Search Results (10)

Food waste is a global problem involving the loss of natural resources, human labour and money. This paper presents an educational proposal implemented as an exploratory pilot case study in a rural primary school classroom in Spain, aimed at raising awareness of food waste and promoting pupils’ involvement in its reduction. The Sustainable Development Goals and the European framework of sustainability competences (GreenComp) enabled the work to be aligned with current education legislation and global sustainability challenges. The intervention was assessed through a questionnaire administered before and after the implementation of the proposal to analyse students’ progress, adapted rubrics, and sets of questions used to review the content covered. The comparison between the initial and final questionnaires, analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, showed statistically significant differences (W = 3.0; p = 0.019), suggesting an improvement in students’ knowledge after the implementation of the teaching proposal. The results suggest that working from pupils’ initial misconceptions may support both understanding of key concepts related to food waste (such as the causes of food waste, use of resources in its production and the difference between expiry dates and best-before dates) and the development of sustainability competences, particularly critical thinking, systemic thinking and adaptability in consumption-related situations. Overall, this pilot study suggests that food waste can be meaningfully addressed in primary education not only through school-canteen practices, but also through classroom-based activities grounded in pupils’ prior ideas and supported by hands-on, competence-oriented activities. Full article

Azole compounds are extensively utilized in plant protection products for managing pests and diseases in both agriculture and horticulture. Moreover, azoles are the most extensively used class of fungicides worldwide. In addition to being effective against human pathogenic fungi, they are used in the food and agricultural industries to prevent and control fungal infections in crops. Unfortunately, the extensive use of azoles and subsequent overexposure have led to undesirable effects on ecosystems and non-target aquatic and terrestrial organisms. In the last decade alone, the European Union (EU) has prohibited numerous pesticides, many of which are based on azoles. Numerous azoles, especially triazoles, pyrazoles, imidazoles, and oxazoles, are still approved as active ingredients in plant protection products in the EU due to their excellent activity and minimal environmental and health impacts. However, for some, the expiry date is as close as March 2026. A computational approach for estimating their effectiveness against harmful and non-target organisms in soil, as well as detailed research into the molecular mechanism of action, is used for further evaluation of the compounds. This review provides an overview of azole pesticides and a summary of recent knowledge addressing their toxicity, future prospects, methods, and strategies to overcome their limitations. Full article

Globally, self-medication has increased, where 25% of adults use OTC medicines. This research is intended to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding OTC medicines among adults in Brunei Darussalam. An online cross-sectional survey was performed using a questionnaire adapted from similar research conducted among students in Brunei Darussalam. A total of 364 responses were collected, where the median age of the study participants was 23 years. The mean knowledge score was 7.3 out of 9, with most respondents (77.7%) having good knowledge of OTC medicines. Almost all (92.9%) showed a positive attitude towards OTC use. A statistically significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) was observed in attitude scores between age groups and education levels. Most of the study participants (88.2%) have practiced self-medication with OTC medicines, mainly due to their easy accessibility (79.4%). A small number practiced improper habits, such as consuming more than the recommended dose (6.0%) and not checking the expiry date (0.5%). The practice of self-medicating with OTC medicines can be advantageous when patients fully know the medications and nature of their disease. Knowledge of proper OTC medicine use among adults in Brunei Darussalam is essential to avoid improper user practices and potential health hazards associated with the misuse of medications. Full article

Nutrition information on food labels can help consumers to choose healthier food. We investigated consumers’ awareness of food labels and their influence on the decision to buy food items among students of health sciences of King Khalid University, Abha. This cross-sectional study involved 350 females who gave informed verbal consent and were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS version 21. Overall 76.3% of students knew food labeling. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed between the knowledge about food labeling and education, the number of family members, earning members, frequency of shopping and income. Almost half of the students checked food labels before buying, 43.7% replaced food on an importance basis and value of labeling, and 60% replaced on a cost basis. More than half of students were ready to buy food items with no labels, and 21.7% even utilized expired food items because of a lack of knowledge regarding expiry date and low cost of food which could be hazardous for their health. Awareness of food labeling and expiry date should be enhanced by including this subject in the curriculum and electronic media to avoid health hazards of expired food items. Choosing healthy food options shall reduce the nutrition and chronic diseases among the general population in future. Full article

More than half of food waste is generated at the household level, and therefore, it is important to tackle and attempt to solve the problem of consumer food waste. This study aimed to identify factors differentiating high food wasters from low food wasters. A large-scale survey was conducted in Lithuania. A total of 1001 respondents had participated in this survey and were selected using a multi-stage probability sample. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Binary logistic regression modelling was used to analyse the effect of socio-demographics, food-related behaviours, attitudes towards food waste, and knowledge of date labelling on levels of food waste. Impulse buying, inappropriate food preparation practices, non-consumption of leftovers, lack of concern about food waste, and worry about food poisoning were related to higher food waste. On the other hand, correct planning practices and knowledge of date labelling were related to lower food waste. The findings of this study have practical implications for designing interventions aimed at reducing consumer food waste. Full article

The consumer acceptance of novel enhanced-quality products and their willingness to buy such products may be a crucial topic in the field of marketing. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between consumers’ perceptions of food quality and their acceptance of enhanced meat products and novel packaging. The study was conducted using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) method in a random group of 1009 respondents, who were recruited as a representative sample based on data from the Polish National Identification Number database. The participants were asked about the most important quality determinants of food products of animal origin and about quality improvement methods and their acceptance of those methods. The quality determinants of animal-based food products were indicated as follows: origin, production technology, manufacturer, components and nutritional value, visual and sensory characteristics, expiry date, and cost. The quality improvement methods were clustered into groups that were associated with product enhancement and application of novel packaging, and the acceptance of those methods was also verified. Indicating specific quality determinants of animal-derived food products affects the consumer acceptance of product enhancement (p = 0.0264) and novel packaging as quality improvement methods (p = 0.0314). The understanding that enhancement is applied for the purpose of quality improvement did not influence the acceptance of products (p = 0.1582), whereas the knowledge that novel packaging is applied influenced the acceptance (p = 0.0044). The obtained results suggested that in the case of application of novel packaging, a higher level of knowledge may be a reason for consumer’s rejection of the resulting products, but the appearance and taste of products may contribute to the higher acceptance of novel packaging. Educating consumers may improve their acceptance of product enhancement, as concerns about the addition of food preservatives may lead them to reject enhanced products. Full article

The objective of the present study was to investigate the knowledge and practices concerning unused and expired medicine among pharmacy and nursing students at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study design was used. The study used a validated paper-based, self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, Version 24. The response rate was 70.4% (n = 352). The results indicated that 57.4% of pharmacy students and 53.4% of nursing students check the expiry date of medicine before procuring, and 37.6% of pharmacy students and 52.5% of nursing students keep unused medicine until it expires. With regard to disposal, 78.9% of pharmacy students and 80.5% of nursing students reported discarding expired medicine in household garbage or flushing it down a sink or toilet. Only a small percentage returns leftover medicine to a medical store. There was a statistically significant difference between pharmacy and nursing students in regard to checking the expiry date of medicine before procuring (p = 0.01), and keeping unused medicine until it expires (p = 0.03). The study concluded that the majority of respondents dispose of medicine unsafely. The findings suggest that creating awareness regarding proper medicine disposal procedures among university health care students in Saudi Arabia is needed. Full article

Much research has been carried out on food losses and waste in the various stages of the food supply chain, consolidating the “fight” against food waste as one of the most important challenges in industrialized countries. Numerous different studies have focused on food waste at the household level, identifying both the multiple causes linked to this behavior and the factors that can drive towards the reduction of food waste. In this paper, a different approach was used, trying to analyze different individuals’ reactions to a concrete action consisting of removing “best before” labels from some food products, following the recent proposal by European Union to simplify date marking. How could any action in this area be implemented in every single country? Bearing in mind the general results of the cross-sectional official survey Flash Eurobarometer n. 425, the purpose of this study was to go deeper into the study of how consumers would behave if the expiry date were no longer available on a pack of spaghetti. The heterogeneity observed in the possible alternative reactions across European Union 28 countries, as well as by considering the importance played by the local context in which individuals reside led us to focus on a single country, and specifically on the Italian context, as an example of country in which citizens have a higher average level of knowledge about expiration dates than the global EU28 citizens, but where, at the same time, there is a more conservative behavior regarding using a product with no expiry date. The multinomial regression model—estimated using the generalized maximum entropy estimator—enabled us to identify different profiles and groups of individuals with which—as a suggestion to policy makers—it would be first necessary to intervene in order to standardize the level of knowledge on this specific topic. In this direction, territorial macro-areas proved to be strongly associated with the various reactions; the probability of consuming or throwing away was found to significantly differ across all the studied regional macro-areas, with a higher likelihood of throwing away the product with no best-before date in southern regions. Full article

Food safety and unhealthy dietary pattern are important global health problems. Understanding food-related health needs and providing corresponding support are important to health risk reduction. A needs assessment, education intervention for food labelling, and another intervention for salt-intake reduction were conducted in a rural Kunge community in Yunnan, China in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. Not checking the expiry date of packaged food (37.1%) and a high salt diet (53.9%) were the most common problems in the community. Both topics were selected for education intervention. Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were used to evaluate the effectiveness. Education interventions were found effective in improving food-health-related knowledge, changing attitudes toward behaviors such as willingness to read food labels before buying and consuming packaged food. However, no significant improvements were found for the attitudes toward not consuming expired food, controlling salt-intake, and decreasing the consumption of cured food. Health education was shown to be effective in promoting food-health-related knowledge but was limited in changing relevant behaviors in a rural ethnic minority community. Full article

Objectives: To evaluate the perceptions and extent of practicing self-medication among undergraduate pharmacy students. Methods: This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted over a six month period (January to June 2016) among undergraduate pharmacy students in five reputable public universities of Bangladesh. It involved face-to-face interviews regarding self-medication of 250 respondents selected by simple random sampling. Results: Self-medication was reported by 88.0% of students. Antipyretics (58.40%) were mostly preferred for the treatment of fever and headaches. The major cause for self-medication was minor illness (59.60%, p = 0.73) while previous prescriptions were the main source of knowledge as well as the major factor (52.80%, p = 0.94) dominating the self-medication practice. The results also demonstrated 88.80% of students had previous knowledge on self-medication and 83.60% of students always checked the information on the label; mainly the expiry date before use (85.60%). A significant (p < 0.05) portion of the students (51% male and 43% female) perceived it was an acceptable practice as they considered self-medication to be a segment of self-care. Furthermore, students demonstrated differences in their response level towards the adverse effect of drugs, the health hazard by a higher dose of drug, a physician’s help in case of side effects, taking medicine without proper knowledge, and stopping selling medicine without prescription. Conclusions: Self-medication was commonly used among pharmacy students primarily for minor illnesses using over-the-counter medications. Although it is an inevitable practice for them it should be considered an important public health problem as this practice may increase the misuse or irrational use of medicines. Full article