Food losses and waste (FLW) is a phenomenon that has been underestimated, littlestudied and poorly documented in the Mediterranean countries. Actually, nopolicies, laws, strategies and action plans have been implemented to reduce FLWin Algeria. This exploratory study aims to evaluate household FW in Algeria. Anonline survey with 323 Algerian households was conducted in February-April 2015to assess the knowledge and relative importance of FW; attitudes towards FW;impacts of behaviors regarding food and food management; FW quantity andvalue; as well as barriers and willingness to behavioral change. Sample is genderbalanced(54% female and 46% male) and rather young (93% are less than 44 yearsold) while most of respondents have high education level. Results show thathousehold planning and shopping activities are significant forecasters of FW.Attitudes may change according to periods especially in Ramadan (88% ofrespondents declare that FW increase during this month) and to the category offood (most wasted product groups are fruits and vegetables, cereals and bakeryproducts). Most of the respondents have a good understanding of “use by” fooddate label while they still confuse the meaning of “best before”. It seems that FW iswidespread in Algeria as only 1% of respondents declare that they do not waste anyfood. About 15% declare that their households throw away at least 250 g of stillconsumable food each week. Even though Algeria is considered as a developingcountry, an important part of food wastage occurs at consumer level as in high andmiddle income countries. In order to reduce food waste, efforts should be directedtowards providing consumers with skills and tools to deal with their food-relatedactivities and to better consider the impact of food waste on the environment andeconomy.
A large‐scale survey of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) was carried out from 2016 to 2018 in the Chlef Valley, one of the main citrus growing areas in Algeria. In this study a total of 1680 citrus trees from 93 commercial orchards were sampled. The collected samples were tested by direct tissue blot immunoassay analysis and by the double antibody sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay technique, and 54 trees were identified as being infected with CTV. This result confirmed that 54 trees were infected by the virus, corresponding to an infection rate of 3.21% throughout the studied area. Five of these local CTV sources were chosen for further molecular investigations to determine the genotype associated with the CTV isolates now spreading in the Chlef area. Characterization with multiple molecular markers showed the presence of the T30 and VT genotypes. This result allowed confirmation of the presence of a virulent strain belonging to the VT genotype. The other CTV isolates were similar to those from the Mitidja region, which showed 99% nucleotide identity with the Spanish mild CTV isolate. This early finding of a strain belonging to the VT genotype is an issue for Algerian citrus producers and needs rapid actions to be taken by the National phytosanitary services, extending the surveillance to other citrus production regions and uprooting the infected trees.
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