OBJECTIVE Trinidad and Tobago has experienced an epidemiological transition over recent decades characterised by reduced rates of communicable diseases but rapidly increasing rates of obesity and non-communicable chronic diseases. The objective of the present study was to investigate the changes in energy and nutrient supply that have taken place in Trinidad and Tobago between 1961 and 2007. ...

It has been a challenging task to manage perishable food supply chains because of the perishable product’s short lifetime, the possible spoilage of the product due to its deterioration nature, and the retail demand uncertainty. All of these factors can lead to a significant amount of shortage of food items and a substantial retail loss. The recent development of tracing and tracking technologie...

Summary The factors underlying poor child health in remote Australian Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) communities are complex. There is a lack of consistent and reliable information that allows: (i) the identification of priorities or areas of particular need at household and community levels; (ii) monitoring progress over time; and (iii) the assessment of the impact of inter...

Several global developments such as the growing demand for bioenergy, limits in the availability of water and diminishing production resources as well as sector-wide crises (e.g. BSE, swine fever, dioxin) have led to a changing attitude of society towards the consequences of the food system‘s activities for social, economic and environmental issues, captured in the term of sustainability. As a ...

Until recently food was considered an unlikely target for terrorism. But, terrorism events around the world now require a redoubled effort to protect the safety of the food supply. Concerned governments and industries need to evaluate and adapt countermeasures to reduce potential threats to this most fundamental need. To achieve this goal, research is needed to develop and deploy technologies t...

Hunger, malnutrition, food insecurity and famines are still persistent in many regions globally. Especially on a local level new concepts of targeting food insecurity need to be implemented. Prior to applying new practical concepts the initial situation has to be understood accurately. Therefore, this methodology paper aims at enhancing monitoring systems in times of food scarcity. The overall ...

Evolution may be dominated by biotic factors, as in the Red Queen model, or abiotic factors, as in the Court Jester model, or a mixture of both. The two models appear to operate predominantly over different geographic and temporal scales: Competition, predation, and other biotic factors shape ecosystems locally and over short time spans, but extrinsic factors such as climate and oceanographic a...

Renewable and carbon neutral biofuels are necessary for environmental and economic sustainability. The viability of the first generation biofuels production is however questionable because of the conflict with food supply. Microalgal biofuels are a viable alternative. The oil productivity of many microalgae exceeds the best producing oil crops. This paper aims to analyze and promote integration...

The protection of farmland from development is emerging as a major policy initiative in several states and dozens of counties and municipalities. From a national perspective, the loss of farmland-estimated at about one million acres a year-does not appear to be a threat to America's food supply or food prices. However, from a local and regional perspective, farmland loss to suburban and ex-urba...

Consumers and regulatory officials are becoming increasingly aware of the human health risk of the presence of micro-organisms or chemicals in the agricultural environment. Providing 'on-farm food safety' programmes which address the daily management of the production unit with regard to animal health and well-being, public health and environmental health must be a top priority for agricultural...