Food quality is an essential aspect of the food industry. Time-temperature indicator (TTI) technology has the capability to provide information on temperature fluctuations that temperature-sensitive food products have undergone. However, the adoption of the TTI technology in the consumer market has yet to materialize despite the many benefits that TTIs bring to food manufacturers, retailers and consumers. One of the reasons for this could be the general lack of knowledge regarding consumers' perceptions of TTIs. The aim of this study is to understand the consumers' knowledge, interest and perceptions of TTIs. To reach this aim, 16 focus group discussions and a quantitative survey were conducted in four European countries (Finland, Greece, France and Germany) during May-October 2012. Consumers' views on both the TTI technology concept and two commercially available TTI applications were studied. The results of the study show that consumers in all countries appreciate and understand TTI technology and associate differing benefits with it, especially so in warmer countries. On the other hand, the studied applications did not meet all consumers' expectations implying the need for further work to enable TTIs to gain a wider acceptance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTIONFood law and the recent regulatory changes in the food industry in Europe emphasize the importance of a structured quality assurance system using the hazard analysis critical control point method and good manufacturing and hygiene practices. Such a system is based on prevention and control throughout the manufacturing process rather than on testing and verification of final products. Its application requires a continuous monitoring and control of critical parameters throughout the manufacturing process not only at the production level but also at the entire food chain from production through distribution and storage including domestic storage at the consumer level. the most impacting factors to prevent the spoilage of temperature-sensitive products such as meat, fish and poultry. From the retailers' perspective, spoiled products reaching consumers' fridges might lead to loss of reputation, harm to the brand and extensive costs and efforts to fix the damage. From the manufacturers' viewpoint, and especially from the viewpoint of small and medium-size companies, the outcomes might be even more serious because of the low amount of resources to deal with such a situation.To prevent spoiled products falling into the hands of consumers, different technologies have been developed. For instance, an electronic nose has been introduced for quality control assessment in modified atmosphere packaged (MAP) products.2 Another technology holding potential for ensuring the quality of temperature-sensitive food products, such as meat, fish or chilled ready-to-eat foods, is intelligent label technology.3 This technology enables monitoring the integrity of the cold chain through the entire value chain from the manufacturer's facilities to consumers' fr...

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Objective: To explore how the quality of school lunch consumed reflected overall eating patterns in school-aged children. Design: Children filled in an Internet-based questionnaire about their eating patterns. The children were then divided into balanced and imbalanced school lunch eaters on the basis of their responses in the questionnaire. A balanced school lunch consisted of, by the definition used in the present study, a main dish, salad and bread. Setting: Eleven primary schools and one middle school in eastern Finland. Subjects: A total of 531 schoolchildren (247 boys and 284 girls) aged 11-16 years. Results: The school lunch was balanced in 46?5 % of children. Eating a balanced school lunch was associated with overall healthier eating patterns outside school. Children who ate a balanced school lunch had more regular meal times and consumed healthier snacks. They ate fruit or berries and vegetables, dairy products and wholegrain foods more often, consumed fewer salty snacks, pizzas, meat pies and drank fewer soft drinks and energy drinks. Their eating patterns at home were also healthier, with vegetables being offered at every family dinner and fruit being offered daily, whereas soft drinks were offered seldom. Conclusions: The choices made by children in their school lunch reflect the overall eating patterns among school-aged children. Eating a balanced school lunch is associated with more regular meal patterns, the availability of healthier foods at home and an overall healthier diet, suggesting that healthy eating patterns are learnt at home.

Many intervention studies have tested the effect of dietary fibers (DFs) on appetite-related outcomes, with inconsistent results. However, DFs comprise a wide range of compounds with diverse properties, and the specific contribution of these to appetite control is not well characterized. The influence of specific DF characteristics [i.e., viscosity, gel-forming capacity, fermentability, or molecular weight (MW)] on appetite-related outcomes was assessed in healthy humans. Controlled human intervention trials that tested the effects of well-characterized DFs on appetite ratings or energy intake were identified from a systematic search of literature. Studies were included only if they reported ) DF name and origin and) data on viscosity, gelling properties, fermentability, or MW of the DF materials or DF-containing matrixes. A high proportion of the potentially relevant literature was excluded because of lack of adequate DF characterization. In total, 49 articles that met these criteria were identified, which reported 90 comparisons of various DFs in foods, beverages, or supplements in acute or sustained-exposure trials. In 51 of the 90 comparisons, the DF-containing material of interest was efficacious for ≥1 appetite-related outcome. Reported differences in material viscosity, MW, or fermentability did not clearly correspond to differences in efficacy, whereas gel-forming DF sources were consistently efficacious (but with very few comparisons). The overall inconsistent relations of DF properties with respect to efficacy may reflect variation in measurement methodology, nature of the DF preparation and matrix, and study designs. Methods of DF characterization, incorporation, and study design are too inconsistent to allow generalized conclusions about the effects of DF properties on appetite and preclude the development of reliable, predictive, structure-function relations. Improved standards for characterization and reporting of DF sources and DF-containing materials are strongly recommended for future studies on the effects of DF on human physiology. This trial was registered at http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO as CRD42015015336.