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Within any food product range, prices can vary quite widely. The article takes the view that an individual consumer is prepared to pay a premium for what he/she regards as high quality. The article examines some of the characteristics which apply to those products at the expensive end of the range – and suggests that they may be categorized into those of genuine quality and those of pseudo quality. Genuine quality refers to products which provide real improvements, e.g. nutrition or keeping quality, when compared with the basic end of the range – and incur extra costs to produce. By contrast, pseudo quality confers no additional benefit on the consumer in terms of the food and often exploits consumer ignorance. Concludes that the food industry should place much greater emphasis on genuine quality. By doing so, public confidence in the industry would be raised.

The current position on Listeria monocytogenes is reviewed.

Many hospital patients are referred to the dietitians for advice on how to change their diet in order to alleviate a specific ailment or to prevent it getting worse. It is self‐evident that such people will be much more strongly motivated to respond to the advice on dietary changes than the population as a whole. The object of this study was to determine the degree of difficulty encountered by patients who were recommended to reduce the fat content in their diet by using a number of different strategies. If such individuals encounter difficulties in making the changes, then it is reasonable to assume that the approach would be ineffective with those who are less motivated. By contrast, approaches which are successful could be useful for consumers as a whole. If the guidelines put forward by NACNE and largely reiterated by COMA are to be successfully implemented then the identification of easily adopted strategies is a first priority.

The office is an area of activity which to date has been largely untouched by major technological change. With the exception of the electric typewriter and the development of photocopying machines, office equipment has changed comparatively little during this century. As a result, while there have undoubtedly been advances made in office organisation and procedures, the basic systems have remained essentially manual and mechanical. The situation is reflected in the relative capitalisation of shop floor operatives and office workers. A recent study conducted by the Stanford Research Institute, for example, estimated that the average investment in capital equipment for an office worker was about $2,000, compared with an average of $25,000 on the shop floor. The labour intensity of office systems is similarly evident in their cost structure, with approximately 80 per cent of office costs being directly attributable to labour.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

Using data from five developed countries — the UK, the USA, Norway, Italy and Belgium — food consumption trends are examined. The movement towards healthier eating (internationally) is documented and discussed, and underlying factors which influence the consumer are mentioned. The five countries selected demonstrate many of the typical characteristics of the developed world's eating habits. Probable future trends are listed.

Food‐borne disease caused by bacteria is acknowledged to be very widespread in Africa, Asia and Latin America but even in advanced areas of the world this is now giving rise to acute concern. The most common causes of this are examined here with special reference to England and Wales, the extreme seriousness of the problem is underlined and various precautionary measures at both producer and consumer levels are recommended for its alleviation.

There is no doubt that the application of microelectronic devices in processes and products can result in significant increases in labour productivity. There is considerably less agreement, however, on the implications of this for future employment prospects. The predictions which have been made concerning the impact of the microprocessor and its related technology on the economy and employment cover the entire range, from economic expansion and job creation at one extreme, to recession and large‐scale persistent unemployment at the other. A large number of these forecasts, however, are based on a limited analysis of the technological, economic, demographic and social factors involved and exhibit a general lack of awareness of certain basic historical trends in the labour market.

Contemporary society is increasingly confronted with the socio‐economic problems generated by what has been described as the end of industrial society and its transition to a post‐industrial society. The most immediate symptom of this transition process is the high rate of unemployment being experienced by all the advanced industrialised nations. The aggregate percentage of the labour force unemployed in April 1978 in Canada was 8.6; in Italy 6.8; in Belgium 10.4; in Great Britain 5.8; in West Germany 4.4; and in the United States 6.0.

Many changes in food consumption trends have taken place in the UK over the last decade. A prime consideration has been the relationship between diet and health, with more consumers than ever expressing an interest in the nutritional profile of foods and the effects of various methods of food preparation and processing. The changes in household composition are also noted.