Browsing by Subject "food system"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Environmental Impact Assessment: Closing the Gap Between Scientists and Practitioners
    (2022-12) Rivera, Lloyd
    The environmental science community has worked to engage the private sector with sustainable business practices. In the business sector, impact assessment tools are key to embedding sustainable practices into the organization’s goals and performance metrics. The adoption of the proposed impact assessment tools falls below expectations. This dissertation looks at ways sustainable impact assessment can become more prevalent in lower income countries. The methodologies employed are Five forces analysis of the sugar industry structure, interviews with actors in the food sector, and a literature review and analysis based on the dynamic capabilities framework. I found that the sugar industry promotes expansion by existing actors and deters new actors as well as product differentiation, disincentivizing adoption of sustainable practices. The food sector in Costa Rica showed interest in tools that have the capacity to go beyond diagnosis and wants them to help find a path toward corrective measures. Also, these actors are interested in data that can inform the innovation process. A framework of the innovation process, based on the capacity to assess sustainable impact, is proposed, resulting from the impact assessment and business strategy literature review. In the context of low income countries, sustainable impact assessment is catalyzed by a healthy supply chain structure and its capacity to contribute to business growth. These are areas for future development.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Executive Review of the Stevia Food System
    (2023-06-02) Wibbens, Katie M
    Stevia is an alternative sweetener that provides sweetness to foods without the caloric value of traditional sweeteners such as sucrose. With the rise of an obesity epidemic in the United States, industry is faced with increased pressure to make products with fewer calories, yet with the same or similar palatability as the original product. Alternative sweeteners such as stevia are used to add sweetness without adding calories since the body cannot use the stevia molecule for energy. The gradual introduction of these alternative sweeteners within the American food system could contribute toward greater availability of foods with less caloric density. To increase the feasibility of gradually incorporating alternative sweeteners into common foods traditionally made with sugar ingredients, this paper focuses on four main pillars within the Stevia food system: decreasing the cost of scaling production, improving product formulation, addressing flavor modification, and maintaining consumer acceptability. These four fundamental basic food system functions serve as a guide for scaling-up and gradually introducing non-caloric sweeteners as viable ingredients in traditionally sweetened food products. Addressing our pressing public health issues necessitates a gradual substitution with alternative sweeteners such as stevia. This gradual introduction requires a food systems approach addressing the barriers, challenges and opportunities within our food system while balancing consumer needs, wants, and desires.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Food Protection and Defense Institute 2015–2016 Performance Report
    (2016-08) Food Protection and Defense Institute
    Food Protection and Defense Institute annual performance report to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for 2015–2016.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Food Protection and Defense Institute U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2010–2017 Cooperative Agreement Final Report
    (2017-09) Food Protection and Defense Institute
    The final report from the 2010–2017 cooperative agreement between the University of Minnesota and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to operate the Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI) as a DHS Science & Technology Center of Excellence. The mission of FPDI was, and continues to be, to protect the nation's food supply from the threat of intentional contamination through research, education, and the delivery of innovative services.