Ethical Traceability And Communicating Food

The theme of this book evolved from the idea of linking three concepts around food: traceability, ethics and informed choice. We believe that the current devel- ment and implementation of traceability in the agri-food sector offers an interesting way not only of handling food safety but also of addressing and communicating ethical issues arising from current food production practices. Practices in the agri-food sector worry food consumers (as we all are, since we need to eat and drink to stay alive). But how can consumers act upon their concerns? Paradoxically, although consumers are bombarded with information on food – from the media, the food industry, food authorities, NGOs and interest groups – details about how foods are actually produced is often hard to find. Much of the infor- tion available is superficial, conflicting or partial, and it is hard for consumers seeking to mak e informed food choices to know which information to trust. The consumers we interviewed for this project felt that information about food products was withheld and manipulated. Traceability, which provides a record of the history and journey of a given food, and which is increasingly used in the food sector for legal and commercial reasons, has the potential to communicate a more authentic picture of how food is produced.

In this first decade of the 21st century, more than 854 million people in the world are starving, while industrial nations are debating about obesity, generating energy from food plants, and a myriad of other topics many African and south Asian nations could only fathom. In this great discord, there have arisen many interdisciplinary discussions about problems in the field of applied Ethics, with regards to food, that are crossing a considerably wide spectrum of disciplines, such as: obesity, traceability, agro-food biotechnology, dairy industry, transgenic plants, novel food, bio fuels, world-trade system, etc. This book presents international discussions and information concerning food ethics in its current state. It presents a variety of important aspects in the field of food ethics with respect to positions, instruments and applications of issues surrounding nutrition. A great deal of the book will concern itself with discussing different ethical positions and problems of current interests, as explained by experts of the "food-ethics-community". The articles will focus on the reality of global food problems through two main issues: current questions of nutrition in the specific contexts of field and experience, ethical tools, ideas and suggestions concerning long-term steps for solutions. The appendix presents a collection of current declarations and political statements – visions, proposals and goals in a worth living world in general and concerning specific problems - water, healthy food, the human right to food, sustainability and food sovereignty.

This book marks a new departure in ethics, which has up to now been a question of ‘the good life’ in relation to other people, based on Greek concepts of friendship and the Judaeo-Christian ‚caritas.’ No early moral teaching discussed man’s relation to the origin of foodstuffs and the system that produced them; doubtless the question was of little interest since the production path was so short.

None of us can avoid being interested in food. Our very existence depends on the supply of safe, nutritious foods. It is then hardly surprising that food has become the focus of a wide range of ethical concerns: Is the food we buy safe? Is it produced by means which respect the welfare of animals and sustain the land? Are modern biotechnologies employed in food production immoral? This book addresses such issues by applying ethical principles to many areas of current concern. The contributors provide original and thought-provoking treatments of a number of highly topical issues - from global hunger and its ethical implications to the cultural habits affecting consumption. This interdisciplinary study will prove to be essential reading for all those concerned with food, as professionals, students or consumers.

Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Planning, Design, and Control through Interdisciplinary Methodologies provides integrated and practicable solutions that aid planners and entrepreneurs in the design and optimization of food production-distribution systems and operations and drives change toward sustainable food ecosystems. With synthesized coverage of the academic literature, this book integrates the quantitative models and tools that address each step of food supply chain operations to provide readers with easy access to support-decision quantitative and practicable methods. Broken into three parts, the book begins with an introduction and problem statement. The second part presents quantitative models and tools as an integrated framework for the food supply chain system and operations design. The book concludes with the presentation of case studies and applications focused on specific food chains. Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Planning, Design, and Control through Interdisciplinary Methodologies will be an indispensable resource for food scientists, practitioners and graduate students studying food systems and other related disciplines. Contains quantitative models and tools that address the interconnected areas of the food supply chain Synthesizes academic literature related to sustainable food supply chains Deals with interdisciplinary fields of research (Industrial Systems Engineering, Food Science, Packaging Science, Decision Science, Logistics and Facility Management, Supply Chain Management, Agriculture and Land-use Planning) that dominate food supply chain systems and operations Includes case studies and applications

This book provides a picture of food traceability for all aspects of the food system, recognizing the unique differences, challenges, and “states of the industry” in different types of food products, as well as the different pressures and opportunities at different points in the supply chain and the research that has already been done. It also provides some historical context, along with the types of solutions available to the food industry, and the benefits associated with better recordkeeping that go beyond the public good and impact the bottom line. Whenever a food related outbreak occurs, traceability is called into question. When lives are at stake, it is critical that the root of the problem is quickly identified to prevent further illness. Once the problem is found, it’s just as important to contain it quickly. Too often, recalls expand because implicated product is not readily accounted for. Mention of traceability stirs fear for many in the food industry for several reasons: within a company, it’s not clear if responsibility for traceability lies with food safety professionals involved in recalls, supply chain professionals who understand product movement, IT professionals who build and maintain the recordkeeping systems, or regulatory professionals who need to respond to government requests for information. There is also a sense that traceability is someone else’s problem. Few firms admit that they are the weak link and instead tout how quickly they can perform mock recalls. But traceability is about more than just recalls. It is about the connectivity of the supply chain as a product and its constituents travel from the farm to the consumer. Because it is a systems issue, there is a sense that the investment by a single firm will be meaningless if supply chain partners don’t have comparable abilities. This book will address both these surrounding issues and solutions.

Advances in Food Traceability Techniques and Technologies: Improving Quality Throughout the Food Chain covers in detail a topic of great importance to both the food industry which is obliged to provide clear and accurate labeling of their products and the government and other organizations which are tasked with verification of claims of food quality and safety. The traceability of food products is becoming ever more important as globalization continues to increase the complexity of food chains. Coverage in the book includes the wide range of technologies and techniques which have been utilized in the tracing of food products. In addition, the ways in which the misuse of food traceability will affect the quality of food is also covered throughout. The first part of the book introduces the concept of traceability in the food industry, highlighting advantages of a robust traceability and the difficulties involved in implementing them. The second part looks at the technologies used to trace products, and the third section reviews the legal requirements for food traceability in the EU, the US, and the rest of the world. The final section contains a number of case studies which evaluate how food traceability has been successfully implemented in various foods focusing on the quality of the food. Provides a wide ranging overview of all recent advances in food traceability techniques and technologies Presents case studies covering when food traceability techniques have been applied to a range of food stuffs Covers the legal aspects of food traceability in the EU, the USA, and around the world

How is food political? : market, state, and knowledge / Ronald J. Herring -- Science, politics, and the framing of modern agricultural technologies / John Harriss, Drew Stewart -- Genetically improved crops / Martina Newell-McGloughlin -- Agroecological intensification of smallholder farming / Rebecca Nelson, Robert Coe -- The hardest case : what blocks improvements in agriculture in Africa? / Robert L. Paarlberg -- The poor, malnutrition, biofortification, and biotechnology / Alexander J. Stein -- Biofuels : competition for land, resources, and political subsidies / David Pimentel, Michael Burgess -- Alternative paths to food security / Norman Uphoff -- Ethics of food production and consumption / Michiel Korthals -- Food, justice, and land / Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Jennifer C. Franco -- Food security, productivity, and gender inequality / Bina Agarwal -- Delivering food subsidy : the state and the market / Ashok Kotwal, Bharat Ramaswami -- Diets, nutrition, and poverty : lessons from India / Raghav Gaiha, Raghbendra Jha, Vani S. Kulkarni, Nidhi Kaicker -- Food price and trade policy biases : inefficient, inequitable, yet not inevitable / Kym Andersen -- Intellectual property rights and the politics of food / Krishna Ravi Srinivas -- Is food the answer to malnutrition / David E. Sahn -- Fighting mother nature with biotechnology / Alan McHughen -- Climate change and agriculture : countering doomsday scenarios / Derrill D. Watson II -- Wild foods / Jules Pretty, Zareen Bharucha -- Livestock in the food debate / Purvi Mehta-Bhatt, Paulo Ficarelli -- The social vision of the alternative food movement / Siddhartha Shome -- Food values beyond nutrition / Ann Grodzins Gold -- Cultural politics of food safety : genetically modified food in japan, France, and the United States / Kyoko Sato -- Food safety / Bruce M. Chassy -- The politics of food labeling and certification / Emily Clough -- The politics of grocery shopping: eating, voting, and (possibly) transforming the food system / Josée Johnston, Norah MacKendrick -- The political economy of regulation of biotechnology in agriculture / Gregory D. Graff, Gal Hochman, David Zilberman -- Coexistence in the fields? : GM, organic, and conventional food crops / Janice Thies -- Global movements for food justice / M. Jahi Chappell -- The rise of the organic foods movement as a transnational phenomenon / Tomas Larsson -- The dialectic of pro-poor papaya / Sarah Davidson Evanega, Mark Lynas -- Thinking the African food crisis : the Sahel forty years on / Michael J. Watts -- Transformation of the agrifood industry in developing countries / Thomas Reardon, C. Peter Timmer -- The twenty-first century agricultural land rush / Gregory Thaler -- Agricultural futures : the politics of knowledge / Ian Scoones

This book is an extensive, original and systematic treatment of many important philosophical and ethical aspects of food (consumption and production). May we eat just anything? Can we do everything with animals, even genetic modification? If not, how can we regulate those processes so that they lead to optimum animal welfare while at the same time producing optimum taste? The production of food also causes environmental pollution – does the fight against hunger have priority over the care of the environment? The care of the environment, animal welfare, and the quality of food should be in a certain harmony, but that is far from granted and hardly easy to achieve. These factors are often in conflict with each other, and a balance will thus need to be searched for. Other factors to take into consideration are the issue of global famine, the care for a farming class that is able to keep its head above water in a decent way, and a fair trade system that does not throw up unnecessary barriers for newcomers or small market participants and that promotes good nutrition. Famine continues to be a widespread phenomenon that violates human rights, causing nearly a billion people to suffer from hunger or malnutrition. At the same time, deliberate hunger, abundance, and obesity are prevalent in the Western world. Both issues refer to the social and cultural aspects of food. Scientific and technological developments like genetic modification and functional food also play an increasingly important role; almost every bite that we take is determined by scientific developments. An extra difficulty is that scientific information is often contradictory, or that it relies on statistical probabilities that are difficult to translate into everyday certitudes. All of these factors deserve attention, but it is the mix that is most important. In the land of food, ‘either or’ does not exist, only ‘both and’. The adequate measure of ‘both and’ serves as the starting point for this philosophical reflection. Before Dinner is a must-read for all people interested in contemporary ethical issues of food, such as university students and researchers of food, agricultural and life sciences, as well as policymakers in these fields, such as members of professional organisations focusing on food and agriculture (f.e., EURSAFE (European Society for Agriculture and Food Ethics), the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (USA), and European Federation of Biotechnology).

WINNER: ACA-Bruel 2015 - Prix des Associations With the growth of the food industry come unique logistics challenges, new supply routes, demand dynamics and investment re-shaping the future of the food logistics industry. It is therefore important for the food industry to innovate both with regards to demand management and sustainability of food sources for a growing population. Food Supply Chain Management and Logistics provides an accessible and essential guide to food supply chain management, considering the food supply chain from 'farm to fork'. Samir Dani shows the reader how to stay ahead of the game by keeping abreast of global best practice, harnessing the very latest technology and squeezing efficiency and profit from increasingly complex supply chains. Food Supply Chain Management and Logistics covers essential topics in food supply chain management, including: food supply chain production and manufacturing; food logistics; food regulation, safety and quality; food sourcing; food retailing; risk management; food innovation; technology trends; food sector and economic regeneration; challenges in International food supply chains; triple bottom-line trends in the food sector; food security and future challenges. Winner of the 2015 Prix des Associations, this book has been commended for its comprehensive coverage of the design, governance, supporting mechanisms and future challenges in the food supply chain.