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Article
Publication date: 26 September 2009

Christine Hoefkens, Isabelle Vandekinderen, Bruno De Meulenaer, Frank Devlieghere, Katleen Baert, Isabelle Sioen, Stefaan De Henauw, Wim Verbeke and John Van Camp

The increasing demand for organic foods is explained mainly by consumers' concerns about the quality and safety of foods and their perception that organically produced foods are…

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Abstract

Purpose

The increasing demand for organic foods is explained mainly by consumers' concerns about the quality and safety of foods and their perception that organically produced foods are healthier and safer than conventional foods. Based on internationally available concentration data of organic and conventional vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, lettuce and spinach) and potatoes, the paper aims to investigate the scientific validity of nutrition claims as “no vegetable/potato has higher amounts of nutrient X than organic vegetables/potatoes” and “no vegetable/potato has lower amounts of contaminant Y than organic vegetables/potatoes”.

Design/methodology/approach

Detailed nutrient and contaminant databases were developed for organic and conventional vegetables separately. Non‐parametric (Mann‐Whitney test) methods were used to detect significant differences between both types of vegetables. A chi‐square test was used to compare the incidence of pesticide residues in organic and conventional vegetables.

Findings

From a nutritional and toxicological point of view, organic vegetables and potato in general are not significantly better than conventional vegetables and potatoes. For some nutrients and contaminants organic vegetables and potatoes score significantly better but for others they score significantly worse. Therefore, it becomes difficult to justify general claims indicating a surplus value of organic over conventional vegetables and potatoes. More data from controlled paired studies are needed to reconsider the use of claims for these organic plant foods in the future.

Research limitations/implications

Only a limited number of studies comparing the nutrient and/or contaminant concentration of organic and conventional vegetables are available (“paired studies”). Additionally, the majority of the studies are of moderate or poor quality. The implication is that more of those paired studies are heavily needed. Another limitation of the study is the fact that most pesticide residue data originated from the USA, the EU and Australia.

Originality/value

So far only few studies compared both nutrient and contaminant contents between organic and conventional plant foods. This paper covers therefore an important, not well‐explored research sub area.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 111 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Article
Publication date: 4 February 2022

Vimal K.E.K., Simon Peter Nadeem, Siddharth Meledathu Sunil, Gokul Suresh, Navaneeth Sanjeev and Jayakrishna Kandasamy

Improving the medical oxygen supply chain (MOSC) is important to cope with the uneven demand and supply seen in the MOSC when India faced the second wave of COVID-19. This…

532

Abstract

Purpose

Improving the medical oxygen supply chain (MOSC) is important to cope with the uneven demand and supply seen in the MOSC when India faced the second wave of COVID-19. This improvisation increases the supply chain (SC) maturity and consequently the efficiency and resiliency to tackle oxygen shortage across the country and to prevent another similar scenario from ever happening. The purpose of this study is to identify and prioritize the solutions to overcome the issues faced by the MOSC during the second wave of COVID-19 cases in India and in turn reduce the extent of casualties in the expected third wave.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses best worst method (BWM) and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution to classify the sub-criteria for solutions to solve major SC issues. BWM is used to determine the weights of the sub-criteria and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution for the final ranking of the solutions to be adopted.

Findings

The result of this study shows that the Internet of Things based tagging system is the best solution followed by horizontal and vertical integration of SC in making a resilient and digitized MOSC capable of handling general bottlenecks during a possible third wave.

Research limitations/implications

The research provides insights that can enable the personnel involved in MOSC. Proper understanding will help the practitioners involved in the SC to effectively tailor the operations and to allocate the resources available in an effective and dynamic manner by minimizing or eliminating the pre-existing bottlenecks within the SC.

Originality/value

The proposed framework provides an accurate ranking and decision-making tool for the implementation of the solutions for the maturity of the MOSC.

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