Does Green Food Certification promote agri-food export quality?Evidence from China

The construction of a food certification system plays a vital role in upgrading export quality, which previous studies have largely overlooked. We match China's industry-level data of Green Food Certification with its HS6-digit export data of agri-food products to quantify the impact of Green Food Certification on export quality. We identify the significant and positive effect of Green Food Certification on export quality. The 2SLS estimation based on instrumental variables and a range of robustness checks confirm the validity and robustness of the benchmark conclusions. Further analysis discloses that Green Food Certification improves export quality by raising agricultural production efficiency and brand premiums. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of Green Food Certification varies across regions, notably improving the quality of agri-food products exported to developed regions and regions with high levels of import supervision. Furthermore, among various product types, Green Food Certification significantly improves the export quality of primary products and products vulnerable to non-tariff measures. The above findings could guide the future development of agri-food quality certification systems, potentially leading to a transformation and promotion of the agri-food trade.

Cookie Baking Process Optimization and Quality Analysis Based on Food 3D Printing

In order to obtain better quality cookies, food 3D printing technology was employed to prepare cookies. The texture, color, deformation, moisture content, and temperature of the cookie as evaluation indicators, the influences of baking process parameters, such as baking time, surface heating temperature and bottom heating temperature, on the quality of the cookie were studied to optimize the baking process parameters. The results showed that the baking process parameters had obvious effects on the texture, color, deformation, moisture content, and temperature of the cookie. All of the roasting surface heating temperature, bottom heating temperature and baking time had positive influences on the hardness, crunchiness, crispiness, and the total color difference(ΔE) of the cookie. When the heating temperatures of the surfac and bottom increased, the diameter and thickness deformation rate of the cookie increased. However,with the extension of baking time, the diameter and thickness deformation rate of the cookie first increased and then decreased. With the surface heating temperature of 180 ℃, the bottom heating temperature of 150 ℃, and baking time of 15 min, the cookie was crisp and moderate with moderate deformation and uniform color. There was no burnt phenomenon with the desired quality. Research results provided a theoretical basis for cookie manufactory based on food 3D printing technology.

Teaching Status and Teaching Reform Ideas of Physical Chemistry Experiments for Food Quality and Safety Major

Physical chemistry experiments are an important branch of chemical experiments.In view of problems and shortcomings in physical chemistry experiment teaching of food quality and safety major in Chengdu University,the teaching methods of physical chemistry experiment course of food quality and safety major were explored and practiced,aiming to arouse students enthusiasm for experiments and cultivate their ability of independent learning,comprehensive thinking and independent problem solving.

Wild Nutrition’s Food-Grown® Magnesium Supplementation Increases Sleep Quality and Sleep Duration and Reduces Stress in a Healthy Adult Population: A Double-Blind, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Study

Background: Magnesium, an essential mineral crucial for various bodily functions, has been shown to positively influence sleep patterns. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Food-Grown® magnesium in enhancing sleep quality and duration, as well as overall well-being. Methods: Eighty participants were randomly assigned to receive either 80 mg of Food-Grown® magnesium or a placebo (microcrystalline cellulose) daily for 8 weeks. Participants completed questionnaires assessing sleep quality, daytime drowsiness, quality of life, anxiety, and stress levels. Additionally, participants maintained daily sleep diaries and wore wrist-worn actigraphy devices. The primary outcome measured was the change in sleep quality and duration. Results: Seventy-one participants fulfilled all study requirements (35 in the active group and 36 in the placebo group). Magnesium supplementation significantly improved reported sleep quality, with the active group showing a 32% increase compared to 16% in the placebo group (p = 0.034). Moreover, magnesium supplementation led to a decrease in reported stress scores at week 8 compared to the placebo group (3.7 ± 2.6 vs. 5.5 ± 3.1, respectively). Both the magnesium and placebo groups exhibited significant increases in reported sleep duration and reductions in time to fall asleep, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, sleep medication usage, and total Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score at week 8 compared to baseline. Conclusion: Magnesium supplementation notably enhanced sleep quality and reduced stress levels compared to the placebo group. These findings highlight the potential of magnesium as a beneficial supplement for improving sleep quality and overall well-being.

Water quality, agriculture and food safety in China:Current situation, trends, interdependencies, and management

Water quality in China is becoming a severe challenge for agriculture and food safety, and it might also impact health of population via agriculture and food. Thus, it is causing widespread concern. Based on extensive literatures review and data mining, current situation of water pollution in China and its effects on food safety were analyzed. The 2nd National Water Resource Survey in China show that the surface water all over the country was under slight pollution and about 60% of groundwater is polluted. Drinking water quality is basically guaranteed in urban area but it is worrisome in rural areas. In addition, China is the largest consumer of fertilizer and pesticide in the world and the amounts of application still show increasing trends. Fertilizers and pesticides are the most important sources of pollution, which affect human health as persistent organic pollutants and environmental endocrine disruptors. Eutrophication of surface water and nitrate pollution of groundwater are serious threats to drinking water safety. Sewage irrigation is becoming a pollution source to China＇s water and land because of lacking of effective regulations. Although, with the advance in technology and management level, control of nitrogen and phosphorus emissions and reducing water pollution is still a major challenge for China.

Resveratrol combats chronic diseases through enhancing mitochondrial quality

Resveratrol(RSV),as a functional food component extracted from natural plants,has been widely studied and recognized in preventing and treating various diseases,with major mechanisms including executing anti-inflammation and anti-oxidation functions,and improving mitochondrial quality.Chronic diseases as non-communicable diseases are mainly caused by multiple factors,such as physiological decline and dysfunction in the body,and have become a significant challenge on public health worldwide.It is worth noting that chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease(AD),Parkinson's disease(PD),muscle atrophy,cardiovascular disease,obesity,and cancer are accompanied by abnormal mitochondrial function.Therefore,targeted regulation of mitochondria may be a meaningful way to prevent and treat chronic diseases.Increasing evidence has confirmed that RSV is actively involved in regulating mitochondria,and it has become an essential consideration to prevent and treat chronic diseases through targeting mitochondria and improving corresponding functions.In this article,current studies on RSV to optimize mitochondrial quality for preventing and alleviating chronic disease are systematically summarized,which can provide a theoretical reference for the development of functional foods or drugs to combat chronic diseases.

The meat of the matter: plant-based meat analogue versus traditional meat product nutritional quality

Plant-based meat analogues(PBMA)are formulated to mimic the sensory characteristics of traditional meat products(TMP)using vegetarian ingredients and are increasingly popular with the trend towards plantbased diets,even among meat-eating consumers.This narrative review compared the nutritional quality of PBMA and TMP to broaden the discussion on the suitability of simulated meat products to substitute TMP,while exploring other attributes for their comparison.The complexity of PBMA and TMP means they are not entirely interchangeable.Importantly,PBMA health effects extend beyond their basic nutrient content and quality.Postprandial metabolism and satiety,for example,can be affected by product formulation,ingredient interactions,and thermomechanical processing involved in producing organoleptically acceptable PBMA.There are specific opportunities for low-sodium PBMA products to contribute to a healthy shift toward plantbased diets.In conclusion,PBMA cannot be assumed to be healthier than TMP.They should be designed with comprehensive consideration of composition and processing to ensure they support consumers who are adopting plant-based diets in realizing the theoretical health benefits.

农业种植智能体(Agri-agent)的构建与应用展望

在农业领域中,由于生产环境、生产能力和生产目标多种多样,如何有效管理这种多样性成为农业智能化和现代化的关键。种植智能体以其系统性、自治性和具身性等特征,可成为农业实现系统化、智能化和现代化的可行方案。本研究对农业中智能体技术的发展进行分析,提出了种植智能体的概念框架,有助于更好地定位智慧农业的应用方向。本研究围绕智能体的内涵形态、技术架构和业态趋向3个方面展开研究,初步建立了智慧农业种植智能体的系统框架。该框架包括种植智能体的定义、特性、架构、关键技术,并对未来发展方向进行初步探讨。该方法旨在为智慧农业种植智能体的进一步研究奠定基础,提出切实可行的解决方案,最终建立信息化、智能化的智慧农业种植体系。在数字技术与农业深度融合的背景下,种植智能体框架及应用解决方案在保障农产品供给、提升农业抗风险能力方面将发挥重要的作用,为农业的智能化、可持续发展注入新的活力。

Quality Management Research on the Purchasing of Food Processing Enterprises

In order to improve the purchased goods quality management level of food processing enterprises, the causes of quality management problems were ana- lyzed, which were classified into four categories, namely, natural toxins in raw ma- terials, quality problems in planting and breeding, quality problems in transportation, quality problems in delivery acceptance. Then, based on the causes, eight measures to improve goods purchasing management were put forward, and graphs were used to illustrate the corresponding countermeasure to each cause. This study is of theo- retical significance for the food processing enterprises to improve the quality man- agement of purchased goods through formulating improvement measures based on their operating states.

FY-4A/AGRI海表温度产品和质量检验

风云四号气象卫星A星(FY-4A)是我国第2代静止气象卫星首发星,搭载的先进静止轨道辐射成像仪AGRI是迄今为止我国静止轨道最先进的辐射成像仪。海表温度产品是FY-4A/AGRI基础定量产品之一,采用非线性海表温度算法在业务系统实时反演得到。以现场实测海表温度数据为参考,选择观测时间为30 min、观测空间距离为4 km的时空匹配窗口,对FY-4A/AGRI海表温度产品进行质量检验,评估结果表明:质量为优的像元平均偏差为-0.45~-0.42℃,标准差为0.81~0.88℃,相关系数在0.985以上。以Himawari-8/AHI海表温度数据为参考,按观测时间为1 h、空间距离为4 km的时空匹配窗口,对FY-4A/AGRI海表温度进行质量检验,质量为优的像元平均偏差为-0.26~-0.07℃,标准差为0.68~0.82℃,两者相关系数在0.985以上,达到0.001显著性水平。

Bioactive Amines: Aspects of Quality and Safety in Food

Presented in several types of food, bioactive amines are described as organic bases of low molecular weight. They have vasoactive, psychoactive and toxicological characteristics and constitute a potential health risk. The concentration of amines formed in foods depends on the type of microorganisms present, the action of decarboxylase enzymes produced by microorganisms on specific amino acids and favorable conditions for enzymatic activity. The presence of these chemical metabolites has been suggested as a quality indicator in routine analyzes for food production and marketing monitoring. The detection of bioactive amines can be performed by chromatographic methods, fluorometric and enzymatic kits. Bioactive amine formation can be prevented mainly through the adoption of good manufacturing practices, but the industry can also use other methods such as temperature control in the production chain, modified atmosphere packaging and food irradiation. This review aims to address the formation of bioactive amines in foods, emphasizing the formation and classification of these metabolites, aspects related to health, acceptable limits, detection methods and control methods used in the industry to ensure food safety and quality. The success of this approach is linked to the importance of bioactive amines as quality indicators, as well as the discussion on the development of methodologies for determining these substances and discussion of acceptable parameters in food.

Food groups, diet quality and colorectal cancer risk in the Basque Country

BACKGROUND The results obtained to date concerning food groups,diet quality and colorectal cancer(CRC)risk vary according to criteria used and the study populations.AIM To study the relationships between food groups,diet quality and CRC risk,in an adult population of the Basque Country(North of Spain).METHODS This observational study included 308 patients diagnosed with CRC and 308 ageand sex-matched subjects as controls.During recruitment,dietary,anthropometric,lifestyle,socioeconomic,demographic and health status information was collected.Adherence to the dietary recommendations was evaluated utilizing the Healthy Eating Index for the Spanish Diet and the MedDietScore.Conditional logistic regressions were used to evaluate the associations of food group intakes,diet quality scores,categorized in tertiles,with CRC risk.RESULTS The adjusted models for potential confounding factors showed a direct association between milk and dairy products consumption,in particular high-fat cheeses[odds ratio(OR)third tertile vs first tertile=1.87,95%confidence intervals(CI):1.11-3.16],and CRC risk.While the consumption of fiber-containing foods,especially whole grains(OR third tertile vs first tertile=0.62,95%CI:0.39-0.98),and fatty fish(OR third tertile vs first tertile=0.53,95%CI:0.27-0.99)was associated with a lower risk for CRC.Moreover,higher MD adherence was associated with a reduced CRC risk in adjusted models(OR third tertile vs first tertile=0.40,95%CI:0.20-0.80).CONCLUSION Direct associations were found for high-fat cheese,whereas an inverse relation was reported for fiber-containing foods and fatty fish,as well as adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern.

Consumers＇ Perceptions about Food Quality Attributes and Their Incidence in Argentinean Organic Choices

The objective of this paper is to analyze consumers＇ perceptions about risk and quality attributes of food consumption; and to evaluate the incidence of these factors when buying organic products in the Argentinean domestic market. Data derives from a food consumption survey on organic and non-organic consumers conducted in Buenos Aires City, Argentina, in April 2005.The Lancaster model （1966） provided the theoretical basis. The results yielded by the estimated logistic model suggest that consumers with higher educational level, who eat healthy food, and consider food control organisms as ＂inefficient＂ are more likely to buy organic products. A high percentage of consumers read and trust label information in Argentina. This has interesting policy implications to promote differentiated and high value products, and to reduce information asymmetries.

Artificial senses for characterization of food quality

Food quality is of primary concern in the food industry and to the consumer. Systems that mimic human senses have been developed and applied to the characterization of food quality. The five primary senses are: vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. In the characterization of food quality, people assess the samples sensorially and differentiate “good”from “bad”on a continuum. However, the human sensory system is subjective, with mental and physical inconsistencies, and needs time to work. Artificial senses such as machine vision, the electronic ear, electronic nose, electronic tongue, artificial mouth and even artificial the head have been developed that mimic the human senses. These artificial senses are coordinated individually or collectively by a pat- tern recognition technique, typically artificial neural networks, which have been developed based on studies of the mechanism of the human brain. Such a structure has been used to formulate methods for rapid characterization of food quality. This research presents and discusses individual artificial sensing systems. With the concept of multi-sensor data fusion these sensor systems can work collectively in some way. Two such fused systems, artificial mouth and artificial head, are described and discussed. It indicates that each of the individual systems has their own artificially sensing ability to differentiate food samples. It further indicates that with a more complete mimic of human intelligence the fused systems are more powerful than the individual sys- tems in differentiation of food samples.

Network Management of Food Additives Quality Analysis and Inspection

In this paper, on the basis of the implementation of the national chemical industry standard analytical test methods and analysis of test items, a food additive quality analysis and inspection of network management applications are developed using the development technology of Visual Basic language and computer system operating environment, to achieve a network management software for users on food additives of quality analytical testing. The software sets up an information sharing network platform for enterprise and quality management departments, which is a major innovation in the food additive quality analysis on test management methods and tools.

Elevated CO₂Levels Affect Phytochemicals and Nutritional Quality of Food Crops

Rising atmospheric CO2 levels pose many challenges to global climate, thus to all forms of life including plants. The impact of elevated CO2 on plant growth and development and the nutritional quality in relation to major nutrients in many crops has been explored extensively. However, information on the elevated CO2 effects on the health-promoting phytochemicals in food crops is rather limited. Major nutrients in food crops including protein, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and other micronutrients in many food crops are known to be suppressed at elevated CO2 levels. Elevated CO2 increases carbohydrate accumulation but decreases nitrogen accumulation in plants thus affecting their C-N ratio. A number of studies show that high C-N ratio and nitrogen limiting conditions in plants can result in the accumulation of carbon-based secondary metabolites, many of which are health-promoting phytochemicals and allelochemicals involved in plants’ defense against pathogens and herbivory. Although the results from these studies are variable, it can be concluded that while elevated CO2 is known to suppress the content of major nutrients, it may actually have a favorable impact on the accumulation of carbon-based phytochemicals in food crops.

Food Physics and Food Safety- Some Aspects in Food Processing and Food Quality Control

The article deals with special questions of some aspects of food safety and application of methods of food physics in food processing and also in food quality control and quality assurance. The role of food safety has developed significantly in the last 2 decades, so today the production and processing of safe and quality food is of primary importance. Modem food production is based on principles of GAP and GMP （including GHP） and different methods and tools for quality control and assurance （IFS, HACCP, ISO-9000, ISO-9000/2010, ISO-22000, TQM）. There are different techniques and methods to produce safe food and to control the quality of the foodstuffs. The modem, up-to-date technologies and measurement techniques involve the application of many physical methods - high pressure, pulsing electrical field, microwave, non-destructive techniques （e.g., INAA, NMR, NIR-NIT, PAS）, radiation treatments as well. Using radiation technologies （of course not only nuclear ones） it is possible to fulfil some very important expectations of modem food processing, e.g., decrease of microbial contamination, improvement of sensory properties, increase of storability of food products.

Food Additives-Ascorbic Acid Quality Assay Test Intelligent Management

In this paper, based on the analysis and test methods of national standards （GB 14754-2010） and chemical analysis and test items carried out by chemical enterprises, a set of automatic processing of quality analysis test data of ascorbic acid products was developed by using access database technology and Visual Basic programming language system, and its stability was investigated. The results show that the software can manage intelligently all aspects of the quality analysis and test of ascorbic acid products, uploading timely the data and results of the analysis and inspection to the network and saving it for users, enterprises and quality management, which set up a network of information sharing platform to ensure the authenticity and reliability of measurement results, improving greatly the speed of data processing, saving valuable time, reducing production costs with good economic efficiency and social benefit. It has practical value for ascorbic acid quality analysis test data processing automatically the results of the implementation of intelligent management.

Strengthen Farmland Quality Construction and Build a Strong Foundation for Food Security

As a carrier for food production, protection of arable land quantity and quality is the basis of quality and high yield agriculture. In recent years, with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, arable land red line is at risk, and the quality of arable land has been declining, which are not conducive to the sustainable development of agriculture, but also threaten ＂the food problem＂ of the country＇s 1.3 billion people. This paper attempts to analyze the current situation of arable farmland quality, reasons for the arable farmland quality decline and its impact on food security in China, and explore effective measures to improve the quality of cultivated land.

Protein Quality Evaluation of Animal Food Proteins by <i>In-Vitro</i>Methodologies

Animal protein foods are undoubtedly among the most concentrated source of essential amino acids (AA) for the human diet. However, their high prices and diseases associated to their excessive consumption have fomented the consumption of other alternative sources of animal proteins such as those from marine or aquatic species. Sonora is a well recognized producer of animal foods in Mexico, both terrestrial and aquatic. In this study, the protein quality evaluation of these animal food sources, highly produced and consumed in Sonora, is proposed, using in-vitro methodologies. Four different species, from each aquatic and terrestrial origin, were selected. Samples of lean muscle were used in all cases. Various in-vitro methodologies for protein quality evaluation were selected, alternatives to the animal bioassays: % digestibility, Total amino acid analyses (HPLC), PDCAAS, computerized PER calculations (C-PER and DC-PER) and total collagen contents. % in-vitro digestibility presented significant differences among samples from terrestrial species, but muscle from aquatic species did not showed significant differences. All sources of proteins, both aquatic and terrestrial proved to be rich sources of essential amino acids. PDCAAS was unable to establish significant differences in protein quality among sources of protein from different origin. Both methods C-PER and DC-PER were more exact in their results and were able to detect significant differences among samples of different origin. An important finding was the great difference in the total collagen content between aquatic and terrestrial sources of proteins, where terrestrial muscle proteins had almost 10-time more collagen than aquatic protein sources. However, these collagen contents did not seem to have a significant influence in the protein quality of these animal proteins. These muscle proteins, from both aquatic and terrestrial species, confirmed to have a high protein quality and some of the in-vitro methodologies used in this study represent a valuable alternative to the animal bioassays.