., 2014; Benefits of Plant-Based Diets, 2021; Daneshzad et al., 2019). A series of statistical tests were conducted on SPSS 28 to analyze which groups (high risk for E.D. and plant-based, high risk for E.D. and non-plant-based, low risk for E.D. and plant-based, or low risk for E.D. and non-plant-based) were statistically significant compared to one another. The findings revealed the plant-based group to contain higher percentage of high risk for eating disorder participants. The plant-based group, regardless of high risk, was negatively associated with higher levels of scores on four out of the five sections including internalization of attitudes towards appearance, weight-based pressures from family, weight-based pressures from peers, and higher levels of reported depression, anxiety, and stress. Pressures felt from the media did not display a statistically significant level of difference between any of the high/low risk and plant-based to high/low risk and non-plant-based. The results were interpreted using social learning theory, which proposes that humans have evolved an advanced capacity for observational learning, enabling them to acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, emotional proclivities, and competencies through information conveyed by a rich variety of actual and symbolic models (Bandura, 2002). This allowed for cause and effects to be hypothesized for why the plant-based group was negatively associated with worse mental health and internalization of attitudes towards appearance. Among these hypothesized causes included participants adopting a plant-based diet due to its growing social media popularity, users learning from observation and leading to aquired knowledge, attitudes, values, and beliefs on the diet. Furthermore, those with an obsession of clean-eating could have led many high-risk for E.D. participants to fulfill their internalized thin-ideal and pressure from family and peers regarding appearance through this popular diet they have observed through social media, which would be consistent with previous studies (Holmgren, 2017; Stewart & Ogden, 2020). Limitations include the small sample size of plant-based dieters without equal representation of low to high risk for E.D.s, along with the limitation on not knowing the reasoning why each participant is plant-based (ethical, environmental, health, diet purposes, or due to social learning and popularity) nor for how long they have adhered to this lifestyle. Future research should expand this study to more locations, analyze for differences based on age groups, and build upon the current study to allow for more generalizability.