Fashion retailing – past,present and future

This issue of Textile Progress reviews the way that fashion retailing has developed as a result of the application of the World Wide Web and information and communications technology (ICT) by fashion-retail companies. The review therefore first considers how fashion retailing has evolved, analysing retail formats, global strategies, emerging and developing economies, and the factors that are threatening and driving growth in the fashion-retail market. The second part of the review considers the emergence of omni-channel retailing, analysing how retail has progressed and developed since the adoption of the Internet and how ICT initiatives such as mobile commerce (m-commerce), digital visualisation online, and in-store and self-service technologies have been proven to support the progression and expansion of fashion retailing. The paper concludes with recommendations on future research opportunities for gaining a better understanding of the impacts of ICT and omni-channel retailing, through which it may be possible to increase and develop knowledge and understanding of the way the sector is developing and provide fresh impetus to an already-innovative and competitive industry.     

Temporal methods: Are we comparing apples and oranges?

A workshop held at the 2018 Sensometrics conference in Montevideo aimed at a data-based comparison between three temporal methods, namely Temporal Check-All-That-Apply (TCATA), Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS), and Temporal Dominance of Sensations by Modality (MTDS). Data on 8 yoghurts designed following a full-factorial design have been evaluated using the three protocols. In this paper, we compare the data obtained with regard to discriminative power and highlight potential pitfalls when making significance-based comparisons. TCATA is found to provide overall highest discrimination, while for special purposes, the other methods may have advantages. We further compare the dominance and selection rates from the methods, addressing the arbitrariness of necessary standardizations. Finally, we compare results from correspondence analyses with trajectories, showing noteworthy differences between the protocols. In the discussion, it is argued that a reasonable comparison between the methods might not be possible or even reasonable, as they address quite different concepts. Rather than being considered as alternatives for the same objective, they should better be considered as complimentary, addressing different project needs.     

The regulatory environment past and future — incentive or impediment to developments in food science and technology: A perspective from FDA∗

The best system for protecting public health is one that involves two layers of control before food reaches the consumer. The first layer of control is the industry's clear responsibility to prepare food that is safe. The second layer of control is the monitoring that is provided by government to ensure that the industry is doing its job and is in fact producing safe food.

While some may view this “second layer” as an impediment in the development and marketing of new technologies, there is another way to look at the “regulatory environment”. The regulatory environment itself, is not an impediment to the development of food science and technology.

The regulatory environment, with all its components — scientists, consumers, industry, and Congress — defines “safety” within the context of today's technology, scientific capability, and tolerance level of the lay public. The entire regulatory environment serves to guide the development of food science and technology by providing signposts, in the form of scientifically sound regulatory decisions. The scientific basis of these decisions becomes building blocks on which to rest further refinement of the technology, product, ingredient, or packaging material or on which research in related technologies or research in innovative directions can build.

This scientific groundwork becomes very important as more and more companies move away from having self‐contained research laboratories toward using commercial laboratories and academic institutions, as well as participating in cooperative research endeavors to meet food safety and product development research needs. These changes in the way industry is doing business today clearly indicate a direction that will impact on the “regulatory environment” in the next few years — a direction that will include deeper commitment of private/public sector cooperation in generating the data and information that defines safety for any given technology or product. The shift to commercial labs and academic institutions is occurring at the same time the consumer continues to believe that food is “safe”, novel technologies and products are entering the market at an ever increasing rate, the market is moving toward a more global food supply, and significant changes are taking place in the food safety/inspection infrastructure. To meet these challenges, the academic institutions will take on more importance. To the extent that food scientists from industry dissipate, other food scientists — particularly those in academic settings — must assume additional responsibilities. Further changes will come in the way we do business.

In the words of Robert McVicker, Kraft General Foods’ Dr. VP of Technology, Quality Assurance and Scientific Relations, describing one public/private sector cooperative effort, the National Center for Food Safety and Technology, “It is clear that in forming the National Center our key objective is the generation and fostering of scientific and technical knowledge and the exchange of this knowledge among the agency, industry, and academic partners. In working side by side, I believe we will learn that our goals are very similar and are, in fact, identical. Through partnerships and strategic alliances such as we are forging, we will continue to deliver safe and wholesome foods to American consumers.”     

Chickpeas—Composition,Nutritional Value,Health Benefits,Application to Bread and Snacks: A Review

Chickpea is grain legumes grown mainly in areas with temperate and semiarid climate. It is characterized by a high content of protein, fat, vitamins, fiber, and a lower content of carbohydrates than flour of wheat. Chickpeas may contain antinutritional compounds that can impair utilization of the nutrients by people. Heat treatment is an effective method to increase the amount of protein available for intestinal digestibility. Adding chickpeas to a foodstuff can increase their nutritional value and reduce the acrylamide content. Acrylamide is an antinutritional substance present in foods, such as bread, snacks, and chips. Chickpea flour and protein may be new way to a reduce the content of acrylamide in products of this type. The addition of chickpea flour affects the sensory and textural properties.     

Critical review on conventional spectroscopic α-amylase activity detection methods: merits,demerits, and future prospects

α-Amylase is an endoenzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of internal α-l,4 glycosidic linkages in polysaccharides to produce maltose, maltotriose, and α-limit dextrins. It is widely used in the laboratorial and industrial workflow for several applications. There are several methods utilizing different techniques and substrates to assess α-amylase activity, among which the spectroscopic methods have found widespread applicability due to their ease of use and cost-effectiveness. Depending upon the reaction principle, these assays are classified into four groups: reducing sugar, enzymatic, chromogenic, and amyloclastic methods. Despite the presence of numerous methods, there is no general reliable method to assess α-amylase activity. Each method is shown to have its own merits and demerits. Many improvements have been made to make the available methods more accurate, reliable, and easy. This communication briefly discusses the basic reaction mechanisms and critically reviews the advantages and shortcomings associated with each method. Further recommendations are made for future development. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry     

Potato Production,Usage, and Nutrition—A Review

Potato is an economically important staple crop prevailing all across the world with successful large-scale production, consumption, and affordability with easy availability in the open market. Potatoes provide basic nutrients such as—carbohydrates, dietary fiber (skin), several vitamins, and minerals (e.g., potassium, magnesium, iron). On occasion exposures to raw and cooked potatoes impart allergic reactions. Dietary intake of potatoes, especially colored potatoes, play an important role in the production of antioxidant defense system by providing essential nutrient antioxidants, such as vitamins, β-carotene, polyphenols, and minerals. This may help lower the incidence of wide range of chronic and acute disease processes (like hypertension, heart diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative, and other diseases). However, retention of nutrients in potatoes is affected by various cooking and processing methods. Cooking at elevated temperature also produces acrylamide—a suspected carcinogen. Independent and/or collaborative studies have been conducted and reported on the various pathways leading to the formation of acrylamide in heat processed foods. This article reviews the latest research on potato production, consumption, nature of phytochemicals and their health benefits, and allergic reactions to children. Also included is the discovery of acrylamide in processed starch-rich foods including potatoes, mechanism of formation, detection methodologies, and mitigation steps to reduce acrylamide content in food.     

al or potential harm, and that methods and meas

sizes more on the regulation of authentication and trade mark, pays more attention to methods of food eating, and concerns the differences among eaters more. Also, they differ rather obviously in public administration.“ Food quality”, a definition of“ degree”, means the degree of food quality, including both high-class food and low-grade food. Bu“tfood safety”is an“ absolute” definition, meaning that there is no acute or chronic danger in the food.“ Food sanitary” is also an“ absolute” definition. The opinion h     

Postharvest processing of tree nuts: Current status and future prospects—A comprehensive review

Tree nuts are important economic crops and are consumed as healthy snacks worldwide. In recent years, the increasing needs for more efficient and effective postharvest processing technologies have been driven by the growing production, higher quality standards, stricter food safety requirements, development of new harvesting methods, and demand to achieve energy saving and carbon neutralization. Among all, the technologies related to drying, disinfection, and disinfestation and downstream processes, such as blanching, kernel peeling, and roasting, are the most important processes influencing the quality and safety of the products. These processes make up the largest contribution to the energy consumptions and environmental impacts stemming from tree nut production. Although many studies have been conducted to improve the processing efficiency and sustainability, and preserve the product quality and safety, information from these studies is fragmented and a centralized review highlighting the important technology advancements of postharvest processing of tree nuts would benefit the industry. In this comprehensive review, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios are selected as the representative crops of tree nuts. Current statuses, recent advances, and ongoing challenges in the scientific research as well as in the industrial processing practices of these tree nuts are summarized. Some new perspectives and applications of tree nut processing waste and by-products (such as the hulls and shells) are also discussed. In addition, future trends and research needs are highlighted. The material presented here will help both stakeholders and scientists to better understand postharvest tree nut processing and provide technological recommendations to improve the efficiency and sustainability, product quality and safety, and competitiveness of the industry.     

Calcium bioavailability in human milk,cow milk and infant formulas—comparison between dialysis and solubility methods

The percentages of total, soluble and dialysable calcium of human milk, cow milk and milk and soy based infant formulas were determined in order to detect possible differences in the calcium bioavailability of the samples. For this purpose an in vitro method was applied to these four calcium sources. The ranking of the analysed samples in terms of calcium bioavailability depends on the criteria applied. Calcium ranked dialysis percentage was: cow milk>human milk>soy based formula>milk based formulas. Calcium ranked solubility percentage was: human milk>cow milk>soy-based formula>milk-based formulas. Comparison of the results of the in vitro assay with the information available on in vivo calcium absorption showed that the total soluble calcium contents agree with the in vivo absorption values better than with calcium dialysis percentages.     

Invited review: Learning from the future—A vision for dairy farms and cows in 2067

The world's population will reach 10.4 billion in 2067, with 81% residing in Africa or Asia. Arable land available for food production will decrease to 0.15 ha per person. Temperature will increase in tropical and temperate zones, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, and this will push growing seasons and dairy farming away from arid areas and into more northern latitudes. Dairy consumption will increase because it provides essential nutrients more efficiently than many other agricultural systems. Dairy farming will become modernized in developing countries and milk production per cow will increase, doubling in countries with advanced dairying systems. Profitability of dairy farms will be the key to their sustainability. Genetic improvements will include emphasis on the coding genome and associated noncoding epigenome of cattle, and on microbiomes of dairy cattle and farmsteads. Farm sizes will increase and there will be greater lateral integration of housing and management of dairy cattle of different ages and production stages. Integrated sensors, robotics, and automation will replace much of the manual labor on farms. Managing the epigenome and microbiome will become part of routine herd management. Innovations in dairy facilities will improve the health of cows and permit expression of natural behaviors. Herds will be viewed as superorganisms, and studies of herds as observational units will lead to improvements in productivity, health, and well-being of dairy cattle, and improve the agroecology and sustainability of dairy farms. Dairy farmers in 2067 will meet the world's needs for essential nutrients by adopting technologies and practices that provide improved cow health and longevity, profitable dairy farms, and sustainable agriculture.     

A 100-Year Review: Carbohydrates—Characterization,digestion, and utilization

Our knowledge of the role of carbohydrates in dairy cattle nutrition has advanced substantially in the 100 years of the publication of the Journal of Dairy Science. In this review, we trace the history of scientific investigation and discovery from crude fiber, nitrogen-free extract, and “unidentified factors” to our present analytical schemes and understanding of ruminal and whole-animal utilization and effects of dietary carbohydrates. Historically, advances in research and new feeding standards occurred in parallel with and fostered by new methods of analysis. The 100 years of research reviewed here has bequeathed to us an impressive legacy of information, which we will continue to grow.     

Lupin seed γ-conglutin: Extraction and purification methods - A review

BackgroundLupin, the largest legume crop in Australia, is gaining global attention because of its unique protein γ-conglutin, which has shown promise as a nutraceutical for controlling blood glucose level and thus reducing the risk of type II diabetes development. Type II diabetes is a chronic condition affecting millions of individuals worldwide, which urgently requires natural side effect free therapies as alternatives to currently used drugs. Purification of γ-conglutin opens up a new avenue for high-value products from lupin seeds as nutraceuticals, the market for which is predicted to reach US$ 250 billion by 2018 (Dutta, Mahabir, & Pathak, 2013).Scope and approachPreviously, several research groups have reported trials on extracting and purifying proteins from lupin seed. However, most of these methods have focussed on protein isolates as food ingredients. Very few reports have aimed to purify γ-conglutin from the total proteins, but the methods reported are time-consuming and unsuitable for commercial scale production of high purity γ-conglutin due to the involvement of many processing steps for nutraceutical application. Hence there is a need to fully understand all reported γ-conglutin extraction and purification processes in terms of their advantages and limitations, so that an effective scalable purification process for nutraceutical grade γ-conglutin may be designed in the future.Key findings and conclusionsThis article reviews reported extraction and purification methods for γ-conglutin, to provide a basis for the development of novel purification technique/process for this potentially highly valuable protein.     

Diacylglycerol Oil—Properties, Processes and Products: A Review

Diacylglycerol (DAG) oil has beneficial effects on obesity and weight-related disorders. A survey of literature has shown the effects of DAG on the reduction in the accumulation of body fat in both animals and humans. The physiological effect of DAG is believed to be attributed to its metabolic pathway, which is different from triacylglycerol (TAG) metabolism. Physicochemical properties, such as melting and smoke points and polymorphic forms, of DAG are also distinct from TAG. Various patented processes for DAG oil production from several reaction routes are discussed. A review of patent literature of commercial products based on DAG oils and fats is also provided.     

Nondestructive quality evaluation of agro-products using acoustic vibration methods—A review

ABSTRACT

Quality evaluation of agro-products is quite important because it is the basis for growers, distributers, and consumers. Various novel and emerging nondestructive methods were proposed for quality evaluation of agro-products. The acoustic vibration method is one of the major nondestructive methods for agro-products in pre- and postharvest research and industrial practice. Acoustic vibration characteristics of agro-products can be used for texture evaluation, prediction of optimum eating and harvest ripeness, ripeness classification and defect detection. Generally, there are three parts in the process of acoustic vibration method, including the excitation module, signal acquisition module, and signal-processing module. The impact method and forced method are two excitation methods in the excitation module, and there are contact and noncontact sensors for vibration measurement in the signal acquisition module. Noncontact measurement can meet the requirement of rapid and nondestructive measurement, especially for the on-line detection. However, increasing demand for accurate and cost-effective measurement remains a challenge in the agro-products industry. Comparison of acoustic vibration methods and traditional destructive methods was also discussed, which helps to give a more comprehensive assessment for the acoustic vibration method.     

A 100-Year Review: A century of dairy processing advancements—Pasteurization,cleaning and sanitation,and sanitary equipment design

Over the past century, advancements within the mainstream dairy foods processing industry have acted in complement with other dairy-affiliated industries to produce a human food that has few rivals with regard to safety, nutrition, and sustainability. These advancements, such as milk pasteurization, may appear commonplace in the context of a modern dairy processing plant, but some consideration of how these advancements came into being serve as a basis for considering what advancements will come to bear on the next century of processing advancements. In the year 1917, depending on where one resided, most milk was presented to the consumer through privately owned dairy animals, small local or regional dairy farms, or small urban commercial dairies with minimal, or at best nascent, processing capabilities. In 1917, much of the retail milk in the United States was packaged and sold in returnable quart-sized clear glass bottles fitted with caps of various design and composition. Some reports suggest that the cost of that quart of milk was approximately 9 cents—an estimated $2.00 in 2017 US dollars. Comparing that 1917 quart of milk to a quart of milk in 2017 suggests several differences in microbiological, compositional, and nutritional value as well as flavor characteristics. Although a more comprehensive timeline of significant processing advancements is noted in the AppendixTable A1 to this paper, we have selected 3 advancements to highlight; namely, the development of milk pasteurization, cleaning and sanitizing technologies, and sanitary specifications for processing equipment. Finally, we provide some insights into the future of milk processing and suggest areas where technological advancements may need continued or strengthened attention and development as a means of securing milk as a food of high safety and value for the next century to come.