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The role of food packaging on children's diet: Insights for the design of comprehensive regulations to encourage healthier eating habits in childhood and beyond
Get PDFFood packaging design has become a key component of the marketing mix of companies to ensure the long-term success of their products, and to convey information that set apart their products from competitors. The aim of this review is to critically discuss the role of food packaging on children's diet. Food package design plays a key role in attracting children and parents' attention, shaping product associations, and influencing their purchase decisions. Packaging elements attracting children's attention and misleading health-related visual and textual cues may encourage children and their parents to choose energy-dense food products with excessive content of sugar, fat, and sodium. Results from this review suggest that comprehensive packaging regulations are necessary to protect children's health and encourage healthier eating habits from early years. Such regulations should go beyond products targeted at children, making informed decisions easier to encourage healthier choices, and including restrictions on the use of health-related cues on all products, as they ultimately influence the diet and the food available in the household.publishedVersio
Assessment of bulk composition of heterogeneous food matrices using Raman spectroscopy
Get PDFRaman spectroscopy (RS) has for decades been considered a promising tool for food analysis, but widespread adoption has been held back by, e.g., high instrument costs and sampling limitations regarding heterogeneous samples. The aim of the present study was to use wide area RS in conjunction with surface scanning to overcome the obstacle of heterogeneity. Four different food matrices were scanned (intact and homogenized pork and by-products from salmon and poultry processing) and the bulk chemical parameters such as fat and protein content were estimated using partial least squares regression (PLSR). The performance of PLSR models from RS was compared with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Good to excellent results were obtained with PLSR models from RS for estimation of fat content in all food matrices (coefficient of determination for cross-validation (R2CV) from 0.73 to 0.96 and root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) from 0.43% to 2.06%). Poor to very good PLSR models were obtained for estimation of protein content in salmon and poultry by-product using RS (R2CV from 0.56 to 0.92 and RMSECV from 0.85% to 0.94%). The performance of RS was similar to NIRS for all analyses. This work demonstrates the applicability of RS to analyze bulk composition in heterogeneous food matrices and paves way for future applications of RS in routine food analyses.publishedVersio
Microbiology and production hygiene in the fish meal industry
No full textRapporten gir en grunnleggende innføring i mikroorganismenes systematiske inndeling, reproduksjon og forhold til miljøfaktorer som temperatur, fuktighet og næringstilgang. De mest aktuelle patogene bakterier som kan forekomme i fiskemel er beskrevet med data om toleranser og krav. Den naturlige flora av mikroorganismer i fiskeråstoff er varmesensitiv og blir inaktivert i koker. Floraen i fiskemel har en annen sammensetning og stammer fra smittekilder i produksjonslinjen etter koker. Smittekildene er belegg med produktkontakt i maskiner og transportører. Smittemåte og aktuelle forebyggende tiltak er beskrevet. Rapporten oppsummerer mikrobiologiske krav til fiskemel, herunder regelbundne krav som er basis for godkjenning av ferdigvarepartier, retningslinjer og kundekrav. Rapporten beskriver prøvetaking og analyseprinsipper som benyttes ifm. mikrobiologiske undersøkelser. Virksomhetenes forskriftsmessige plikter ifm. mikrobiologi og produktsikkerhet er oppsummert og det er beskrevet metoder for dekontaminering av varer som ikke kan omsettes pga. hygienesvikt.The report provides a basic introduction to microbiology and production hygiene in fish meal factories, with emphasis on contamination routes and preventive measures. The intrinsic microbial flora of raw fish is heat sensitive and readily inactivated by thermal treatment in the cooker. The flora associated with finished fishmeal is markedly different and originates from contaminated product deposits or surfaces in the process machinery after the cooker. The report summarizes basic legal requirements related to hygiene and product safety in food and feed processing facilities. The report also describes methods used in microbiological examinations, and microbiological standards and guidelines applicable to fishmeal. Methods for large-scale decontamination of products and process machinery are briefly described.publishedVersio
Disintegration stability of extruded fish feed affects gastric functions in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
Get PDFIn the present study, two salmon feeds with different disintegration stabilities were produced by impacting extruder viscous heat dissipation with the use of different lipid levels in the feed mix. The feeds were then dried and coated to similar final lipid levels (30-31%) and nutritional composition. Both feeds were produced as 4 and 6-mm pellets. Feeds extruded with 20% lipid had a lower disintegration stability compared with those with 8% lipid. The feeds were used in two feeding studies using Atlantic salmon (Experiments 1 and 2) and an in vitro gastric study (Experiment 3). In Experiment 1, salmon postsmolts (370 g starting weight) fed the 4-mm pellets showed the fastest gastrointestinal (GI) passage rate when fed feeds with a lower disintegration stability. This was due to a faster transport of content from the stomach to the gut at 30 min and 1.5 h after a meal, and faster passage through the distal gut 9–24 h after a meal. The 6-mm pellets were used in a 100-day feeding study (Experiment 2) in which salmon fed high and low disintegration stability feeds grew from 572 to 1542 and 1604 g, respectively. There was a higher total feed intake in salmon fed diets with lower disintegration stability, but only tendencies towards higher growth and final body weight compared with salmon fed diets with a higher disintegration stability. The in vitro gastric experiment showed that pellets with a lower disintegration stability required a larger supply of stomach acid to maintain a stable pH of 4.5, which also gave a lower content viscosity. The in vitro study also showed an increased release of water-soluble components from these pellets and hydrolysis of larger peptides increased the pool of intermediate-sized peptides (4–6 kDa) available for easy transportation, hydrolyzation, and absorption in the proximal intestine. Although lower pellet disintegration stability increases feed intake. The GI passage rate combined with an increased GI filling can affect the ability to hydrolyze and absorb nutrients. This may explain why an increased feed intake did not result in increased growth in Experiment 2, despite observing no significant differences in nutrient digestibility or feed conversion ratio. Our results highlight the importance of the quality of extruded fish feed.publishedVersio
Crowding reshapes the mucosal but not the systemic response repertoires of Atlantic salmon to peracetic acid
Get PDFKnowledge of the impact of aquaculture chemotherapeutants on fish physiology is scarce. This is particularly relevant for peracetic acid (PAA), a widely used oxidative disinfectant in aquaculture. The chemical behaviour in water is well studied but knowledge about the physiological consequences for fish is limited. The present study investigated the transcriptomics, morphology, and physiology of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) responses to PAA and explored how crowding prior to exposure influenced these responses. Post-smolts were subjected to crowding by reducing the water volume thereby increasing the density for 1 h before they were exposed to 4.8 ppm PAA for 30 min. The exposed fish were allowed to recover for 2 weeks (w), with samplings carried out at 4 h and 2 w post-exposure (p.e.). There were four treatment groups in total: no crowding/control; no crowding/PAA; crowding/control; and crowding/PAA. The physiological changes were documented at the mucosal (i.e., skin and gills) and systemic (i.e., plasma) levels. The overall external welfare score was in good status in all experimental groups. The treatments did not dramatically affect the number of mucous cells in both the skin and the gills. Branchial histomorphology was in a fairly good condition, despite the increased occurrence of epithelial lifting in the crowded groups at 2 w p.e. The gill transcriptome was affected by crowding, PAA, and their combinations more than the skin, as manifested by the number of differentially expressed genes (DEG) in the former. In general, individual stimuli and their combinations elicited strong transcriptional responses in the gills at 4 h p.e. and a marked recovery was observed 2 w thereafter. Crowding altered the dynamics of transcriptional response to PAA especially at 4 h p.e. and the two mucosal tissues demonstrated a contrasting profile – a higher number of DEGs in the gills without crowding history, while higher skin DEGs were observed in the group subjected to crowding prior to exposure. Plasma metabolomics identified 639 compounds, and the metabolomic changes were affected mainly by crowding and sampling time, and not by PAA exposure. The results revealed the ability of salmon to mobilise physiological countermeasures to PAA exposure that were differentially influenced by crowding, and that such an effect was remarkably exhibited at the mucosa rather than in the circulating metabolome.submittedVersio
Suitability of FTIR to distinguish pure cultures of problematic mould species from closely related species in the meat industry
Get PDFAims: The aim of the study was to apply Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) as a rapid screening method for moulds in a specific food production environment (cured meat) and to evaluate whether the method was sufficiently accurate to distinguish Penicillium species that constitute a hazard for the food quality and safety (Penicillium solitum and Penicillium nordicum) from closely related species. Methods and Results: FTIR was applied to classify the indigenous mycobiota of two production sites for dried and cured meat products in Norway. Results showed that FTIR was suitable to analyse large amounts of data. While correct classification rates varied depending on the species, overall results indicated that FTIR was able to distinguish the undesired mould species P. solitum and P. nordicum from other species and may hence present an option for rapid screening of large numbers of samples to identify changes in mould composition on site. Conclusions: FTIR presents a potential method for detecting changes in levels of undesired fungi in meat-processing environments. Significance and Impact of the study: This is the first study that applies FTIR to a specific food production environment and it increases the knowledge on both possibilities and limitations of the method in classification of fungi.publishedVersio
What if consumers saw the bigger picture? Systems thinking and the adoption of bio-based consumer products
Get PDFSystems thinking (ST) represents an important cognitive paradigm for the transition towards a circular bio-economy, as greater awareness of the environmental impact of fossil-based products may lead to a switch to sustainable alternatives produced from secondary biomass which is not used as feed or food. However, the relationship between ST and the adoption of bio-based products, as well as the general mechanism of how ST affects environmental behavior, is not yet well-understood. The present study therefore aims to close these research gaps by conducting a survey-based experiment with a ST-motivated treatment, in which participants are asked to list as many consequences of their consumption behavior as possible (N=446 US consumers). Our findings suggest that the treatment is able to slightly activate a ST perspective, along with indirectly affecting consumer intentions to buy bio-based products by means of ST. Subsequent mediation analyses further reveal that an ecological worldview as well as variables from the norm-activation model function as mediators of the relationship between ST and purchase intention.publishedVersio
Effect of two constant light regimens on antibody profiles and immune gene expression in Atlantic salmon following vaccination and experimental challenge with salmonid alphavirus
Get PDFBefore seawater transfer, farmed Atlantic salmon are subjected to treatments that may affect the immune system and susceptibility to pathogens. E.g., exposure to constant light (CL) stimulates smoltification, which prepares salmon to life in sea water, but endocrine changes in this period are associated with suppression of immune genes. Salmon are vaccinated towards end of the freshwater period to safeguard that adequate vaccine efficacy is achieved by the time the fish is transferred to sea. In the present study, we investigated how the responses to vaccination and viral infection varied depending on the time of CL onset relative to vaccination. The salmon were either exposed to CL two weeks prior to vaccination (2-PRI) or exposed to CL at the time of vaccination (0-PRI). A cohabitant challenge with salmonid alphavirus, the causative agent of pancreatic disease, was performed 9 weeks post vaccination. The immunological effects of the different light manipulation were examined at 0- and 6-weeks post vaccination, and 6 weeks post challenge. Antibody levels in serum were measured using a serological bead-based multiplex panel as well as ELISA, and 92 immune genes in heart and spleen were measured using an integrated fluidic circuit-based qPCR array for multiple gene expression. The 2-PRI group showed a moderate transcript down-regulation of genes in the heart at the time of vaccination, which were restored 6 weeks after vaccination (WPV). Conversely, at 6WPV a down-regulation was seen for the 0-PRI fish. Moreover, the 2-PRI group had significantly higher levels of antibodies binding to three of the vaccine components at 6WPV, compared to 0-PRI. In response to SAV challenge, transcription of immune genes between 2-PRI and 0-PRI was markedly dissimilar in the heart and spleen of control fish, but no difference was found between vaccinated salmon from the two CL regimens. Thus, by using labor-saving high throughput detection methods, we demonstrated that light regimens affected antibody production and transcription of immune genes in non-vaccinated and virus challenged salmon, but the differences between the light treatment groups appeared eliminated by vaccination.publishedVersio
