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Debates about the effects of covid-19 on the dynamics of food systems abounded in the last years. Initial analyses projected major changes in these dynamics due to, among other things, the digitisation of markets. Based on data collected between 2020 e 2023 by means of direct observations and 64 semistructured interviews with farmers, rural extensionists, public officials, and community leaders in the scope of a multi-case study, and in dialogue with the sociological literature on institutional change and social construction of markets, this article analyses grassroots initiatives of market digitisation in two regions (Litoral Norte and Médio-Alto Uruguai) of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Findings suggest that the pandemic promoted a barred window of opportunity for social movements' initiatives of alternative food markets. By the end of 2023, half a year after the World Health Organization declared "with great hope" an end to covid-19, it did not seem to be much hope for these initiatives. This is because neither the pandemic proved to be a "critical juncture" that opened the space for significant institutional changes, nor the challenging actors in the field were able to become "institutional entrepreneurs" of these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Debates about the effects of covid-19 on the dynamics of food systems abounded in the last years. Initial analyses projected major changes in these dynamics due to, among other things, the digitisation of markets. Based on data collected between 2020 e 2023 by means of direct observations and 64 semi-structured interviews with farmers, rural extensionists, public officials, and community leaders in the scope of a multi-case study, and in dialogue with the sociological literature on institutional change and social construction of markets, this article analyses grassroots initiatives of market digitisation in two regions (Litoral Norte and Médio-Alto Uruguai) of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Findings suggest that the pandemic promoted a barred window of opportunity for social movements’ initiatives of alternative food markets. By the end of 2023, half a year after the World Health Organization declared “with great hope” an end to covid-19, it did not seem to be much hope for these initiatives. This is because neither the pandemic proved to be a “critical juncture” that opened the space for significant institutional changes, nor the challenging actors in the field were able to become “institutional entrepreneurs” of these changes.

To inform policy makers concerned with food security, this paper relies on the 1–2–3 household survey (2004–2005) to provide a geographical overview of Congo's food markets and dietary status. The results of this descriptive study point to inefficient domestic food markets, with Kinshasa being a case in point: it is deficient, poorly connected to its hinterland and highly dependent on imports. Food markets in the Kasaï provinces and the northeastern region are two minor exceptions, while the most competitive food producers are found in Équateur and North Kivu. Despite differential access, five diet types can be identified, with the most energy rich (cassava/palm oil) being consumed in Maniema, Orientale, Équateur, and rural Bas-Congo. In contrast, households in South Kivu and Kinshasa suffer from large calorie deficiencies, which is due to low purchasing power for the former and relatively higher food prices and more demanding social norms for the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Food safety is integral to food security and is increasingly becoming a significant concern in the urban areas of Africa, which are rapidly growing in population. In the case of Ghana, many urban households depend on traditional open-air markets for most of their food needs. However, these urban food markets also depend on domestic food supply chains, which are prone to risks, including poor hygiene and sanitation and weather seasonality. Food safety compliance has associated costs which increase the unit cost of food products. Thus, higher food price is a risk factor to food availability and accessibility—fundamental pillars of food security. Method We use food microbial data and food retail data from food market surveys in major cities in Ghana to assess the safety of selected fresh food commodities and how retailers handle the food products they sell. Additionally, based on a two-wave balanced panel household data, we used fixed effects Poisson and Correlated Random Effects (CRE) Probit models to estimate the effect of weather seasonality on the incidence of diarrhoea and urban household dietary diversity score (HDDS). A final sample of 609 households and 565 market respondents participated in the study. Results Our findings show that selected food samples tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus and E.coli and had aflatoxin B1 levels above 5.0 ppb. Additionally, the household incidence of diarrhoea/vomiting, a proxy for food safety status, is higher in the dry season. In the dry season, the household incidence of diarrhoea/vomiting increases on average by a probability of 38% points compared to the rainy season. Regarding HDDS, the average HDDS is 7.3; however, we did not find the effect of seasonality on HDDS to be significant. Conclusions Although urban food availability and household dietary diversity are not challenges for many urban households, food safety is a challenge in the major food markets in Ghanaian cities and is associated with weather seasonality. Foods available in traditional open-air markets are not always safe for consumption, undermining households’ food security. Weak enforcement of food safety regulations contributes to the food safety challenges in Ghanaian urban food markets.

Emerging and endemic zoonotic diseases continue to threaten human and animal health, our social fabric, and the global economy. Zoonoses frequently emerge from congregate interfaces where multiple animal species and humans coexist, including farms and markets. Traditional food markets are widespread across the globe and create an interface where domestic and wild animals interact among themselves and with humans, increasing the risk of pathogen spillover. Despite decades of evidence linking markets to disease outbreaks across the world, there remains a striking lack of pathogen surveillance programs that can relay timely, cost-effective, and actionable information to decision-makers to protect human and animal health. However, the strategic incorporation of environmental surveillance systems in markets coupled with novel pathogen detection strategies can create an early warning system capable of alerting us to the risk of outbreaks before they happen. Here, we explore the concept of “smart” markets that utilize continuous surveillance systems to monitor the emergence of zoonotic pathogens with spillover potential. IMPORTANCE Fast detection and rapid intervention are crucial to mitigate risks of pathogen emergence, spillover and spread-every second counts. However, comprehensive, active, longitudinal surveillance systems at high-risk interfaces that provide real-time data for action remain lacking. This paper proposes "smart market" systems harnessing cutting-edge tools and a range of sampling techniques, including wastewater and air collection, multiplex assays, and metagenomic sequencing. Coupled with robust response pathways, these systems could better enable Early Warning and bolster prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief synopsis of the main avenues of research on the industrial organization of food and agriculture, I introduce and discuss the six articles that make up this Special Issue of the Review. The articles draw on novel databases to explore price transmission and supply response in processing tomatoes; concentration and competition in the meatpacking industries; communication and collusion in broiler production; concentration and research competition in genetically engineered seeds; price transmission from agricultural commodities through to retail prices; and the effect of store entry on prices for nearby retailers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Malnutrition is a major global challenge. Multiple forms, from underweight to obesity, exist, and several forms coexist within communities and households. Traditional food markets, also known as wet, local, or informal markets, are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and are a key place where people buy and sell food and socially interact, especially those vulnerable to malnutrition. As such they are vital to food and nutrition security. While it is recognized that gender is an important consideration in food and nutrition security, very little has been published in peer reviewed journals, with respect to gender and traditional food markets in SSA. This mini review aims to explore the nexus role of traditional food markets and gender in food and nutrition security. This study presents a narrative literature review, informed by literature identified in a systematic manner. Four databases were searched for key terms, including nutrition, different forms of malnutrition, gender, traditional food markets, and vendors. The papers provided insight into two main topics pertaining to the role of traditional food market practices, gender, and food and nutrition security. While few papers were identified in this mini review, they illustrated insightful nuances into traditional food markets, gender, and food and nutrition security. There is a need for explicitly framed gender studies that can better inform the limited existing knowledge of the experiences of gender and nutritional security of women and men in traditional food markets in SSA.

The relevance of the problem under study is connected with the identification of the relationship between the transformation processes of agrarian structures and issues of sustainable food security; with the definition of contradictions and uncertainties of the harmonious interaction of different forms of management formed in the process of transformation; revealing their functional differences; typology and scenario forecasts of development. The dualistic nature of the results of the transformation of the main forms of management in the system of the national economy is substantiated. Purpose. Identification of key aspects of the specifics of the results of transformational processes of economic structures in the agrarian economy of the Russian Federation and substantiation of the importance of a harmonious relationship with each other in accordance with the tasks of food security in the face of modern challenges. Materials and methods. The methodology of an integrated approach was used based on the systematic approach of Western and Russian researchers, as well as on the methodology of small economic structures Chayanova A.V., Kondratieva N.D. Methods of comparative economic analysis using the data of official statistics of the Russian Federation and FAO, as well as methods of visualizing the results of the study are involved. The case method was used to study the specifics of various economic structures, and the scenario modeling method was used to determine the trends for further development. Results. Based on a comparative analysis of the results of the market transformation of economic structures and the economic effects of their activities, it was revealed that: firstly, the dynamics and rates of food inflation in the system of the Russian economy are lower than the global ones; secondly, large economic structures prevail in the structure of production and rates of output of food products; thirdly, the predominance of market power on the part of large economic structures leads to the deformation of market relations and the need to find a solution to the problem of creating equal opportunities for large and small economic structures. Conclusion. The importance of creating a model of harmonious relations between different forms of management is substantiated. Scenario forecasts of possible trends in the further development of small and large economic structures have been made.

Adib Cure and Carrie Penabad (2023. "Cross Cultural Urbanism: The Case of Miami." Ethnic and Racial Studies. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/01419870.2023.2176718.) paint a vivid picture of Miami, pointing to its multicultural influence, suburban landscape and sense of community using an architectural perspective. The authors lay out the history of the city from white domination to Cuban domination, and from its modest origins to a banking centre for Latin American investors. The Cuban settlers have shaped the urban landscape via their architectural designs, the food culture and participation in the labour market, including the vital sectors of construction, agriculture and tourism. This comment raises some further areas of potential research on urban Miami and the influence of migrants on its culture and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food and agriculture accounts for around one-third of global emissions reflecting the effects of consumption in high-income countries on production and land use around the world. These effects include those transmitted through international trade such as in the constituents of animal feed for meat. African countries face a dual challenge of adapting to the growing effects of climate change in the shape of extreme weather, and increasing agriculture and food production as part of developing their economies. At the same time, there is increasing concentration in the production and trading of agriculture and food products, globally and within Africa. This article considers the interaction of concentration and responses to climate change in food markets through a focus on meat and animal feed, and the developments in maize and soybeans in East and Southern Africa. The possible role for competition policy as part of a wider reform agenda is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human social life is deeply embedded in ecological processes, and as Johan Goudsblom has stressed, the interdependencies between humans and their “natural” environment have changed in the course of history. According to Goudsblom, three great ecological transformations can be observed in the course of the civilising process: the control of fire, the transition from gathering and hunting to producing food by agriculture and animal husbandry, and industrialisation. In recent years, both scientists and the public of Western societies have become increasingly aware that a fourth ecological transformation (towards more sustainable consumption and lifestyles) is necessary in order to minimise the effects of climate change. However, although most people are aware of the need for more sustainable consumption, very little seems to change, and even consumers desperately struggling to change their lifestyle, seem to fail in their efforts. Using the example of the Berlin food market, I argue that the causes for this lack of change cannot be understood without understanding the structure and power balances in global value chains which are deeply rooted in history, which have evolved in the course of centuries, and which in the course of the third ecological transformation (industrialisation and urbanisation) not only became the keystone of modern capitalism but since then are also deeply engrained in material urban, transport routes and production infrastructures. These spatial arrangements not only stabilise a specific mode of production by forcing social processes into path-dependence. They also hide power balances and drive human social life to an unsustainable lifestyle. Knowledge plays a key role in maintaining both circulation along the commodity chain and the existing power balances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies specific features of transformational changes both in national economy in general and on sectoral markets in particular due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is shown that we can observe fundamental transformation of customer behavior towards the increasing demand for goods providing essential needs, which in the future can result in shaping new sustainable behavior models on food market. It proves the necessity to control prices on the part of state. By researching economic effects of transforming the structure of foods consumption and their supply the authors draw a conclusion that the key share in production structure and dynamic of agricultural produce output belongs to big economic forms, they also put forward a hypothesis about keeping the trend towards integration on the part of supply. The trends identified by the authors in the field can give an opportunity to devise in the future alternative models of scenario forecasts of trends in developing small and large economic structures in the effective institutional conditions. The article also studies the importance of product customization as a factor of sustainability of small economic structures.

Proteus mirabilis is an opportunistic pathogen frequently associated with nosocomial infection and food poisoning cases. Contamination of P. mirabilis in retail meat products may be important transmission routes for human infection with P. mirabilis. In this study a total of 89 P. mirabilis strains were isolated from 347 samples in 14 food markets in China and subjected to whole genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all 89 strains were divided into 81 different clones (SNPs >5), indicating high genetic diversity of P. mirabilis in food markets. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that 81 (91.01%) strains displayed multidrug resistance profiles. Seventy-three different resistance genes (or variants) were found, including various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes aac(6′)-Ib-cr (77.53%), blaCTX-M (39.33%), fosA3 (30.34%), as well as multiresistance gene cfr (4.50%), tigecycline resistance gene cluster tmexCD3-toprJ1 (4.50%) and carbapenemase gene blaNDM-1 (1.12%). Diverse genetic elements including Tn7 transposon, plasmid, SXT/ R391 integrative conjugative element were associated with the horizontal transfer of cfr. tmexCD3-toprJ1 and blaNDM-1 were located on ICEPmiChnJZ26 and Salmonella genomic island 1, respectively. Our study emphasized high contamination of P. mirabilis harbouring various clinically important antimicrobial resistance genes in retail meat and aquatic products, which might be an important issue in terms of food safety and human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food markets around the world have been disrupted by the COVID‐19 pandemic via consumer behavior upended by fear of infection. In this article, we examine the impact of disclosing COVID‐19 contact tracing information on food markets, using the restaurant industry in China as a case study. By analyzing transaction data at 87 restaurants across 10 cities, we estimate difference‐in‐difference (DID) models to ascertain the impact of COVID‐19 infections and contact information tracing on economic activity as measured by a daily number of transactions. Empirical results show that while the overall number of new COVID‐19 infections at the national level caused a dramatic drop in numbers of transactions in all restaurants, restaurants in cities that disclosed contact tracing information of COVID‐19 infections experienced a 23%–35% higher number of transactions than the ones in cities that did not disclose such information during the recovery period. Ultimately, we show that in the absence of a shelter‐in‐place mandate, disclosing contract tracing information to mitigate consumers' uncertainties about risks of being infected can contribute to a faster recovery of food markets, in addition to reducing COVID‐19 infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruits and vegetables (FV) are critical components of nutritious and healthy diets, but there are growing concerns about food safety risks linked to their consumption. In this article, we explore consumers' concerns about pesticide-related food safety risks and how they relate to the choice of FV outlets, using survey data from 8644 consumers in five low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Results show that pesticide residue is the most frequently cited source of food safety concern in each country, partly due to the intensive use of synthetic pesticides in FV production. We also find that FV retail environments are dominated by traditional open-air markets, despite the rapid growth and reach of modern retail outlets (e.g., supermarkets) in LMICs. Generally, consumers pay more attention to convenience and price when making FV purchase decisions, but pesticide-related food safety concerns also influence their FV outlet choices. Regression results of the associations between pesticide concerns and choice of FV outlets are heterogeneous across countries, but we find evidence suggesting that consumers who cited concerns with pesticides are more likely to demand FV from specialist shops and avoid purchasing from street hawkers. Our findings highlight the need to address pesticide risk concerns that can undermine consumer demand for nutritious foods, such as FV. • Consumer survey data from Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan and Uganda are analyzed. • Pesticide residues are the most cited source of food safety concerns among fruit and vegetable (FV) consumers. • FV retail environments are dominated by traditional open-air markets, with low use of supermarkets. • Consumers who cited concerns with pesticides are more likely to demand FV from specialist shops. • They are also more likely to avoid purchasing FV from street vendors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overtourism has become a major issue of concern in many popular venues, including several cities like Barcelona. In this study, in order to better comprehend reactions towards overtourism, we analyze the perceptions of residents who regularly shop at Barcelona's La Boqueria towards the growing crowds of tourists who visit the same venue. The study aims to acknowledge the evolution over time of locals' aversion or support regarding the touristification of their food market and to determine whether or not overtourism regulations that were implemented by Barcelona's city government had an impact on these attitudes. Thus, we undertook a sequential explanatory mixed‐method approach (beginning with a quantitative approach and ending with a qualitative one) spanning the period 2015 to 2019. First, within the quantitative study, structural equation modeling results suggest that place identity observed through community attachment and resident place image has no direct statistically significant effect on residents' support for tourism development in La Boqueria. However, when mediated by tourism's perceived benefits and costs, these variables were recognized as statistically significant antecedents of support for La Boqueria's touristification. Secondly, we complemented and further elaborated on the quantitative findings through in‐depth interviews with local residents who shop at La Boqueria but also by utilizing available secondary data to reveal if there were any significant changes in locals' perception of touristification, especially following the adoption of the city's overtourism regulations. We conclude that residents' support for tourism development of La Boqueria as a public resource is strongly associated with their perception of place identity (both place image and community attachment) as well as expected benefits and associated costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]