Toxic substances and endocrine disruptors are present in consumer goods on the European Union (EU) market, such as in food contact materials like cookware. This article investigates whether a legal recall obligation of such products exists in EU law, and in the absence of such an obligation, how the EU legislature has ensured that such products are disposed of in a manner that does not compromise human health and the environment when they become waste. For this purpose, this Article analyses recall obligations for food contact materials containing persistent organic pollutants, as well as their waste regulations. It focuses on a class of substances with non-stick properties, some of them formerly used in cookware, such as pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). We show that there is no single legal recall obligation; rather, many legal obligations are scattered among different provisions of EU law. When read together, they form a complex web of obligations, which may lead to recall measures for most of these products. However, doubts over the feasibility and effectiveness of such recalls remain.

Currently systems grow in complexity and more aspects, such as socio-technical aspects or the obligation to produce proof become more important. Both require a safety analysis on the system level early in the design process. System overview is provided by MBSE, while safety analysis is provided for example by FMEA. Both processes are executed organizationally and timely separated from each other. This research proposes a concept and a tool integration at the concept design phase, during system definition and functional decomposition and evaluates the effect and its potential applicability.

We introduce several highness notions on degrees related to the problem of computing isomorphisms between structures, provided that isomorphisms exist. We consider variants along axes of uniformity, inclusion of negative information, and several other problems related to computing isomorphisms. These other problems include Scott analysis (in the form of back-and-forth relations), jump hierarchies, and computing descending sequences in linear orders.

The development of a new motor can be a high effort. In this paper, Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is applied to model the second generation of an electronic compact actuator (ECA). This paper focuses on the traceability between model elements from previous product generations. By integrating the approach of the PGE - Product Generation Engineering in MBSE, developers can store more relevant information in the model; they can accomplish automatic calculations of derived factors and build models more efficiently in further product developments.

Considering the additional market value of pasture meat, many authentication methods were developed to discriminate it from meat produced in conventional systems. The visible reflectance spectroscopy technique has proved its efficiency under European conditions and breeds. The present study tested the reliability of this method to discriminate between pasture-fed (P) and stall-fed (S) lambs under North African conditions and investigated the effect of feeding system (FS) (P v. S) and breed (Barbarine; Queue Fine de l’Ouest; and Noire de Thibar) on weight and colour of perirenal, subcutaneous and caudal fat. A total of 18 P and 18 S lambs were used with 6 P and 6 S lambs for each breed. The colour and the reflectance spectrum of different fat tissues were measured. The FS affected weights of all fat tissues and all colour parameters of perirenal and subcutaneous fat (P ≤ 0.01); it almost affected redness and yellowness of caudal fat (P ≤ 0.05; P ≤ 0.01). In all adipose tissues, lightness was higher and both redness and yellowness were lower for S lambs than P lambs. The breed affected weight, lightness and redness of perirenal fat and weight and redness of subcutaneous fat with significant interaction with FS for subcutaneous fat data. To discriminate P lambs from S lambs, the reflectance spectrum of perirenal, subcutaneous and caudal fat at wavelengths between 450 and 510 nm (Method 1, M1) or at wavelengths between 400 and 700 nm using partial least squares discriminative analysis as a classification method (Method 2, M2) were used. M2 yielded to a higher proportion of correctly classified lambs compared with M1 (P = 0.001). The proportion of correctly classified lambs using M2 was 76.4, 75.0 and 80.0% for perirenal, subcutaneous and caudal fat for P lambs and 83.3, 76.4 and 100.0% for S lambs. Despite lower reliability in comparisons to European researches, this study confirmed the efficiency of visible reflectance spectroscopy technique applied on perirenal fat in feeding systems authentication under North African conditions and spotted the caudal fat as a new support for better classification of fat-tailed breeds.

The centralized nature of the United States food production, processing and distribution system makes it difficult for small fruit and vegetable farmers to serve as suppliers to institutional foodservice operations (IFOs), such as schools and hospitals. Due to age, economic and/or health status, it is often the clients of these foodservice operations who would benefit from increasing their consumption of locally grown fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, institutions are often limited in their resources and food preparation infrastructure, and lack market-based incentives to incorporate locally grown foods into their menus. This study identifies and suggests solutions to barriers that limit the ability of small fruit and vegetable farmers to serve as suppliers to IFOs. Data were collected through an extensive series of focus group meetings held with small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers in three South-Atlantic states. From these meetings, practical marketing considerations, such as payment terms, and processing, packaging and delivery requirements of supplying institutional foodservice buyers, were identified as obstacles to the efficient function of this market channel. Food safety challenges, including the related issues of obtaining (food) products liability insurance and food safety certifications, were also acknowledged among top concerns. A majority of the identified challenges were similar to those reported in other studies, but several were complicated by characteristics of farm production, limited food system infrastructure and marketing experiences in the study region. Several practical solutions to overcoming some of these marketing constraints are offered.

Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an important livestock species in many tropical and subtropical regions. In recent decades, the interest in buffalo’s milk have expanded and intensive buffalo farms start to emerge. However, breeding programs and population genetics information for this species is scarce or inexistent. The present study aims to test the suitability of the commercial high-density single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) genotyping panel, the Illumina BovineHD BeadChip, to estimate population genetics parameters, pedigree control and identification of common variants in major production candidate genes. From a total of 777 962 SNPs included in the panel, 20 479 were polymorphic in water buffalo at a call rate of 86% and an average expected heterozygosity (HE) of 0.306. From these, 357 were mapped within or around the flanking regions of several major candidate genes. A principal components analysis identified three different clusters, each representing pure swamp buffalo type, pure river buffalo type and admixed river buffalo. The hybrids between swamp and river buffalo were clearly identified as an intermediary cluster. The suitability of these SNPs data set for parentage and identity testing demonstrated that the combination of just 30 to 50 SNPs were enough to attain high probabilities of parentage exclusion (0.9999) in both types and identity (2.3×10−5 and 2.0×10−7) for river and swamp buffalo, respectively. Our analysis confirms the suitability of the BovineHD BeadChip to assess population structure, hybridization and identity of the water buffalo populations.

This research has multidisciplinary characteristics with a focus on cotton fiber production and computational solutions to improved data exchange. The research is divided into three parts, the identification of the cotton fiber production processes, the formal ontology for identifying the data classes, and finally the proposal of a specific metadata standard for cotton fiber production. The absence of a specific standard for this segment favors the heterogeneity in the various data sources. The contribution of the research lies in improving the information exchange used in agricultural systems providing identification of each individual responsible for steps in the cotton production chain.

Revitalization of state brands is deemed important to several constituencies. Stated preference with choice experiment methods were used to elicit consumer preferences for two locally grown products: spinach, which has had a well-publicized food safety incidence, and carrots, which have had no such incidence in recent history. A full factorial design was used to implement the choice experiment, with each commodity having four identical attributes varying at different levels. Findings reveal that consumers are willing to pay a premium for locally grown spinach marked with the Arizona Grown label over locally grown spinach that was not labeled. This premium was higher than the premium that would be paid for state-branded carrots. This difference highlights consumers’ perceptions of “locally grown” as an indicator of safety in their food supply. Findings have important implications with respect to providing consumer value and point to differentiated positioning strategies for state-branded produce.

From production to retail, information systems have become increasingly important in the agrifood system. Retailers use information systems to improve inventory management and increase efficiency in production and logistics. Innovations in agribiotechnology and food safety issues highlighted by incidences related to Starlink corn and “mad cow disease” have raised consumer concerns about their food products. In addition to food safety concerns, consumers are increasingly willing to pay premiums for nonobservable quality characteristics in their food products. This paper outlines a framework for evaluating the implications of traceability for the organization of the agricultural system and highlights potential organizational responses to traceability issues.

We employed Vickrey auctions to generate willingness-to-pay (WTP) data forred meat traceability and related product characteristics with comparableexperimental auctions in the United States, Canada, the U.K., and Japan. Theresults show that subjects are willing to pay a nontrivial premium fortraceability, but the same subjects show even higher WTP fortraceability-provided characteristics like additional meat safety and humaneanimal treatment guarantees. The implication is that producers might be ableto implement traceable meat systems profitably by tailoring the verifiablecharacteristics of the product to consumer preferences.

This article provides a brief history of the animal identification (ID) system that previously existed in Canada along with details on efforts to “reidentify” the country's cattle herd. The current state of ID for various species is summarized, and the state of regulations federally and for major agricultural province are outlined. A short background on the economics of animal ID is provided. Particular attention is paid to the operation of the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency, an industry-government initiative charged with identifying the national cattle herd. The animal ID system in Canada is found to have performed well when called on in times of animal health crises, although there have been notable deficiencies in its performance on occasion. Canada's animal ID system will continue to evolve as new technologies for tagging and database management (among others) are developed. It is expected the system will play an important role in future attempts to exploit traceability for value-added initiatives.

As part of its training activities, SupAgro – Institut des Régions Chaudes (IRC),an agricultural engineering school in Montpellier, has introduced an appliedtraining session in metrology for its students. This was undertaken by the CIRAD metrologyplatform in partnership with the agrifood technology platform of the Qualisud JointResearch Unit. The session comprises two hour workshops during which students can applythe basic notions required for metrological monitoring of the quantities “temperature” and“weight”. To that end, standard weights, a temperature calibration device comprising athermostatically controlled calibration oil bath (uncertainty at k = 2 of 0.14°C) and a standardtemperature probe with an accuracy of ±0.01 °Cwere made available to the technology platform by the CIRAD metrology platform. Duringpractical work, these COFRAC calibrated instruments are used to check balances and, inparticular, make students aware of the importance of parameters that might influence thetemperature measurement of a thermostatically controlled bath (homogeneity, resolution andaccuracy of the thermometers, measurement repeatability, etc.). To that end, the Qualisudteam specifically adapted a water bath so as to be able to position several temperatureprobes at different places in the bath. Students have to acquire an approach that needs totake into account a particular measuring context. The teaching scenario of the trainingsession is structured around these metrological checks proposed directly to the students.The training session takes place each year with 2nd year students on the SAADS 2/IAAScourse “Sustainable Agriculture and Agrifood Systems in the South” at SupAgroin Montpellier.

The National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA) Gas Flow Laboratory providestraceability to the South African Industry for gas flow measurements. A new primarystandard for gas flow calibrations was purchased and commissioned. With three flow cells,a flow range of 0.5 mL/min to 50 000 mL/min is covered. The main features of this standardare accuracy, speed and convenience. This paper describes the activities of the NMISA GasFlow Laboratory – a discussion of the primary standard, the validation thereof,calibration methods for client instrumentation, analysis of measurement results and thecalculation of measurement uncertainties.

Multielemental stable isotope ratio (SIR) analysis was used in lamb plasma, erythrocytes and muscle to detect the switch from a pasture- to a concentrate-based diet, with the aim of verifying the possibility to trace the change of feeding in animal tissues. During 89 days of experimental feeding, lambs were subjected to four dietary treatments: pasture (P), pasture followed by concentrate in the stall for either 14 days (P-S14) or 37 days (P-S37) or concentrate in the stall (S). Pasture and concentrate diets comprised C3 plants only and had different values of 13C/12C, 18O/16O, 2H/1H and 34S/32S ratios. Muscle 13C/12C and 34S/32S and plasma 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in P, P-S14 and P-S37 lambs were significantly different. A multivariate analytical approach revealed that 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in plasma were the most powerful variables for the discrimination among the dietary treatments.

Traceability of information provides the basis for assessing the credibility of engineering information, better understanding it, and making judgments about the appropriateness of its use for a particular design task. The presented research attempts to answer how the proposed traceability methodology and framework could help designers to improve communication, eventually create new channels of communication, and contribute to the creation of shared understanding in collaborative design processes. The discussion of these issues is based on a literature review, empirical research, observations of industrial practice, and feedback from initial implementation. The research is focused on information objects (IOs), archetypically represented in the engineering domain as technical documents that are often complex structures constituted of textual, numerical, and graphical fragments. The presented approach is based on an abstraction of IOs' relationships organized around specific contexts that are defined by a subset of product development ontology. Each IO could be repeatedly represented in various contexts that may contain different subsets of objects and their relationships. Such a representation also acts as a container in which the ontology concept instances are associated with IOs being developed and traced during the design episode. The usage of the proposed traceability methodology is discussed with examples of implementation and possible utilization situations. The paper is focused on explaining how the developed functionalities could help to resolve manifestations of inadequate information flow, which cause communication barriers in engineering companies. In addition, the proposed traceability methodology offers the possibility to record the detailed history of actions and events associated with IOs in the usage process of the product life cycle management systems. Based on the research findings, this paper argues that such a network of the traceability links and relationships may be viewed as a novel design communication channel.