Why have food crises seemingly become more frequent in recent years, compared to the last few decades? This book examines an array of different issues and distortions that are causing food supply chain dysfunction in many countries, particularly for staple non-perishable foods such as grains, oilseeds, pulses and sugar. It outlines the underlying changes that are currently occurring, which will have an influence on the direction of future food supply chains, and provides some solutions to current food security problems. Based on an analysis of total regulation in the 1950s-60s through to deregulation during the 1980-90s, as well as post-deregulation, it focuses on liberal trade and deregulation as a more successful solution to creating efficiencies in food supply chains and distribution. The author highlights a common thread of either farmers using government for vested-interest intervention, or autocratic governments seeking market and supply-chain power.

The book examines the role of government after 70 years of food supply chain intervention. It discusses the role of commercial trade markets and cluster industries and how these can quickly disintegrate when price distortions occur. The author studies both food importing and exporting countries and concludes that comingled commoditization of food has led to increased hoarding, corruption, and dependence on food aid. He argues that a competitive food supply chain that has minimum intervention is more likely to provide future food security. In conclusion the book emphasizes that adequate rewards, competition, and striving for supply chain efficiencies are the essences of sustainable food security.

Fifteen years have passed since the 3rd edition of Antimicrobials in Food was published. It was arguably considered the "must-have" reference for those needing information on chemical antimicrobials used in foods. In the years since the last edition, the food industry has undergone radical transformations because of changes on several fronts. Reported consumer demands for the use of "natural" and "clean-label" antimicrobials have increased significantly. The discovery of new foodborne pathogen niches and potentially hazardous foods, along with a critical need to reduce food spoilage waste, has increased the need for suitable antimicrobial compounds or systems. Novel natural antimicrobials continue to be discovered, and new research has been carried out on traditional compounds. These and other related issues led the editors to develop the 4th edition of Antimicrobials in Food. In the 4th edition, the editors have compiled contemporary topics with information synthesized from internationally recognized authorities in their fields. In addition to updated information, new chapters have been added in this latest release with content on the use of bacteriophages, lauric arginate ester, and various systems for antimicrobial encapsulation and delivery. Comprehensive revisions of landmark chapters in previous editions including naturally occurring antimicrobials from both animal and plant sources, methods for determining antimicrobial activity, new approaches to multifactorial food preservation or "hurdle technology," and mechanisms of action, resistance, and stress adaptation are included. Complementing these topics is new information on quantifying the capability of "clean" antimicrobials for food preservation when compared to traditional food preservatives and industry considerations when antimicrobials are evaluated for use in food manufacture. Features Covers all food antimicrobials, natural and synthetic, with the latest research on each type Contains 5,000+ references on every conceivable food antimicrobial Guides in the selection of appropriate additives for specific food products Includes innovations in antimicrobial delivery technologies and the use of multifactorial food preservation with antimicrobials

Food Chains: Quality, Safety and Efficiency in a Challenging World addresses the many issues facing European food producers and other food chain stakeholders, who endeavour to improve their competitive position in a highly competitive world food market.

The Food Chain is one of the main economic pillars in Europe, providing employment and opportunities for economic development in rural areas. It is therefore imperative to continuously monitor the changes that affect the sector, in order to allow stakeholders to respond promptly and effectively to the new market conditions. Adjusting to the new market involves new technology, globalization, demographic and social changes within a challenging market environment. In order to adopt these new market parameters, food chain stakeholders need to adapt their activities in order to gain in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Food Economics - Acta Agriculture Scandinavica, Section C.

'The School Food Revolution is an important book that deserves success.' Journal of Organic Systems 'A great new book that describes how 'the humble school meal' can be considered as 'a litmus test of... government's political commitment to sustainable development.' Peter Riggs, Director, Forum on Democracy & Trade 'The School Food Revolution should be an inspiration for policy makers and for school heads and school canteen operators.' Tom Vaclavik, President, Organic Retailers Association School food suddenly finds itself at the forefront of contemporary debates about healthy eating, social inclusion, ecological sustainability and local economic development. All around the world it is becoming clear - to experts, parents, educators, practitioners and policy-makers - that the school food service has the potential to deliver multiple dividends that would significantly advance the sustainable development agenda at global, national and local levels. Drawing on new empirical data collected in urban and rural areas of Europe, North America and Africa, this book offers a timely and original contribution to the school food debate by highlighting the potential of creative public procurement - the power of purchase. The book takes a critical look at the alleged benefits of school food reform, such as lower food miles, the creation of markets for local producers and new food education initiatives that empower consumers by nurturing their capacity to eat healthily. To assess the potential of these claims, the book compares a variety of sites involved in the school food revolution - from rural communities committed to the values of 'the local' to global cities such as London, New York and Rome that feed millions of ethnically diverse young people daily. The book also examines the UN's new school feeding programme - the Home Grown Programme - which sees nutritious food as an end in itself as well as a means to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Overall, the book examines the theory, policy and practice of public food provisioning, offering a comparative perspective on the design and delivery of sustainable school food systems. The cover illustration is by a Roman child. The authors would like to thank the City of Rome (Department for School and Educational Policies) for permission to reproduce it.

Producing and Consuming the Craft Beer Movement is an ethnographic analysis of the craft beer movement and its rapid development as an industry that articulated a different set of values: celebrating, quality, community, and good taste. This book will provide an excellent foundation for considering craft beer and an entrepreneurial practice that produces other forms of value beyond monetary value. The craft beer movement has been an important movement for thinking about contemporary consumer culture, and how that consumer culture might develop a very different set of values and priorities from those of the dominant consumer culture that is created by large-scale industries focused on the instrumental values of profit and efficiency. Located in one site, the ethnography is situated within the larger context of the rise of digital media, the evolution of cities, and the latest stage of the capitalist marketplace. The book is distinctive as it is ethnographic in its methodology. It is focused on one locale, the metropolitan area around Philadelphia. Philadelphia, along with Boston, Denver, San Diego, and a few other cities, was a central location for the early development of the craft beer industry. With its interdisciplinary approach, individuals with interests in digital and social media, consumer culture, political economy, ethnography, and contemporary cultural theory will find this an interesting case study of an important industry that developed from the homebrewing movement to become an important craft industry that is now a global phenomenon. This book is directed to a broad range of readers interested in new media, consumer culture, craft, and contemporary capitalist culture. The book embeds the local in the larger historical and political economic context. Readers would include faculty members in communication, media studies, cultural studies, sociology, and anthropology. Students at a graduate and upper level undergraduate level would be interested as well.

This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of how significantly food governance is changing at both the national and international levels. What is particularly noteworthy about this volume is how clearly and comprehensively it integrates the important public and private dimensions of food governance.' - David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, USThis book examines the changing landscape of food governance. Within this landscape, both public and private regulators increasingly encounter one another as markets have become more globalized. While these encounters may often be planned, long-term and lead to positive relationships and outcomes, they can also be accidental collisions that result in antagonistic relationships and crisis. Empirically, this book investigates these public and private encounters in food governance and the institutional challenges they raise. Importantly, it also explores the public policy responses to these issues at the national, supranational and transnational levels, and investigates new forms of private food regulation. Against this empirical backdrop, the contributors provide insights into broader analytical issues that have animated regulatory governance scholarship such as the legitimacy and effectiveness of public and private regulation, the distribution of power in regulatory arrangements, the interaction of layers and networks of regulation and regulatory responses to crisis. This comprehensive book will be of great value to those interested in gaining an interdisciplinary understanding of the empirical area of food governance and the analytical issues of regulatory governance. Contributors include: G. Abels, J.P. Burns, F. Casarosa, D. Casey, N. Collins, V.Constant LaForce, R. van Dalen, G. Enticott, E. Fagotto, D. Fuchs, M. Gobbato, J.-C. Gottwald, T. Havinga, A. Kalfagianni, A. Kobusch, R. Lee, J. Li, P. Oosterveer, H. van der Voort, F. van Waarden, X. Wang

In the tradition of Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma comes an “indispensable,” (New York Newsday) fascinating, and cutting-edge look from the author of The Magic Feather Effect at the scary truth about what really goes into our food.

If a piece of individually wrapped cheese can retain its shape, color, and texture for years, what does it say about the food we eat and feed to our children?

Former New York Times business reporter and mother Melanie Warner decided to explore that question when she observed the phenomenon of the indestructible cheese. She began an investigative journey that took her to research labs, university food science departments, and factories around the country. What she discovered provides a rare, eye-opening—and sometimes disturbing—account of what we’re really eating. Warner looks at how decades of food science have resulted in the cheapest, most abundant, most addictive, and most nutritionally inferior food in the world, and she uncovers startling evidence about the profound health implications of the packaged and fast foods that we eat on a daily basis.

Combining meticulous research, vivid writing, and cultural analysis, Warner blows the lid off the largely undocumented—and lightly regulated—world of chemically treated and processed foods and lays bare the potential price we may pay for consuming even so-called healthy foods.

The book examines contemporary food systems in Italy, paying particular attention to the landscape, innovative local practices and local cultural history. It illustrates the utility of the value chain concept in navigating the complexities of comparative advantage in an advanced market setting. It establishes the connection between the landscape and individual food practices, and how they have responded to the commodification of the agri-food system, maintaining a distinctive local character while ensuring development and a healthy diet. It explores how community gardens are now a consolidated part of Italian urban experience, as well as the multiple policy frameworks which govern these activities. The book then explores a wider range of food procurement channels, from food cooperatives to buying groups and institutional partnerships, including the strategies employed by large retail groups to respond to the growing environmental sensitivity of their customers. Multifunctional implications of antimafia activities involving social agriculture are also explored. Finally the book ends with a survey of European and domestic Italian policies aiming to protect and promote healthy food practices while preserving the integrity of the landscape. This is fascinating reading for anyone interested in quality food and the territory, as well as academic readers from such disparate disciplines as sociology, urban studies, anthropology, and Italian studies.

The world production of citrus fruit has risen enormously in the last few decades, leaping from forty-five million tons a year in the early 1970's to eighty-five million in the season of 1996-1997. More than thirty per cent of these fruits go into industrial production in which essential oils and juice are the principal products. The main applications of essential oils are as flavourings for alcohol, soft drinks, food, pharmaceutical products and as fragrances for cosmetics and beauty products. Today, the potential applications of these essential oils are growing wider because they are environmentally 'safer' than the petrochemical products they can sometimes replace.
This book offers comprehensive coverage on all aspects of the botany, cultivation, processing industry, chemistry and uses of Citrus and its oils. Anyone involved in food sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, cosmetics, pharmacy and plant sciences will no doubt find this volume to be of great value and interest.

eBook available with sample pages: 020321661X

The key to the success of a company is their ability to co-ordinate the key supply chain i.e their key suppliers and suppliers of suppliers. 'Food and Drink Supply Chain Management' looks specifically at the supply chain in the food and drink industry to provide readers with an understanding of the areas as it is now and its growing importance, and where it is going in the future.
'Food and Drink Supply Chain Management' is the first to take an in-depth view into the supply chain function in the hospitality and food retail sectors. Authored by a range of expert contributors the text looks at issues such as:
* New food processes and GM foods
* Volume catering and JIT (Just In Time) and Food Safety
* Relationships between companies and with stakeholders and responsibilities to these groups
* The internationalisation of the food chain
* The future of the food and drink supply chain and its management
Examples and case studies from large international retail and hospitality organizations are used, such as: Bass, Stakis (Hilton), and Tesco, amongst others, to illustrate good and bad practice.
First text to look specifically at supply chain management in this industry
International industry case studies from Bass, Stakis (Hilton) and Tesco
Contributions by experts from industry and academia

Cocoa & Chocolate, charts the economic consequences of the addition of chocolate to Western diets, and the consequent boom in cocoa sales, over 150 years. While the cocoa boom might have been expected to transform the economic conditions of the cocoa producers from rural poverty into prosperity, it somehow failed to achieve this.
This pioneering study examines all aspects of the history of cocoa and chocolate and the effect of these commodities globally. William Gervase Clarence-Smith looks at the effects of increased production of cocoa on the environment and on land distribution, at the coercion of labour to work the plantations, at the manufacture of chocolate, at taxation and at consumption.

eBook available with sample pages: 020346186X

Grain is one of the most important commodities shipped around the world and one of the most unpredictable markets to trade in. This publication combines an overview of the market, the problems of carriage by sea and the legislative environment. Analysis of grain production and consumption, trading characteristics, major producers and the role of shipbrokers is provided in the first part. The second part deals with the particulars of grain carriage by sea, discussing the types of ships used, surveys carried out, explanation of charterparty agreements, grain handling equipment at ports and onboard and arbitration which is taken a step further in the third part which deals with the legislation concerning grain carriage by sea. The book should be of value to shipowners, charterers, shipbrokers, commodity traders in grain, surveyors, port authorities, insurance companies and lawyers.

The world population is expected to increase exponentially within the next decade, which means that the food demand will increase and so will waste production. There is a need for effective food waste management as wasted food leads to overutilization of water and fossil fuels and increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the degradation of food. Global Initiatives for Waste Reduction and Cutting Food Loss explores methods for reducing waste and cutting food loss in order to help the environment and support local communities, as well as solve issues including that of land space. Covering topics that include food degradation, enzymes, and microorganisms, this publication is designed for policymakers, environmentalists, engineers, government officials, researchers, scientists, academicians, and students.

Food is a massive industry and the many key players involved have very different interests. In wealthy nations those interests can range from corporate survival and maintaining profitability in a market with limited demand, to promoting a healthy diet and ensuring food safety. For the poor, the emphasis is all too often on simply getting enough to eat. As information technology and biotechnology are set to revolutionize the food system, it is essential to understand the broad context in which the different actors operate, so that all the world's people can enjoy a safe, secure, sufficient and sustainable food supply. This text provides an overview of today's dominant food system - one developed in and controlled by northern industrialized countries, and one that is becoming increasingly globalized.

This book introduces critical mapping as a problem-focused design approach for analyzing systemic societal problems like food, to scope out existing solutions, and find opportunities for sustainable design intervention. This book puts forth a framework entitled 'wicked solutions' that can be applied to determine issues that designers should address to make real differences in the world and yield sustainable change. The book assesses the current role of design in attaining food security in a sustainable, equitable, and just manner. Accomplishing this goal is not simple, if it was, it would not be called a wicked problem. But this book shows how a particular repertoire of design tools can be deployed to find solutions and strategize the development of novel outcomes within a complex and interconnected terrain. To address the wicked problem of food insecurity, inequity, and injustice, this book highlights seventy three peer-reviewed design outcomes that epitomize sustainable food design. This includes local and regional sustainable design outcomes funded or supported by public or private institutions and local and widespread design outcomes created by citizens. In doing so, this book sets the stage for an evidence-driven and -informed design future that facilitates the designers' visualization of wicked solutions to complex social problems, such as food insecurity. Drawing on an array of case studies from across the world, from urban rooftop farms and community cookers to mobile apps and food design cards, this book provides vitally important information about existing sustainable food design outcomes in a way that is organized, accessible, and informative. This book will be of great interest to academics and professionals working in the field of design and sustainable food systems. Students interested in learning about food and sustainability from across design studies, food studies, innovation and entrepreneurship, urban studies and global development will also find this book of great use.

This groundbreaking book is the first to provide state-of-the-art information on the current changes and developments in European food and agricultural marketing. Food and Agribusiness Marketing in Europe contains broad and up-to-date coverage of agricultural and food marketing by experts in a variety of European countries including Germany, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Hungary. With chapters selected by the famous marketing specialist Matthew Meulenberg of The Netherlands, this enlightening book allows food and marketing professionals to gain new perspectives on the changing roles of food retailing and food industry in agricultural marketing and the structure of agriculture and food markets.This insightful book introduces readers to the common factors influencing European food marketing today including the stagnating volume of food demand, severe competition between suppliers of agricultural and food products, the overall shift in agricultural marketing towards more market-consumer orientation, and the resulting concern about product development, branding, and customer relationships. Major national differences in food and agricultural marketing in each country are also analyzed, in particular, the problems of implementing European Community legislation in the face of tremendous divergences among member countries in their needs, expectations, and priorities. Some of the other important topics covered in this in-depth book include: European food consumption and consumers food retailing in Europe the impact of the Common Agricultural policy and other government policies on agricultural marketing the conduct of agricultural marketing institutions and agribusinesses and their marketing performances agricultural and food marketing channels in European countries Food and Agribusiness Marketing in Europe is the first resource available that provides essential information on the tremendous changes in food and agricultural marketing in Europe. It is an invaluable reference on European marketing for students and teachers of agricultural marketing, European-oriented agribusiness managers, and internationally oriented agriculture policymakers who need to develop an understanding of food marketing developments in this area of the world.

Around the world, food has probably never been as safe as it is today. However, periodic crises have aroused consumer anxiety and contributed to a general lack of confidence in the agro-industrial system. The diverse nature of these crises increases governments' and industry difficulties in predicting and tackling them. This book addresses the relations between risk and food theoretically and empirically through case studies from Japan and China. Part I of the book examines the interaction between theoretical aspects and decision-making. The book theorizes the links between food and risk and analyses the decision-making process in light of risks and governance. The relationship between food risks, governance systems and economic decisions is assessed to explore ideas such as the "pact of nutrition" and the theory of weak signals. Part II examines case studies from China and Japan in the aftermaths of recent crises such as the milk powder scandal in China and food safety following the Fukushima nuclear accident and tsunami in Japan. This book will be an important resource for scholars, academics and policy-makers in the fields of sociology, economics, food studies, Chinese studies and Japanese studies and theories of risks and safety.

This collection breaks new ground by investigating applications of degrowth in a range of geographic, practical and theoretical contexts along the food chain. Degrowth challenges growth and advocates for everyday practices that limit socio-metabolic energy and material flows within planetary constraints. As such, the editors intend to map possibilities for food for degrowth to become established as a field of study. International contributors offer a range of examples and possibilities to develop more sustainable, localised, resilient and healthy food systems using degrowth principles of sufficiency, frugal abundance, security, autonomy and conviviality. Chapters are clustered in parts that critically examine food for degrowth in spheres of the household, collectives, networks, and narratives of broader activism and discourses. Themes include broadening and deepening concepts of care in food provisioning and social contexts; critically applying appropriate technologies; appreciating and integrating indigenous perspectives; challenging notions of 'waste', 'circular economies' and commodification; and addressing the ever-present impacts of market logic framed by growth. This book will be of greatest interest to students and scholars of critical food studies, sustainability studies, urban political ecology, geography, environmental studies such as environmental sociology, anthropology, ethnography, ecological economics and urban design and planning.