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- Study of consumer acceptance about the possible commercialization of a cheese with berriesPublication . Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Guiné, Raquel; Correia, PaulaBACKGROUND: Nowadays, consumers are more concerned about the issues related to the maintenance and promotion of health, trying to combine the pleasure in the consumption of certain foods with health benefits. Therefore, there has been an increasing in the market of functional foods. OBJECTIVE: The present study was carried out in order to explore the consumers’ acceptance regarding the possibility of introducing in the market a new dairy product with functional properties, namely a cheese with berries. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 335 adult participants. The questionnaires were applied online after informed consent only to adults (aged 18 or over) and the data were collected from August 2016 to March 2017 among the Portuguese population. RESULTS: The results obtained showed that approximately 92% of the participants consumed cheese of any type regularly and 50% consumed cheese two or three times per week. Most of the participants (~62%) revealed that they did not consume any type of cheese with additional benefits. Nevertheless, they indicated that they might be potential consumers of a cheese with berries (~73%) and would like the product to have the ability to improve cardiovascular health (~73%) and have high antioxidant capacity (~51%). Participants recognized as very important the addition of ingredients such as blackberry, raspberry, gooseberry, blueberry, strawberry or cherry, and manifested that all of the ingredients suggested might combine well with cheese. CONCLUSION: This work showed that the introduction in the market of this new dairy product, a cheese with berries, might be a successful strategy.
- Professional training in organic food production: a cross-country experiencePublication . Guiné, Raquel; Costa, Daniela; Correia, Paula; Costa, Cristina Amaro Da; Esteves Correia, Helena; Castro, Moises; Guerra, Luis; Seeds, Catherine; Coll, Collette; Radics, Laszlo; Arslan, Meahmet; Soylu, Soner; Tothova, Monika; Toth, Peter; Basile, SalvatorePurpose: The aim of this work was to characterize the agricultural activities and past experience in professional training in the context of mobile learning in different countries (Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary, United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey). Design: For the survey, a questionnaire was prepared in English and Portuguese and then translated into the languages of the participating countries. It was delivered electronically for answering on-line by adults only. The participation was voluntary and in the end 133 consented valid questionnaires were obtained. For the treatment of the data was used SPSS and basic descriptive statistics tools were applied, together with tests, namely crosstabs and chi square tests, considering a level of significance of 5%. Findings: The results showed that the majority of the participants presently have some agricultural activity and one third is thinking about starting one the future. Most of the participants want to produce food in organic mode, with significant differences among the countries at study. Most of the participants were enrolled in training activities in agriculture, especially those with higher education. This participation showed significant differences between countries and also according to the dimension of the farms owned by the participants. A significant association was found between being a teacher in forming activities related to agriculture and being a farmer. When compared to distance learning, the training activities in classroom were the most frequented, with significant differences among the countries. Practical implications: This study allowed characterizing the learning activities in the field of organic agriculture and establish direction lines for planning of future training programs, in different countries, with maybe different social, educational and cultural realities Originality/value: Because the study included the participation of people from several countries all around Europe, the results obtained enrich the scientific area of training in Organic Farming, in view of distance learning versus classroom learning on a more global basis.
- Perceptions towards healthy diet of the Portuguese according to area of work or studiesPublication . Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Guiné, RaquelThe aim of this work was to evaluate the perceptions towards a healthy diet among the participants who had a work or studies in areas related to diet and nutrition and those who did not. For this purpose, anonymous questionnaire data were collected in a cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample of 902 participants living in Portugal. The results showed that the participants’ perceptions were, in general, compliant with a healthy diet (scores between 0.5 and 1.5, on a scale from -2 to +2). However, were found significant differences between gender (p = 0.004), with a higher average score for women, between the different civil state groups (p = 0.016), with a higher score for the single participants, between the participants who were responsible for buying their own food and those who were not, with a higher mean value for those who were not and also regarding the living environment, being the highest score for the participants who lived in rural areas. The variable area of work or studies also showed significant differences (p = 0.001), so that people who had a work or studies related to agriculture obtained a higher score. Regarding this variable, the mean values of nutrition and food areas were not statistically different between them, but were statistically different from the mean values of psychology and health areas. The participants who had a work or studies in areas where are addressed diet and nutrition related issues achieved a higher mean score (0.72 ± 0.35) when compared to the participants who did not have (0.58 ± 0.30). However, despite the results, it is important to continue developing campaigns that better communicate nutritional aspects, so that people can increase their knowledge on this subject. Acknowledgments: This work was prepared in the ambit of the multinational project EATMOT from CI&DETS Research Centre (IPV - Viseu, Portugal) with reference PROJ/CI&DETS/CGD/0012.
- Influence of emotional determinants on the food choices of the PortuguesePublication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Correia, Paula; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Duarte, JoãoFood choices are influenced by many factors, such as emotional. When people eat, driven by emotional factors, they often lose control, which may lead to eating disorders. Therefore, this work aimed at studying the influence that emotional determinants had on people’s food choices. It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire on a non-probabilistic sample of 1314 participants. The data was collected among a sample of the Portuguese population and measured if people´s food choices were influenced by emotional determinants. The results revealed that the participants’ food choices were, in general, slightly influenced by emotional determinants (mean scores between –0.5 and 0.5, on a scale from –2 to +2). There were found significant differences in all of the variables under study. The participants, who already experienced an episode of binge-eating, were the ones that obtained the highest mean score (0.63±0.79), meaning that in this case those participants’ food choices were influenced by emotional determinants. These results support the premise that emotional determinants are influenced by the characteristics of each individual and also the existence of a positive association between emotional eating and the presence of eating disorders, especially, binge-eating.
- Perceptions towards a healthy diet among a sample of university people in PortugalPublication . Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Guiné, Raquel; Correia, Paula; Ferreira, Manuela; Cardoso, Ana Paula; Duarte, João; Lima, JoãoPurpose: A healthy diet has been recognized as one of the most important factors associated with the maintenance of human health as well as to help preventing the development of some chronic diseases. Therefore, this work aimed at studying the perceptions of a sample of university people regarding a healthy diet. Methodology: It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample of 382 participants. The data was collected among a sample of Portuguese university people and measured if people´s perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. Findings: The results revealed that the participants’ perceptions were, in general, compliant with a healthy diet (scores between 0.5 and 1.5, on a scale from -2 to +2). However, were found significant differences between age groups (p=0.004), with a higher average score for young adults, and also between groups with different levels of education (p=0.025), with a higher score for university degree. The variable chronic diseases also showed significant differences (p=0.017), so that people who did not have any chronic diseases obtained a higher score. Originality/Value: This study is considered important because it provides evidences about the relation between nutrition knowledge and the perceptions towards a healthy diet. The study allowed concluding that the participants were aware about some nutritional aspects of their diets and, therefore, their perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. This finding is very relevant, because it could be a support for health policy initiatives directed at promoting healthy eating behaviours.
- Knowledge about the benefits associated with the ingestion of dietary fibre: Comparison between Mediterranean and Non-Mediterranean CountriesPublication . Guiné, Raquel; Ferrão, Ana Cristina; Duarte, João; Ferreira, Manuela; Correia, PaulaIt is well known that dietary fibre (DF) is recognized as very important to maintain health and prevent some chronic diseases. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the level of knowledge about the effect for the human body derived from ingesting DF. For that purpose, a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 6010 participants, from 10 countries. The results obtained were compiled into a variable that accounted for the general level of knowledge, and this showed that globally the level of information about the benefits of DF was acceptable (average score of 3.54±0.5, on a scale from 1 to 5). Some of the variables considered for the study were gender, level of education, living environment and country, for which significant differences were found between groups. The highest level of knowledge was found for women, with university degree, from Portugal and living in urban areas. As a conclusion, it was possible to see that, in general, the participants in the study were quite well informed about the benefits of DF for the improvement of human health.
- Food safety in Portuguese companies in covid-19 pandemic contextPublication . Gonçalves, J. C.; Guiné, Raquel P. F.; Correia, Paula; Tomašević, I.; Djekić, I.The Food Safety Management System (FSMS) seeks to ensure the quality of food products in the whole food supply chain. In Portugal, like in all European Union countries, enterprises working in the food sector have to fulfil several regulations of food safety and quality to assure those food products won’t compromise consumers’ health. The COVID-19 pandemic brought additional challenges for companies and their food safety systems. Governments also have decreed new (additional) hygiene measures to be implemented by companies and applied to workers when handling products, such as: use of masks, more frequent hand sanitization, the distance between workers, more frequent cleaning of surfaces, etc. The aim of this study is to assess the most important aspects/challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Portuguese food production companies. The instrument used in this study was a survey voluntarily answered by 58 Portuguese companies acting in the food sector, by those responsible for the quality sector, or by those in management positions, using an online platform (Slido ® ). The data was collected in the period from May to August 2020, and the data analysis was made using an Excel database and spreadsheet functionalities. The results showed that the HACCP (part or included in ISO 22000) is the most implemented food safety system in Portuguese companies (in above 50% of the companies included in the study). Also, 20% have International Featured Standards (IFS) certification, and 16% declare to have implemented the ISO 22000 standard. Among the different attributes available, the attribute selected by Portuguese companies as most influential (most scored) to affect the integrity of the companies’ FSMS was the “temperature checking of workers”, and the least influential was the “staff awareness”. Furthermore, a great majority of the companies revealed that the FSMS include documents associated with response/incidents affecting food safety; that COVID-19 pandemic was identified as originating potential emergencies in the FSMS; and that the food safety teams were trained on how to react in case of a pandemic. Globally, companies’ respondents also admit that their FSMS allowed reacting to the pandemic of Covid-19, providing additional training to their staff to implement supplementary personal hygiene procedures (as: handwashing, physical distance, …), reinforce the use of personal protective equipment (such as masks), or adjust the sanitation/ cleaning practices associated with hygiene of the objects. According to the results, the market/retail was the sector of the food supply chain most affected due to pandemic Covid-19, and the Primary sector the least affected. In conclusion, the companies are, in general, committed to implement and reinforce the measures related to the FSMS, even under difficult circumstances like those resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Professional Training in Beekeeping: A Cross-Country Survey to Identify Learning OpportunitiesPublication . Guiné, Raquel P. F.; Oliveira, Jorge; Coelho, Catarina; Costa, Daniela; Correia, Paula; Esteves Correia, Helena; Dahle, B.; Oddie, M.; Raimets, R.; Karise, R.; Tourino, L.; Basile, S.; Buonomo, E.; Stefanic, I.; Costa, Cristina Amaro DaHabitat loss, climate change, and other environmental degradations pose severe challenges to beekeepers. Therefore, this sector needs to rely on updated information so that the intervening actors can deal with the problems. In this context, and assuming that professional training can greatly help those acting in the beekeeping sector, this work intended to investigate the gaps in the updated knowledge of beekeepers and how these can be filled through lifelong learning. The research was conducted in seven European countries (Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Spain). The data were collected through a questionnaire survey translated into the native languages of all participating countries. The results revealed that the topics of highest interest are apiary health and pest control and the management of the colonies throughout the year. The beekeepers update their knowledge through family, complemented by professional training, with participants preferring in-person courses as well as, in the workplace or in internships. The learning methodologies they consider most useful are project-based learning and learning through gamification. The videos and paper books or manuals are particularly valued as learning materials, and practical exercises are considered the most helpful assessment format. Finally, considering the effect of sociodemographic variables on the learning experiences and preferences of beekeeping actors, it was observed that the country was the most influential of the variables under study. In conclusion, this work revealed valuable information that should be used to design professional training actions to help the professionals in the beekeeping sector enhance their competencies and be better prepared to manage their activities successfully.