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Purpose: Several scientific papers and technical reports have discussed the role of green public procurement in the food sector. Different strategies for the restoration sector have been identified. However, there is not yet a common understanding of which policies could be the most efficient in reducing the global warming potential of the public restoration service. This paper assesses a set of procurement policies, ranking them according to their potential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of public catering. Methods: Eleven relevant green public procurement policies were identified from the literature. These are discussed in the context of a case study of the school catering service in the city of Turin (Italy). Initially, a life cycle approach is applied to a baseline scenario of the collective restoration system of the city, to quantify the quantity of greenhouse gases produced by the entire catering service (including all stages from the production of food to the management of waste from kitchens and canteens). Afterwards, the 11 policies were applied to the baseline scenario so that the potential improvement achieved by each policy could be quantified. Results and discussion: The baseline scenario resulted in 1.67 kgCOeq per average meal. The production of food dominates the global warming potential of the full service, being responsible for about 78% of the greenhouse gas emissions. Among the selected policies, a change in diet was the most effective (leading to a 32% reduction of the COeq emissions), followed by the adoption of improved food production practices (11% reduction) and the purchasing of certified green electricity (6% reduction). Conclusions: The proposed method allows the assessment of procurement policies in the catering service by applying a simplified life cycle approach that considers all the stages of the process. Public authorities and other stakeholders could benefit from basing their decisions upon scientific evidence and avoiding the prioritisation of policies based on personal opinions or weak evidence. Uncertainties and areas for improvement in the method have been also identified for future investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The raspberry, Rubus idaeus L., provides several plant parts (as buds) used for food supplements. The aim of this research was to establish a technique for chemical composition control of R. idaeus herbal preparations, using chromatographic methods. These methods allowed us to identify and quantify the main phytochemicals, obtaining a specific phytochemical fingerprint (phytocomplex). Combined with two different chemometric methods - clustering analysis and principal component analysis - the raspberry bud extracts of the different cultivars were efficiently characterized. RESULTS Rubus idaeus buds were identified as a rich source of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds: organic acids, vitamins and catechins were found to be the most discriminating variables by chemometric techniques to differentiate raspberry cultivars. In particular, catechins (13.25%) and flavonols (8.71%) were the most important polyphenolic classes, followed by cinnamic and benzoic acids. CONCLUSION This study developed a useful tool for R. idaeus extract phytochemical characterization that could be applied also for differentiation and composition control of other herbal preparations. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of roasting temperature on the final quality of Piedmont hazelnut (cultivar Tonda Gentile delle Langhe) was evaluated. Sensory and colorimetric analyses were performed to define a quality profile of the fruit relating to the roasting technique parameters. Sensory analysis was conducted on roasted kernels through a trained panel. The effects of the different temperatures on colour were evaluated with two different techniques, colorimeter and scan-marker (scanner), in order to define the best method to individuate correlations between roasting temperature and colorimetric results. The quality traits of nuts roasted at different temperatures were compared: the samples roasted at lower temperature showed lighter colour; the hue values were higher in the roasted chopped nuts, while the chroma was higher in the paste samples. For both paste and chopped kernels a larger range of values was found in comparison with the results given by the colorimeter. As for the sensory analysis, we found that "hazelnut odour" varied significantly among the samples: this descriptor is able to significantly differentiate between different samples. Our study showed that the modulation temperature is a very important parameter with a strong influence on the characteristic roasted flavour and colour of the product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]