Current Awareness Delivery Options in Food Science and Technology: Their Coverage,Timeliness and Characteristics

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to (1) identify the most productive source for current awareness information for the faculty and graduate students in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Arkansas, (2) identify the update frequency and, hence, currency of information, and (3) identify effectiveness in retrieval. It is also hoped that this research will provide evidenced-based information for subscribing to a particular current awareness database for University of Arkansas food science and technology patrons and will allow us to direct patrons in this subject area to the best and most relevant resource for their current information needs. This paper reports the results of our evaluation of four current awareness sources on three search interfaces. These include Article 1st (First Search); Ingenta Connect; ISI Current Contents: Agriculture, Biology and Environmental Sciences (ABES); and ISI Current Contents: Life Sciences (LS). A listing of journals cited by faculty and graduate students in the Department of Food Science at the University of Arkansas for the period 1987–2003 was used to check against these databases. The extent of coverage of the journals and timeliness of update were used as criteria for the evaluation. The characteristics of the three interfaces are highlighted with respect to their effectiveness in providing a current awareness service.     

Mapping the Literature of Food Science Using Co-Citation Analysis

ABSTRACT

This study mapped the scholarly literature in the discipline of food science using co-citation analysis and explored the relationships found within this literature. Using the Journal of Food Science, an examination of a random sample of its articles published from 2000 to 2002 yielded a ranked list of frequently-cited journals. The top thirteen most frequently-cited journals formed a core set for further analysis. Using the SciSearch online database and a standard statistical package (SPSS), a two-dimensional map was created, relationships between the journals were studied, and the discipline of food science was explored. Food science journals tended to be either industry-specific (e.g., dairy science) or industry-general. The journals also tended to focus on either “pure” science (e.g., chemistry) or on applied science and technology. Of the thirteen journals mapped, six fell within the area of pure science, while four were in the area of applied science. Interestingly, three journals fell on the axis line dividing the two. At the same time, seven journals had the characteristics of being industry-general, while six were more industry-specific. The results are consistent with previous indications of the interdisciplinary nature of the field of food science, drawing as it does from many fields such as chemistry, microbiology, engineering, and agricultural science.     

Mapping the Literature of Food Science Revisited: 2003–2005

ABSTRACT

After reviewing previously published literature in citation analysis and literature mapping, this study mapped the literature of food science and explored the relationships found within it. Using articles published in the Journal of Food Science from 2003 through 2005, a stratified random sample of citations was studied to yield a ranked list of the thirteen most frequently cited journals, which formed a core set for further analysis. Using the Science Citation Index and a standard statistical package (SPSS₁₃), a two-dimensional map was created, relationships between the journals were studied, and the discipline of food science was explored. The study is an extension of previously published research covering the years 2000–2002 and attempts to analyze and compare the results across time frames.     

Food Safety Resources on the World Wide Web

ABSTRACT

Issues of food safety are as important today than during any time in history. There is a lot of information available on the World Wide Web pertaining to food safety. Finding and sorting through all of the information for reliable and credible resources can take a lot of time and effort. Furthermore, are those sources updated as information changes? This is a critical question, as outbreaks and opinions can change moment to moment. The Food Safety Webliography provides a wide range of credible resources available to the general public and covers an expansive breadth of food-safety related topics.     

Identifying the Core Periodical Literature of the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center

ABSTRACT

“Agricultural communications” is an emerging field which is naturally both part of the “agriculture” and “communications” literature. However, it is much broader than just a subset of each. The coverage of standard databases such as CAB Abstracts and Communication Abstracts, while a good start, does not sufficiently cover the field. The Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has, over the last quarter century, worked to help define and collect this literature, by identifying relevant documents and entering them into a Web-searchable Microsoft Access database. An analysis of this database reveals important clues concerning the literature of agricultural communications. Of the nearly 30,000 documents within the ACDC collection, periodical articles comprise a little over one half, from a core list of 45 periodicals within the ACDC collection. More than one half of these core periodicals are outside the traditional agriculture and life science literature; approximately one third are scholarly journals.     

What's the Beef in South Korea Protests?: The Technical,Psychometric, and Sociocultural Dimensions of News Coverage of Risk

Millions of South Koreans took to the streets for more than 2 months in 2008 ostensibly in protest over their government's handling of beef imports from the United States. This study examines the technical, psychometric, and sociocultural dimensions of these public protests by conducting a content analysis of the coverage of the English language daily newspaper The Korea Herald. The results suggest that the scarcity of technical risk assessment information and the preponderance of normative or outrage factors in the newspaper's coverage (lack of trust in government, perceptions of inequity, and unequal benefits accruing to both nations) may have fueled public anxiety and anger. The findings also point to social, cultural, and historical factors that may explain why allowing U.S. beef into the Korean market elicited strong public reactions.     

基于RFID技术的食品体系研究

食品安全是一个世界性的问题，因此食品安全追溯体系的建设在世界各国都在进行研究与应用。随着我国对外贸易的发展及国内消费水平的不断提高，食品安全也成为我国各级政府、生产与消费者都非常关心的一个问题，因此，食品安全追溯体系在我国食品及原料生产中的研究与应用日益迫切，RFID技术的研究与应用为食品安全追溯体系的建设提供了技术基础。本文根据RFID技术的特点，结合食品的生产、加工、储藏、运输、销售等各个环节可追溯的因素，分析了我国食品安全追溯体系的研究策略、共性关键技术及标准研究、实施方案、信息采集的范围与方法等，并指出了此项技术应用的优势和不足之处。     

Dietary alkylresorcinols and lignans in the Spanish diet: development of the alignia database

The intake of alkylresorcinols and lignans in Spain is unknown due to the lack of information on the content of these compounds in particular foods. This paper describes the development of the first alkylresorcinol and lignan database adapted to the Spanish diet, including foods items especially relevant for this population. The values of alkylresorcinols and lignans in common foods and beverages were collected from scientific publications in refereed journals, and other foods particularly consumed in Spain, for which values were not available, were analyzed by standardized protocols and included into the database. The Alignia database presents the content of alkylresorcinols in 88 food items and the lignan content of 593 foods and beverages. Using the database, the intake of lignans in Spain, calculated using data from the Food Composition Panel based on household consumption, was estimated to be 0.76 mg/day.     

Density-dependent grazing on the extraradical hyphal network of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Glomus intraradices, by the collembolan, Folsomia candida

The effect of microarthropod density on the relative palatibility of selected microfungi and on the integrity of extraradical arbuscular-mycorrhizal (AM) hyphal networks was examined. A series of microcosm experiments were conducted using two conidial fungi (Alternaria alternata and Trichoderma harzianum), one AM fungus (Glomus intraradices) and the microarthropod Folsomia candida (Collembola). We did not detect a significant effect of athropod density on food preference. Food preferences for conidial over mycorrhizal hyphae were consistent across a wide range of collembolan densities. Collembolan density did, however, have a significant effect on the numbers of extraradical AM hyphae which were severed from the plant root in vitro. Even in the presence of a preferred food source, numbers of severed AM hyphal networks increased with increasing collembolan density. Also, the fecundity of Folsomia candida increased in the presence of preferred food sources. We conclude that microarthropod population densities are influenced by the fungal species available and that the potential of microarthropods to impair the efficacy of AM symbioses is density-dependent. Received: 16 May 1997     

The changing structure of diets in the European Union in relation to healthy eating guidelines

OBJECTIVE: Our objective in this paper is to assess diets in the European Union (EU) in relation to the recommendations of the recent World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization expert consultation and to show how diets have changed between 1961 and 2001. DATA AND METHODS: Computations make use of FAOSTAT data on food availability at country level linked to a food composition database to convert foods to nutrients. We further explore the growing similarity of diets in the EU by making use of a consumption similarity index. The index provides a single number measure of dietary overlap between countries. RESULTS: The data confirm the excessive consumption by almost all countries of saturated fats, cholesterol and sugars, and the convergence of nutrient intakes across the EU. Whereas in 1961 diets in several European countries were more similar to US diets than to those of other European countries, this is no longer the case; moreover, while EU diets have become more homogeneous, the EU as a whole and the USA have become less similar over time. CONCLUSIONS: Although the dominant cause of greater similarity in EU diets over the period studied is increased intakes in Mediterranean countries of saturated fats, cholesterol and sugar, also important are reductions in saturated fat and sugar in some Northern European countries. This suggests that healthy eating messages are finally having an impact on diets; a distinctly European diet may also be emerging.     

Soil quality and other factors influencing maize yield in northern Ghana

Food security is a crucial issue in sub‐Saharan Africa as a consequence of unreliable rainfall, marginal soil fertility and a low level of inputs leading to declining crop yields. As a case study, we investigated the most important variables affecting maize yield in northern Ghana. We combined a soil quality index on a continuous scale with a social data set to model maize yield using linear multiple regression. Five significant variables have been identified (P < 0.05): soil quality index, fertilizer use, household size, distance from main market, and the interaction between fallow length and soil quality index. The effect of the interaction between soil quality and fallow on maize yield is negative, suggesting the influence of litter quality and N immobilization in the soils. Research and policy should focus on the development of site‐specific, legume‐based cropping, and the integration of crop and livestock farming in Northern Ghana and similar areas in sub‐Saharan Africa.     

Pet Food Information: Resources for Making Healthy Choices for Our Best Friends

Many of us who are guardians for companion animals were struck with fear when we heard about the massive recall of cat and dog foods during the spring of 2007. Even premium brands were being added to the recall list. Dogs and cats were becoming ill and many died from what appeared to be some sort of food contamination. Eventually, the cause of these pet illnesses and deaths was linked to the intentional adding of melamine to wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China. The melamine combined with cyanuric acid—a by-product of melamine and an additive in some animal feed—caused the formation of crystals in the kidneys of cats and dogs that consumed the tainted food (Dobson et al., 2008).

Shortly after the pet food recalls of 2007, Congress worked to promote better food safety, including the safety of pet food. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) chaired hearings on the pet food recall (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2007). New pet food legislation was included and passed as part of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, Public Law 110–85. Section 1002 of the Act deals with pet food safety, and this section was codified at 21 U.S.C. §2102. This provision requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to work with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and other stakeholders to establish regulations regarding ingredients, processing standards, and labeling for pet food. It also requires the establishment of “early warning surveillance systems and notification during pet food recalls” (21 U.S.C. §2102[b]).     

The impact of drought on sorghum production,and farmer's varietal and trait preferences,in the north eastern Ethiopia: implications for breeding

Purpose: Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] has been cultivated for centuries as a staple food crop for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In Ethiopia a total of 4.34 million tons of sorghum is being produced per annum, predominantly in the arid and semi-arid areas. However, the yield and quality of sorghum is affected by a wide array of production constraints, notably severe and recurrent drought stress. The aim of this study were to determine the impact of drought on sorghum production and productivity over time and space, and to identify farmers’ trait preferences, production constraints and coping strategies when dealing with drought in north eastern Ethiopia.

Materials and methods: Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was employed in three administrative zones of north eastern Ethiopia. One Woreda from each Zone and two Kebeles from each Woreda were selected on the basis of sorghum area coverage, production, consumption and prior information on the intensity, duration and spatial coverage of drought. In each kebele, 30 respondents were selected for interview and 12 key informants were selected for group discussions and transect walk personal observations. Data collected from 180 respondents was subjected to statistical analysis and the information gathered from 72 key informants through focus group discussions and transect walk observations were used in discussing the results.

Results and discussion: The present study found that productivity of sorghum was challenged by recurrent droughts, Striga infestation, insects, birds, diseases, a lack of varieties with farmers-preferred traits and high yield potential, limited policy support, a lack of improved seed system, poor sorghum production practices and application of crop input and poor soil fertility, in a decreasing order of importance. Among the listed sorghum production constraints, severe drought in the post-flowering stage was identified by most interviewed farmers as the leading constraint across the three study zones. Focus group discussions and transect walk observations held in each Kebele revealed that farmers’ had lost numerous valuable local landrace varieties due to extreme drought conditions over the years. A significant number of interviewed farmers preferred to grow high grain and biomass yielder medium-maturing sorghum varieties which can be sown at the normal planting time but which would escape post-flowering drought.

Conclusion: Overall, sorghum breeding programme should be directed at developing farmers’ ideal sorghum varieties with high grain and biomass yield, adequate level of drought and Striga tolerance. In addition, development of farmer preferred medium-maturing sorghum varieties suitable for April planting should be strengthen to boost its productivity and to increase varietal adoption rate in the area.     

Pickled Vegetable Condiments: A Global Industry and Its Literature

Cucumbers, peppers, and sauerkraut, are by far the leading industrially pickled or fermented solid condiments purchased by foodservice operations and consumers in America. Seventeen other countries, some with specialty pickles for which they are world famous, also compete in the international market. After a review of the three main pickle processing methods in use today, a search for articles and patents in Food Science & Technology Abstracts, 2003–2012, under pickles, disclosed which countries were conducting ongoing scientific and market research on pickling, which categories of journals most often carried it, and what vegetables and topics were most often discussed.     

Leaf litter ingestion and assimilation by two endemic pill millipedes (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arthrosphaera</Emphasis>)

This study aims to determine leaf litter preference, consumption rate, growth rate, food conversion efficiency, and quality of fecal pellets of two endemic pill millipedes (Arthrosphaera dalyi and Arthrosphaera davisoni) of the Western Ghats of India by laboratory microcosm experiments. Among seven combinations of three plantation leaf litters offered in 4-day trial, top three preferred combinations were selected for 4-week trial. In 4-week trial, preference of mixed litter diet was higher than single litter diet, which resulted in enhanced growth as well as food conversion efficiency of millipedes. Among Hopea , Pongamia , and Areca litters, A. dalyi preferred Hopea + Pongamia, and its consumption was significantly correlated with contents of organic carbon (P < 0.05; r = –0.97) and nitrogen (P < 0.01; r = 0.99), while growth rate with phosphorus content (P < 0.05; r = 0.97) and food conversion efficiency with contents of organic carbon (P < 0.05; r = 0.98) and calcium (P < 0.01; r = –0.99). Among Areca , Elettaria , and Coffea litters, Areca + Elettaria  + Coffea was most preferred by A. davisoni, which was significantly correlated with organic carbon content (P < 0.05; r = 0.98) and food conversion efficiency with calcium content (P < 0.0001; r = 0.99). The food conversion efficiency, however, was the highest in millipedes fed with Areca  +  Elettaria. The present study demonstrated increased nitrogen and phosphorus contents and decreased phenolic content and C/N ratio in fecal pellets of pill millipedes fed with plantation litter, and thus, these millipedes play an important role in leaf litter mineralization and soil enrichment in plantations Western Ghats.     

University of Arkansas Food Science Faculty Publications and the Characteristics of Their Cited References: A Bibliometric Study

ABSTRACT

In the allocation of collection resources, it is important to have a good understanding of the teaching, instruction and research needs of faculty and graduate students. Data related to the use of electronic databases, journals, books, etc. is helpful; however, this data does not reflect the nature and impact of the information retrieved, but merely provides a general idea of the number of times items have been searched, retrieved or borrowed. By identifying and analyzing faculty and graduate students' publications and grant proposals to determine where researchers are publishing and what sources they are citing in their research, the Library can assess how well it is supplying a core of literature to meet research needs. To this end, this study analyzes the publication and citation patterns of food science faculty at the University of Arkansas for a fourteen-year period, 1990–2003. The findings show that faculty are using and citing materials ranging from 1 to 22 years old and that 85 titles account for only 13.67% of the total journals cited but for 77.75% of the citations. It is assumed that these 85 titles constitute the core journal titles for food science research.     

Is PLOS ONE Attracting Highly Cited Papers in the Food Sciences? Comparing Authors' Most Cited Work to Their PLOS ONE Articles Published 2006–2016

Since 2007, the Open Access journal PLOS ONE has published 194,622 expert-reviewed scientific papers, including 85 related to the human food sciences such as food safety, general food science, and nutrition. Seventy-five of their corresponding authors had previously published. Their most cited articles in other journals were identified and citation counts compared against those earned by their PLOS ONE papers. No PLOS ONE food sciences paper has yet been cited more than an author's best effort in the field in other journals. More than half (38) of the 75 PLOS ONE papers studied remain uncited even by their own authors.