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Copyright of Agricultural Outlook (1673-3908) is the property of Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background. Locally produced and domestically processed intact real foods such as potatoes are considered good choices to maintain food security and sustainability. In Indonesia, potato processing begins on the farm with grading that is done visually based on size and dimensions. Unfortunately, the nutritional properties of graded potatoes and their processing performance under domestic processing techniques - namely steaming, baking, and microwave heating - has not been widely studied. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the nutritional properties and the performance under steaming, baking, and microware heating of Indonesia MZ potatoes. Material and methods. After being graded, cleaned, and sorted, MZ potatoes were characterized by weight, dimension, color distribution, and chemical properties. The processing time under steaming, baking, and microwave heating techniques was then optimized. Subsequently, the processed potatoes were characterized by their chemical, textural and starch hydrolysis properties. The data were analyzed by means of analysis of variance, but the weight, dimensions and color distribution of the raw potatoes were analyzed by means of principal component analysis. Results. The results revealed that commercial grading does affect potato weight and dimensions but does not affect chemical properties. Regarding processing, the greater the size of the potato, the longer the time required to process it, regardless of the techniques. At a given commercial grade, the processing time was found to be longest for steaming, followed by baking and then microwave heating. Processing techniques had an impact on the starch hydrolysis of all grades, the protein content of B, D, E grades, and the moisture content of C, D, and E grades. Hence, the smaller the potato, the more susceptible it is to processing. The processing techniques had an effect on the hardness of grades D and E, and the gumminess of grade E. Conclusion. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how potato size, grading, and processing methods collectively influence their nutritional attributes and textural properties, providing valuable insights for both the agricultural and food processing industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zywnosc is the property of Polish Society of Food Technologists - Scientific Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Byproducts derived from the agricultural industry and food processing, such as seeds and skin or husks, have become important due to environmental sustainability and their value-added potential. Maqui (Aristotelia chilensis (Mol.) Stuntz) is a native Chilean wild tree that has several beneficial properties due to its high content of anthocyanins, anthocyanidins, phenolic acids, tannins, and fiber. The present study involved flour derived from maqui byproducts (seeds and skin) to produce cookies with a higher content of nutrients, dietary fiber, and antioxidants. Maqui bagasse was converted into flour and mixed with wheat flour to prepare the cookies. The control consisted of wheat flour cookies with no added maqui flour. Results indicated that the cookies with the added maqui flour were preferred more than the control and had a higher percentage of fiber. Compared with the control, the amount of anthocyanins increased 3.5 times, and the amount of antioxidants, measured via the DPPH (2,2 ′ -diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical) assay, increased approximately 10 times. Our results show that the incorporation of maqui byproducts, in the form of maqui flour, into the cookie formulation is an effective way to add nutritional value to cookies by increasing dietary fiber, total polyphenols, and total anthocyanins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agricultural Outlook (1673-3908) is the property of Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Agricultural Outlook (1673-3908) is the property of Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The field of managing the logistics of agricultural products under significant dynamic changes in today's conditions requires the formation of new approaches using the possibilities of modern information tools. The article presents a systematic mathematical approach to logistics management in agriculture for conditions with an insignificant level of risk and under conditions of significant threats to the logistics processes of the agricultural industry. The presented study also examines the issue of analyzing the effectiveness of management actions in the logistics process, both operationally and strategically. The developed mathematical approach takes into account a wide range of conditions for carrying out logistics activities - both at a low level of risk in the implementation of the logistics process, and in circumstances of significant threats that lead to the minimization of the reliability of logistics in the agricultural sector. This is especially important today, given the significant level of negative impacts on logistics processes due to military threats. The growth of these influences even leads to the destabilization of the world food market, and the threat of famine in some regions of the world. The proposed mathematical approach takes into account both the emergence of new risks, the significantly increased dynamic nature of the effects on logistics activities in the agricultural sector of the economy, and the traditional specificity of the conditions for the implementation of logistics processes in the agricultural sector. The specificity of logistics management in the agricultural sector is due to the peculiarities of the agricultural production process; properties inherent in agricultural products, conditions of distribution of these products. This determines a wide range of tasks that must be performed by the logistics of the agricultural sector. This, in turn, creates a need for a highly adaptive dynamic approach when forming a set and combination of logistics tasks and goals. Algorithms, tools and methods were specially developed to implement this approach. In particular: the unification of target functions; the approach of flexible adaptive changes in the ranks of target functions to ensure the appropriate level of rationality of logistics process management; a compromise approach in the case of the need to simultaneously achieve a group of set goals or a group of goals; the approach of assessing the strategic impact of a management decision for operating not with static values of parameters, but with their trends over time. In general, this makes it possible to achieve the appropriate level of economic efficiency of agricultural logistics management even with dynamic changes in the conditions of its implementation and to ensure a high level of reliability of the logistics process even with an increase in the level of threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify the relationships between critical factors and successful Enterprise Resource Planning implementation in the agricultural processing companies of Central Macedonia's (Greece) region. Therefore, critical factors are taken into account collectively, as aspects of ERP implementation and its life cycle. Based on that, two versions of the particular information system's management were presented, aiming to its success in the Greek agricultural processing field. The methodology which was used in order for the purposes of this analysis to be served, was that of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. Through the answers given, it was determined whether the importance shown to the two different versions of critical factors is related to the degree of ERP systems' success—or not—and in which way. Based on that, two management versions of ERP system are provided but also the scientific literature regarding the Greek and Central Macedonian field, is enriched. Lastly, helpful guidelines are developed in order for professionals and managers to understand the ways in which critical factors can be taken into account so as for the successful implementation of ERP in agribusinesses -specialized in the field of agricultural products processing- to be feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon cap-and-trade regulation is widely adopted to reduce carbon emissions. Under this regulation, we propose a carbon trading mechanism considering refrigerated logistics services in a fresh food supply chain. In addition to supplying fresh food, the supplier offers refrigerated logistics services and overstocked carbon emission permits to the retailer. We study the decisions on the price of emission permits traded within the supply chain, the retail price and the price of refrigerated logistics services in different carbon trading options, without carbon trade, inner carbon trade, inner and outer carbon trade. Pricing strategies for fresh food, emission permits and refrigerated logistics services are provided for supply chain members. We also reveal the relationship between carbon trading and refrigerated logistics services, and investigate their joint influence on the supplier--retailer cooperative relationship. In addition, it is shown that with the implementation of a transfer payment mechanism, supply chain members are motivated to participate in the carbon trading mechanism, which has advantages including improved resource utilisation and more competitive supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new farmland created by land consolidation often faces the problems of poor soil structure and low productivity, which cause potential degradation risk. The Gully Land Consolidation Program (GLCP) significantly increased the quantity of farmland in the Chinese Loess Plateau (LP), but the research on a comprehensive method of simultaneously improving soil quality, agricultural profit, and utilization efficiency of newly created farmland (NCF) is relatively scant. This study explored an agronomic technology to improve soil quality, agricultural profit, and utilization efficiency NCF by the GLCP in the LP. Our field experiment was carried out in Yangjuangou catchment with seven soil treatments and planting Brassica napus (B. napus) on these soils: dry mixing Malan Loess and red clay at volumetric ratios of 1:0 (MR10), 5:1 (MR51), 2:1 (MR21), 1:1 (MR11), 1:2 (MR12), 1:5 (MR15), and 0:1 (MR01). The results showed that: the soil microstructure, physico‐chemical properties, and productivity of NCF were significantly improved after soil reconstruction by dry mixing Malan Loess and red clay. More specifically, the MR51 boosted the root thickness and fresh weight of B. napus by 78.69% and 45.01% compared to that of red clay (MR01). Crop optimization by the B. napus helped to increase the agricultural profits of NCF. The proposed three portfolios of B. napus' silage, vegetable plus rapeseed, and vegetable plus silage enhanced the profits by 35.39%, 57.05%, and 66.93% in comparison with that of traditional crop planting, respectively. Therefore, industrial integration through effective, ecological and economic (3E) agriculture could advance sustainable utilization of NCF. Further, developing efficient agriculture, animal husbandry, agricultural products processing industry, and ecological tourism would enhance the multi‐functional value of farmland. Our study suggests that targeted agronomic technology based on agricultural geographical engineering oriented to human‐environment interaction can provide technical support for minimizing the degradation risk of NCF and generating more sustainable development in ecologically fragile areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Agricultural Science & Technology (1008-0864) is the property of Journal of Agricultural Science & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Due to the constraints of traditional agricultural development factors, the existing agricultural industrial chain structure was unreasonable, which can not only promote the development of related industries but also affect the sustainable development of the whole agriculture. Therefore, it was of great significance to build a scientific and orderly ecological agriculture industry chain system and optimize it on the existing basis for improving the industrial benefits of modern agriculture and enhancing the vitality of agricultural development. From the perspective of the construction of an ecological agriculture industry chain system, this study put forward the development and evaluation system of the agricultural industry chain system based on genetic algorithm, in order to provide support for better promoting the development of modern agriculture. First, based on summarizing the related concepts of ecological agriculture and industrial structure, the definition and organization of agricultural industrial chain were given. Second, it expounded the basic theory of genetic algorithm and its application in the optimization of agricultural industrial structure, and put forward the optimization model of ecological agricultural industrial structure combined with the objectives of agricultural industry development. Finally, by constructing the evaluation index system of ecological agriculture industry chain system, a comprehensive evaluation model of ecological agriculture industry chain system based on genetic algorithm was designed. Through the case verification and comparative analysis, the results showed that the ecological agriculture industry chain system evaluation system and evaluation model based on genetic algorithm proposed in this study had certain feasibility and effectiveness, and can better evaluate the changing trend of various industries in the process of agricultural industry development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific and technological changes that have occurred are leading to a transformation in the operations and business processes of the agricultural industries. When using unmanned aerial vehicles in modern agricultural technologies, it is necessary to improve their functions such as search, recognition and manipulation-robotic actions. This paper examines the cost-effectiveness issues of aerial photography using unmanned aerial vehicles with low-end photographic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low agricultural land use efficiency (ALE) is an important issue that restricts agricultural economy. This study explores the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on ALE in China's counties. Calculate ALE based on a two-stage dynamic network model with shared inputs , and analyze the impact of HSR on ALE in the production stage and benefit transformation stage. Results show that: (1) HSR can promote ALE, and has a higher promoting effect on ALE in the benefit conversion stage. (2) Characteristics of HSR (including HSR speed, commuting frequency, and irreplaceability) as well as the characteristics of HSR stations (including the number of HSR stations, location advantages, and floor area) all show a positive correlation with ALE. (3) In the production stage, HSR reduces ALE by accelerating non-agricultural employment, and promotes ALE by improving agricultural technological innovation; In the benefit transformation stage, HSR promotes ALE by improving the development of rural e-commerce and agricultural product processing industry. (4) HSR has a higher promoting effect on ALE in major grain producing areas, western regions, and poverty-stricken counties. (5) HSR shows inter-regional spillover and intra-regional spillover effects. On the one hand, HSR will drive ALE in counties with a radius less than 20 km; on the other hand, HSR will also drive ALE in neighboring counties within 30 km. This study provides macro implications in transportation infrastructure construction for improving ALE. [Display omitted] • Use the data of China's 1895 counties to measure agricultural land use efficiency (ALE). • Measure ALE by two-stage dynamic network model with shared inputs. • HSR improves ALE in the production stage and benefit transformation stage. • In the production stage, HSR reduces ALE by accelerating non-agricultural employment. • HSR shows inter-regional spillover and intra-regional spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence has the potential to alter the agricultural and food processing industries, with significant ramifications for sustainability and global food security. The integration of artificial intelligence in agriculture has witnessed a significant uptick in recent years. Therefore, comprehensive understanding of these techniques is needed to broaden its application in agri-food supply chain. In this review, we explored cutting-edge artificial intelligence methodologies with a focus on machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning. The application of artificial intelligence in agri-food industry and their quality assurance throughout the production process is thoroughly discussed with an emphasis on the current scientific knowledge and future perspective. Artificial intelligence has played a significant role in transforming agri-food systems by enhancing efficiency, sustainability, and productivity. Many food industries are implementing the artificial intelligence in modelling, prediction, control tool, sensory evaluation, quality control, and tackling complicated challenges in food processing. Similarly, artificial intelligence applied in agriculture to improve the entire farming process, such as crop yield optimization, use of herbicides, weeds identification, and harvesting of fruits. In summary, the integration of artificial intelligence in agri-food systems offers the potential to address key challenges in agriculture, enhance sustainability, and contribute to global food security. [Display omitted] • Cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) methodologies are reviewed. • AI in agri-food systems enhanced agri-food efficiency, sustainability, and productivity. • AI holds the potential to significantly reshape the agri-food processing industries. • AI in agri-food systems is a promising approach for an efficient food supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to establish the linkage among export tax rebate (ETR), firm innovation and product quality of Chinese agricultural product processing industry (APPI), so that more targeted policy implications can be discussed. Design/methodology/approach: Using highly disaggregated firm-product-destination-level data through 2001 to 2013 of Chinese APPI, this study employs a two-way fixed effects specification to establish the linkage between ETR and product quality, while the mediational model is adopted to examine potential mechanisms. Findings: Baseline estimates show that a 1% increase in ETR rate leads to a significant increase in the product quality of APPI by 0.12% on the whole. However, there is a nonlinear, inverse-U shaped relationship between ETR and product quality, and the optimal inflection point occurs when ERT rate equals 0.15. Mechanism analyses show that firm innovation is an important impact channel, which explains 9.8% of quality improvement induced by raising ETR. Further heterogeneous analyses reveal both the total effects of ETR on product quality and the mediation effects of innovation are dominated by young SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises). Practical implications: Authorities can promote the innovation and then product quality improvement of young SMEs by moderately increasing ETR rate. To ensure ETR more effective in improving quality, it is necessary for the government to encourage innovation. Authorities can reduce the risk of innovation failure for low-tech firms by increasing R&D subsidies, while ensuring innovation returns for high-tech firms in combination with stronger intellectual property protection. Originality/value: First, this is one of the earlier studies to explore the relationship between ETR and product quality specifically for Chinese APPI. Second, we show firm innovation as an important mediator so that policies aim at raising ETR rates are eventually beneficial to product quality. Third, using the highly disaggregated data, we allow ETR rate to vary across different products, which is an improvement in the accuracy of previous literature. Finally, our research provides additional empirical evidence for revealing the micro-mechanism of ETR affecting firm behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the search for natural plant-based antimicrobial compounds as alternatives to some synthetic food preservatives or biocides has been stimulated by sanitary, environmental, regulatory, and marketing concerns. In this context, besides their established antioxidant activity, the antimicrobial activity of many plant phenolics deserved increased attention. Indeed, industries processing agricultural plants generate considerable quantities of phenolic-rich products and by-products, which could be valuable natural sources of natural antimicrobial molecules. Plant extracts containing volatile (e.g., essential oils) and non-volatile antimicrobial molecules can be distinguished. Plant essential oils are outside the scope of this review. This review will thus provide an overview of current knowledge regarding the promises and the limits of phenolic-rich plant extracts for food preservation and biofilm control on food-contacting surfaces. After a presentation of the major groups of antimicrobial plant phenolics, of their antimicrobial activity spectrum, and of the diversity of their mechanisms of action, their most promising sources will be reviewed. Since antimicrobial activity reduction often observed when comparing in vitro and in situ activities of plant phenolics has often been reported as a limit for their application, the effects of the composition and the microstructure of the matrices in which unwanted microorganisms are present (e.g., food and/or microbial biofilms) on their activity will be discussed. Then, the different strategies of delivery of antimicrobial phenolics to promote their activity in such matrices, such as their encapsulation or their association with edible coatings or food packaging materials are presented. The possibilities offered by encapsulation or association with polymers of packaging materials or coatings to increase the stability and ease of use of plant phenolics before their application, as well as to get systems for their controlled release are presented and discussed. Finally, the necessity to consider phenolic-rich antimicrobial plant extracts in combination with other factors consistently with hurdle technology principles will be discussed. For instance, several authors recently suggested that natural phenolic-rich extracts could not only extend the shelf-life of foods by controlling bacterial contamination, but could also coexist with probiotic lactic acid bacteria in food systems to provide enhanced health benefits to human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the beginning of the 21st century to 2013, the economic income of main business of agricultural products processing enterprises in China had maintained above double digits for a long time. The current traditional high-speed growth will be transformed to high-quality, medium-high-speed development, and the development trend is in line with economic laws and macro situation characteristics. With the acceleration of spatial distribution and cluster development of agricultural processing industry', the late-mover advantages in the central and western regions of China are gradually emerging. With the support of Internet + and e-commerce online shopping platforms, the integrative development with related industries has been deepened. Led by the new concept of green development, the demand of processing industry of green, healthy, specific functional food (such as diabetes, hypertension and other specific groups) is booming. In the aspect of development strategy', it is appropriate to build multivariate information service platform, improve the technical cooperation platform, and provide software and hardware facilities for further development of agricultural product processing industry'. Combined with local economic development advantages, resource advantages and industrial advantages and other factors, the way of differentiation, regionalization and characterization should be taken according to local conditions and following the law, so as to energize the rural revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner quality of fruit has been widely concerned as the impacts of a transition in lifestyles of different consumer segments in recent years. The grading fruits can be used to improve the added value in a fruit industry, according to the internal quality. It is urgent to rapidly detect the internal quality of fruits using non-destructive testing (NDT) grading evaluation. However, the practical application of current NDT technology was restricted seriously, including the low ability of anti-interference in a complex environment, high modeling cost, low model applicability, and complex sensor system. Alternatively, the near-infrared spectrum technology has been by far the most powerful NDT fruit internal quality, due to the easy operation, high precision, and objective condition. But the technology cannot be conducive to the popularization and application in the food, agricultural products processing industry, due to the high cost and energy consumption. Specifically, the spectrometer was integrated for the secondary development, while the light source was the tungsten halogen lamp. A small, low-cost, low-power multi-origin NDT system can be highly required for a broad application prospect in the apple quality evaluation. In this study, a novel portable near-infrared NDT detector was developed to estimate the inner quality of apples using a cloud model. The near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy was used to integrate the broad spectrum LED light source and fruit characteristic response narrow band photo detector. 14 LED light sources were also symmetrically arranged on a circle, where the luminous intensity was effectively controlled using the current intensity, according to the light intensity for the different types of apple. The detection section was designed with rubber gaskets and shielding rings for better use in the outdoors. The system software was adopted the modular design to import different Apple models, according to the needs of users to achieve multi-use of one machine. A prediction model was loaded onto the cloud server, and then the system transmitted the data to the cloud through built-in 5G/4G and GPS modules. The cloud model was invoked to realize the data storage, result feedback, and display for the detection suitable for the remote sharing and updating of the model. Taking the fruit quality handheld near-infrared NDT system as a sensing terminal, a design scheme was built for the fruit quality Internet of Things (IOT) monitoring platform. Online communication technology was also selected to detect and monitor the fruit quality in real time, providing support for fruit quality control during the intelligent development of the fruit industry. The apples from the 17 producing areas were selected as the research objects, in order to verify the performance of the system. The diffuse reflectance spectra of 500–1 050 nm were obtained by the detection system, and the soluble solids content, hardness, and vitamin C content were determined by the destructive experiments. 529 apple samples were randomly divided into the calibration set and prediction set in a ratio of 3:2. The calibration set was used to establish the model, and the stability of the model was then tested by the prediction set. A Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing pretreatment was then used to eliminate the baseline drift and skew for the more stable model. The competitive adaptive re-weighted sampling and genetic algorithm (GA) were also used to extract the characteristic wavelengths, in order to simplify the model for better applicability. The quantitative prediction models were determined for the soluble solid content, firmness, and vitamin C content of apples in different regions. Specifically, the predicted correlation coefficients were 0.926, 0.798, and 0.704, respectively. The predicted root mean square errors were 0.585 %, 1.405 kg/cm2 and 0.968 mg/100g, respectively. Consequently, the testing system can be widely expected to realize the rapid nondestructive detecting of apple quality indexes in multiple production areas. This finding can provide a strong reference for the inspection of fruit quality using near-infrared spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this research is to prioritize investment in the food processing industry in Hamedan and compare the results in two quantitative and qualitative approaches using engineering economics and Delphi. This research is practical in terms of purpose and is non-experimental in terms of data collection. In the present study, valuable themes were found through a Delphi method, and then they were processed from the point of view of experts. Necessary estimates were done using the Engineering-Economic approach (such as fixed investment costs, production costs, depreciation, assets, etc.). The engineering-economic analysis was done by the net present worth (NPW), the rate of return (ROR), and the cost of creating each job. According to the results of the Delphi method, industries related to garlic and potato crops were priorities. Then industries related to pickles production, canned, and concentrated fruits were the next priorities. According to research findings, concerning the standard rate of return (ROR) on investment, the pickles production plan is the first priority. Raisin and potato powder productions situated in the second and third preferences. According to the net present value of investment, forage and animal feed plan, potato powder, and garlic powder production were ranked as first to third, respectively. According to the results of the Delphi method, industries related to products such as garlic and potatoes were given the first priority, followed by picking, canning, and compote industries. Based on the research findings and taking the Capital Return Rate (ROR) criterion into account, the first priority is the picking plan, and raisin production and potato powder production are the next ranks. Based on the cost-of-job creation index, the priority plan for pickling production and the agricultural compost production plan were given the tenth priority.

India has witnessed extensive economic reforms in its policies governing international trade that has consequently led to a dramatic rise in the trade flows, increased volumes of bilateral trade and has led to the growth of specific industries in the last two decades wherein a lot of trade agreements have been formed. India-ASEAN agreement and the on-going negotiations between India and EU representatives during the last decade has given rise to substantial curiosity among researchers across the world. The kind of trade agreements India has with the two trading blocs is significant to explain the direction of India's trade volume in respect of selected industries. The research paper analyses the trend in trade patterns and the increase in CAGR in respect of selected industries from 1996 to 2015. The trade pattern of India with respect to selected industries like agricultural food processing, textiles and garments, minerals, chemicals, gems and jewellery, metals and metallic goods and machinery and engineering goods, under the HS code II is analysed for EU and ASEAN countries. The historical span for the study was chosen keeping in mind the years of association with the countries in EU and ASEAN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cheap and abundant waste from bioethanol and agricultural processing industries are an alluring alternative feedstock for biorefineries. In this work, we employ reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) to depolymerize, over Ru/C powder and Ru/Al2O3 pellets, five herbaceous biomass feedstocks, namely corn stover, miscanthus, switchgrass, sugarcane bagasse, and wheat straw into phenolic monomers with high yields (∼40 wt% based on total (Klason + acid soluble) lignin and >50 wt% when stabilized using aldehydes), leaving behind a carbohydrate pulp residue. Interestingly, a polar solvent is sufficient to solubilize and fragment the lignin polymer into monomers without any catalyst. Contrary to woody biomass, where the monomer yields are positively correlated with the S-content of lignin, principal component analysis indicates that the monomer yields from herbaceous biomass depend on the content of lignin crosslinker – ferulate. Using NMR, we further identify α-6 C–C linked oligomers formed from condensation reactions, explaining the unexpected low monomer yields of high β-O-4 herbaceous biomass. Recyclability experiments indicate that catalyst deactivation occurs through sintering, leaching, and fouling. Lignin oil from herbaceous biomass exhibits bacteriostatic effects against Staphylococcus aureus, highlighting a potential application in functional food development and as a food or feed preservative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papaya fruit (Carica papaya L.) contains a wide variety of bioactive compounds with potential applications in the food and nutraceutical industries. The entrapment and release of such bioactive compounds remain a critical step for the development of functional, stable, and cost‐effective storage and delivery systems, since the interaction of polymers on capsules and the payload molecules can influence the performance of the capsule system under operational conditions. The present study describes the encapsulation of rutin and trans‐ferulic acid‐rich extracts from papaya exocarp in a pectin‐alginate composite, evaluating the performance of gallic acid encapsulation obtained through in situ and two‐step entrapment methods. The best alginate:pectin ratio for gallic acid encapsulation was 55:45 and 61:39, achieving 6.1 mg and 28.1 mg GAE/g capsules when the papaya exocarp extract was encapsulated by in situ and two‐step, respectively. We also evaluated the payload release performance of the obtained capsules under in vitro conditions simulating gastrointestinal conditions. Our results indicate an increased protective effect at gastric pH and targeted release of polyphenols when in situ encapsulation is used to encapsulate the extracts. Practical applications: Currently, adding value to agroindustry processing waste is an important focus to achieve a more economically and environmentally sustainable food industry. The recovery of bioactive molecules such as polyphenols, for food supplements or formulation additives in the form of by‐product extracts is gaining importance as novel sustainable processes in the agricultural industry. Thus, the encapsulation of such bioactive extracts for storage and consumption is an active research field, aiming to overcome the low storage stability and lability to gastric conditions, currently hindering their applications in food or pharmaceutical formulations. In this sense, capsule design and the development of efficient encapsulation methods are very important to obtain a suitable carrier and protector system for the capsulated bioactive extracts or molecules. This research aims to add value to papaya waste and potentially to other agroindustry wastes such as pectin and alginate, resulting in a polyphenol carrier with excellent encapsulation and targeted release properties under gastrointestinal conditions. In conclusion, this kind of works could allow to the application of the agroindustry byproducts to obtain high added‐value products, in the form of polyphenol‐loaded capsules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is an important ingredient for both agricultural and processing industries to transform agricultural products for domestic consumption. Due to competitions for fresh water among the three sectors, the tradeo analysis to satisfy much of the consumption demands with little stress on the already aggravated water conicts is highly desirable. To serve the purpose, the problem is modeled as a two-stage production (TSP) problem in which dynamic inventory control operation (DICO) is introduced as mass balance equation and solved us- ing bilevel fuzzy goal programming (BL-FGP) approach. In TSP, a first stage decision is undertaken before values of ran- dom variables are known and then, a second-stage decision us- ing recourse action is made after the random events have hap- pened and their values are known, in order to minimize penal- ties that may appear due to any infeasibility. By decomposing the multi-stage production planning (MSPP) into a sequence of finite number of TSP, a search for the optimal decision is made while the optimal solutions in the previous steps are used as inputs to the current stage and are updated progressively. This process continues to sequentially solve the problem un- til the final two-stage sub-problem is optimized. The model is tested with data from agro-processing industry zones in Gidabo watershed of Central Rift Valley Basin (Ethiopia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization of producer culture conditions is a necessary step in obtaining biotechnologically important enzymes. The aims were to investigate some parameters of Penicillium restrictum Gilman & Abbott cultivation, identify carbon and nitrogen sources that will provide high a-galactosidase activity, and evaluate the culture's ability to hydrolyze galactosecontaining carbohydrates. Methods. Micromycete was grown in submerged cultivation conditions at 25 °C. Rhamnose, sucrose, guar galactomannan, grapefruit mill, soy flour, NaNO2, NaNO3, (NH4)2SO4, (NH4)2NO3, urea, yeast autolysate, yeast extract, peptone were used as carbon and nitrogen sources. Glycosidase activity was determined using synthetic nitrophenyl substrates; the ability to hydrolyze raffinose, stachyose and galactomannan was evaluated by the dinitrosalicylic method. Results. It was found that the maximum of a-galactosidase activity (6.05 U/ml) and productivity (0.036 U/ml/h) of P. restrictum was observed on the 7th day of incubation in case of rhamnose, soy flour and ammonium sulfate using. The hydrolysis rate of raffinose, stachyose and galactomannan was 133, 116 and 27 µmol/min/ml, respectively. Conclusions. The high P. restrictum ability to produce a-galactosidase was shown using appropriate media. The substrate specificity and high rate of hydrolysis of raffinose, stachyose, galactomannan opens up broad prospects for a-galactosidase from P. restrictum use in food, feed, paper industry and agricultural waste processing technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the current situation in the agricultural sector of Georgia, its impact on the country's economy and possibilities of development. Agriculture is a traditional sector and it has always played an important role in economic and social development of Georgia. The country has favorable conditions for the development of agricultural sector. Despite urbanization processes in recent years, about half of Georgian population still lives in rural areas and most of them are employed or self-employed in this sector. Therefore, the level of development of agriculture in the country impacts the lives of significant share of the country's population. Agriculture has been paid more attention by the government of Georgia in recent years. In particular, various programs and projects have been initiated and implemented in this direction. These programs aim at encouraging the development of various agricultural activities as well as development of processing industry, which will lead to increasing production and export of Georgian agricultural products. However, currently, development of agricultural sector in Georgia significantly lags behind other sectors of the economy mainly due to insufficient financing of this sector, lack of access to relevant technologies and lack of development of processing industry for raw agricultural materials. Therefore, a number of measures, like scientific-research activities, increasing the awareness of farmers, introduction of technological novelties and improvement of agro-insurance system that will enhance the competitiveness of the sector still need to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this research is to prioritize investment in the food processing industry in Hamedan and compare the results in two quantitative and qualitative approaches using engineering economics and Delphi. This research is practical in terms of purpose and is non-experimental in terms of data collection. In the present study, valuable themes were found through a Delphi method, and then they were processed from the point of view of experts. Necessary estimates were done using the Engineering-Economic approach (such as fixed investment costs, production costs, depreciation, assets, etc.). The engineering-economic analysis was done by the net present worth (NPW), the rate of return (ROR), and the cost of creating each job. According to the results of the Delphi method, industries related to garlic and potato crops were priorities. Then industries related to pickles production, canned, and concentrated fruits were the next priorities. According to research findings, concerning the standard rate of return (ROR) on investment, the pickles production plan is the first priority. Raisin and potato powder productions situated in the second and third preferences. According to the net present value of investment, forage and animal feed plan, potato powder, and garlic powder production were ranked as first to third, respectively. According to the results of the Delphi method, industries related to products such as garlic and potatoes were given the first priority, followed by picking, canning, and compote industries. Based on the research findings and taking the Capital Return Rate (ROR) criterion into account, the first priority is the picking plan, and raisin production and potato powder production are the next ranks. Based on the cost-of-job creation index, the priority plan for pickling production and the agricultural compost production plan were given the tenth priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several problems deal with Canavalia ensiformis cultivations. They are the low-price competitiveness, the absence of processing industries and appropriate agricultural technology controlled by the farmers, the absence of fostering of farmers, especially in terms of marketing and postharvest processing. Therefore, the study explores how the role and function of coordination in institutions is needed as a solution for developing Canavalia ensiformis cultivation? The research was conducted from March to August 2019, using the survey method. Data collection is done through an expert system/or practitioner approach. The data obtained were analyzed using the Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) method. The results show that the existing institutions have not understood their roles and functions in the development of Canavalia ensiformis cultivation. This is an indication of the weak coordination function. The weak function of coordination is a result of weak understanding of the visions, low institutional knowledge and conflict between institutions. The results of the ISM analysis show that there are two key strategic programs in developing the commodity of Canavalia ensiformis, namely human resource and marketing development. These two sub-elements are institutional indicators. Therefore, strengthening institutional functions is still needed in the development of Canavalia ensiformis cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Certain advances in biotechnology generate controversy, with consumer resistance derived from publicly expressed concerns about safety, despite scientific evidence of safety. The reasons for this discrepancy are not fully understood. This study aimed to understand how participants respond to biotechnology when some ambiguity about risk or uncertainty is presented. A sample of 318 adults completed a survey assessing aversion to ambiguous information in controversial areas such as food, vaccines, fluoridated water, and stem cell research. Participants responded to ambiguity assessments and 14 scenarios in these categories that contained a description of a benefit and either missing or conflicting information about an unknown risk or uncertainty. Participants who reported greater aversion to ambiguity tended to respond in a way that signals the assignment of high risk, and low benefit, when presented with some unknown or uncertain risk. The results of the present study can be used to develop methods to close the divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Modifications of lysozyme have broadened its applications in different orientations. • The bacteriostatic mechanism of lysozyme has been reviewed. • Lysozyme-based biomaterials are effective in maintaining the qualities of foods. Abstract Lysozyme, an important bacteriostatic protein, is widely distributed in nature. It is generally believed that the high efficiency of lysozyme in inhibiting gram-positive bacteria is caused by its ability to cleave the β-(1,4)-glycosidic bond between N -acetylmuramic acid and N -acetylglucosamine. In recent years, there has been growing interest in modifying lysozyme via physical or chemical interactions in order to improve its sensitivity against gram-negative bacterial strains. This review addresses some significant techniques, including sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), infrared (IR) spectra, fluorescence spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), UV–vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectra and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which can be used to characterize lysozymes and methods that modify lysozymes with carbohydrates to enhance their various physicochemical characteristics. The applications of biomaterials based on lysozymes in different food matrices are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a production model for agricultural processing products. Problem of designing an efficient production system where perishable raw materials are to be processed into several kinds of end-products; Relationship between the production capacity and the buffer inventory of end-products that are able to control both the decaying loss of harvested raw materials and the out-of-stock level of end products.

This paper deals with designing an optimum production system for the agricultural processing industry, where raw materials are harvesting seasonally and are usable for only a limited shelf-life. First discussing the supply capability for the annual market demand, this model clarifies the relationship of production capacity consistent with average stock level of end-products and storage capacity of holding semi-product (half-processed products). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]