The Quality and Safety of Donated Food in Charitable Food Assistance Programs in eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors, the submitted manuscript deals with global problems, is written in high methodological level and can be accepted for publication. Really important topic, since food safety is global problem, especially in economically developing countries. The quality of charitable food was never evaluated before. Taking into account, that 10 mln people depend on food banks this study is necessary.
Author Response
REVIEWER ONE
General Response: We are most grateful to you for finding time out of your busy schedule to review this manuscript. Kindly find below a detailed response to the comments for your consideration.
Query/ Comment Authors’ Responses Lines and pages
The submitted manuscript deals with global problems, is written in high methodological level and can be accepted for publication. Really important topic, since food safety is global problem, especially in economically developing countries. The quality of charitable food was never evaluated before. Taking into account that 10mln people depend on food banks this study is necessary. We appreciate the positive remarks. n/a
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAbstract
The abstract adequately describes both the state of art and the aim of the research
Introduction
The description of the state of the art is well structured and the bibliographic references are well inserted and refer to recently published articles. The description of the objectives of the work has been correctly formulated.
Line 79: Low rather than Low- (remove the minus)
Materials and methods
The description of materials and methods is well structured. The tables are easy to understand and are adequately commented in the text, but require a little formatting.
Line 68: format with font size 10
Table 1: format with font Time New Roman; bold the text in the entire first line; 1,037 rather than 1037; remove vertical lines; remove horizontal lines except the first, second, third and last lines
Line 77: format with font size 10
Table 2: format with font Time New Roman; bold the text in the entire first line; remove vertical lines; remove horizontal lines except the first, second, third and last lines
Line 83: 2,579 rather than 2579
Line 87-88: format with font size 10
Table 3: format with font Time New Roman; bold the text in the entire first line; 2,579 rather than 2579, 1,254 rather than 1254; 2,932 rather than 2932; 1,182 rather than 1182; 1,395 rather than 1395; remove vertical lines; remove horizontal lines except the first, second, third and last lines.
Figure 2: format with font Time New Roman; remove “Unsuitable donations by weight (kg)”; highlight the y-axis line
Line 98: format with font size 10; remove (kg)
Figure 3: format with font Time New Roman; remove “Potentialy Unsafe Donations by weight (kg)”; highlight the y-axis line
Line 104: format with font size 10; remove (kg)
Line 113: 1,395 rather than 1395
Figure 4: format with font Time New Roman; remove “Unsafe Donations by weight (kg)”; highlight the y-axis line; y-axis 1,000 rather than 1000
Line 119: format with font size 10; remove (kg)
Discussion and policy consideration
The results are adequately discussed highlighting the existing problems.
Line 161: 1,500 rather than 1500
Conclusion
The conclusions are well articulated and consistent with the results obtained.
Author Response
REVIEWER TWO
General Response: We are most grateful to you for finding time out of your busy schedule to review this manuscript. Kindly find below a detailed response to the comments for your consideration.
The abstract adequately describes both the state of art and the aim of the research We appreciate the positive observation and remarks. n/a
The description of the state of the art is well structured and the bibliographic references are well inserted and refer to recently published articles. The description of the objectives of the work has been correctly formulated. We appreciate the positive observation and remarks. n/a
Line 79: Low rather than Low- (remove the minus) We have addressed this concern, thank you. ln 45-46
The description of materials and methods is well structured. The tables are easy to understand and are adequately commented in the text, but require a little formatting. We appreciate the positive observation and remarks. n/a
Line 68: format with font size 10 We have reduced the font size to from 12 to 10, thank you. Ln 85-98
Table 1: format with font Time New Roman; bold the text in the entire first line; 1,037 rather than 1037; remove vertical lines; remove horizontal lines except the first, second, third and last lines We have effected the changes, thank you. n/a
Line 77: format with font size 10 We have reduced the font size to from 12 to 10, thank you. n/a
Table 2: format with font Time New Roman; bold the text in the entire first line; remove vertical lines; remove horizontal lines except the first, second, third and last lines We have effected the changes, thank you. n/a
Line 83: 2,579 rather than 2579 We have effected the changes, thank you.
Line 87-88: format with font size 10 We have reduced the font size to from 12 to 10, thank you. Ln231-237
Table 3: format with font Time New Roman; bold the text in the entire first line; 2,579 rather than 2579, 1,254 rather than 1254; 2,932 rather than 2932; 1,182 rather than 1182; 1,395 rather than 1395; remove vertical lines; remove horizontal lines except the first, second, third and last lines. We have effected the changes, thank you. n/a
Figure 2: format with font Time New Roman; remove “Unsuitable donations by weight (kg)”; highlight the y-axis line We have effected the changes, thank you. n/a
Line 98: format with font size 10; remove (kg) We have reduced the font size to from 12 to 10, thank you. Ln 99
Figure 3: format with font Time New Roman; remove “Potentialy Unsafe Donations by weight (kg)”; highlight the y-axis line We have effected the changes, thank you. n/a
Line 104: format with font size 10; remove (kg) We have effected the changes, thank you. Ln 104
Line 113: 1,395 rather than 1395 We have effected the changes, thank you. Ln 113
Figure 4: format with font Time New Roman; remove “Unsafe Donations by weight (kg)”; highlight the y-axis line; y-axis 1,000 rather than 1000 We have effected the changes, thank you. n/a
Line 119: format with font size 10; remove (kg) We have effected the changes, thank you. Ln 119
The results are adequately discussed highlighting the existing problems. We appreciate the positive observation and remarks. n/a
Line 161: 1,500 rather than 1500 We have effected the changes, thank you. Ln 161
Conclusion: The conclusions are well articulated and consistent with the results obtained. We appreciate the positive observation and remarks. n/a
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors,
The topic discussed in the article is very important from the point of view of food safety in donations. The possibility of testing food safety in organizations accepting donations is limited, due to the short shelf life of most donations. It is therefore justified to use visual batch assessment. The methodological assumptions and discussion of the results are generally correct. However, attention should be paid to the description contained in lines 21-27. During the evaluation of the batches, visual evaluation is used. It is not possible to determine on this basis whether the food is microbiologically or chemically contaminated, as indicated in the description. It is necessary to list here the features, assessed visually, that caused the classification into groups "unsafe", "potentially unsafe", etc. Abbreviations (BBD/UBD) in Fif. 1 are not explained.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article was not prepared in accordance with editorial requirements. Introduction
This section should be supplemented with a definition of food security and information on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) in South Africages, providing a comprehensive understanding of the significance of the problem. At the end of this section, the thesis objectives and research hypotheses should be included.
Materials and methods
The paragraph referring to the purpose of the work (line 160-166) should be inserted in the introduction and supplemented by hypotheses.
More detailed information on the methodology itself (e.g., the research method used, the term of the research, who conducted the research?, validet of method) could have been provided.
Results
A clearer representation of data in relation to hypotheses would strengthen the argument.
Discussion and policy considerations
The discussion should be completed with regard to the goals and hypotheses. Reference should be made to the broader scope of other authors' studies and the limitations of the study should be supplemented.
Author Response
REVIEWER FOUR
General Response: We are most grateful to you for finding time out of your busy schedule to review this manuscript. Kindly find below a detailed response to the comments for your consideration.
The article was not prepared in accordance with editorial requirements. Thank you for the observation. The authors will take care to ensure this does not happen again. n/a
This section should be supplemented with a definition of food security and information on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) in South Africages, providing a comprehensive understanding of the significance of the problem. At the end of this section, the thesis objectives and research hypotheses should be included. Thank you for the observation and comment. However, we aimed to keep the word count minimal, which made it challenging to add more information. n/a
The paragraph referring to the purpose of the work (line 160-166) should be inserted in the introduction and supplemented by hypotheses. Thank you for the suggestion. However, as mentioned in the previous comment, we were constrained. n/a
More detailed information on the methodology itself (e.g., the research method used, the term of the research, who conducted the research?, validet of method) could have been provided. Thank you. Once again, our effort to keep the information concise forced us to leave out certain details. n/a
A clearer representation of data in relation to hypotheses would strengthen the argument. We appreciate the comment/suggestion, thank you. n/a
The discussion should be completed with regard to the goals and hypotheses. This was not our approach, but we appreciate the input for future consideration. n/a
Reference should be made to the broader scope of other authors' studies and the limitations of the study should be supplemented. Thank you for the comment/observation. We noticed a lack of data in this area of research and, therefore, advocate for increased attention and further studies in this field. n/a
