Despite the recent passing of legislation by the National People's Congress of China in 2009, many food businesses in China have yet to implement a third party certified food safety management system ...(FSMS). While the extent literature identifies a number of internal and external barriers and benefits, the extent to which these impact on the business is thought to be dependent upon how much progress the firm has made on its journey towards quality assurance and the environment within which the firm operates. To test this proposition, the barriers and the benefits accrued from the implementation of a third party certified FSMS were explored by segregating the participating firms into three distinct groups; (i) those that have yet to implement a third party certified FSMS; (ii) those that were in the process of adopting a third party certified FSMS; and (iii) those that were already operating under a third party certified FSMS. Contrary to expectations, in what is a highly competitive market, those firms which were operating under a third party certified FSMS were more likely to question the benefits they had derived than those firms that were either in the process of adoption or had chosen not to adopt a third party certified FSMS. Irrespective of the stage of adoption, the major constraint to the implementation of a third party certified FSMS was the need for the organisation to focus on more immediate issues and the lack of any strategic long-term planning.
•Benefits and barriers to the adoption of FSMS by three stages of adoption.•Barriers become more apparent as the firm progresses towards quality assurance.•Three latent constructs constrain the adoption of FSMS.•Three benefits arise from the adoption of third party certified FSMS.•Firms operating under a FSMS perceive themselves as being less competitive.
The wide application of chlorine disinfectant for drinking water treatment has led to the appearance of chlorine-resistant bacteria, which pose a severe threat to public health. This study was ...performed to explore the physiological-biochemical characteristics and environmental influence (pH, temperature, and turbidity) of seven strains of chlorine-resistant bacteria isolated from drinking water. Ozone disinfection was used to investigate the inactivation effect of bacteria and spores. The DNA concentration and cell surface structure variations of typical chlorine-resistant spores (Bacillus cereus spores) were also analysed by real-time qPCR, flow cytometry, and scanning electron microscopy to determine their inactivation mechanisms. The ozone resistance of bacteria (Aeromonas jandaei < Vogesella perlucida < Pelomonas < Bacillus cereus < Aeromonas sobria) was lower than that of spores (Bacillus alvei < Lysinibacillus fusiformis < Bacillus cereus) at an ozone concentration of 1.5 mg/L. More than 99.9% of Bacillus cereus spores were inactivated by increasing ozone concentration and treatment duration. Moreover, the DNA content of Bacillus cereus spores decreased sharply, but approximately 1/4 of the target genes remained. The spore structure exhibited shrinkage and folding after ozone treatment. Both cell structures and gene fragments were damaged by ozone disinfection. These results showed that ozone disinfection is a promising method for inactivating chlorine-resistant bacteria and spores in drinking water.
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•Chlorine-resistant bacteria were easier to inactivate by ozone than spores.•Bacillus cereus spore inactivation rate reached 99.9% after ozone treatment.•O3 disinfection inactivated spores by damaging cell surfaces and genetic material.
Although the quality of drinking water is extremely important for human health, the widespread use of chlorine disinfection results in the formation of chlorine-resistant bacteria which seriously ...threatens human health. Therefore, there is a need for an effective method for the inactivation of chlorine-resistant bacteria in drinking water. In this study, three methods, i.e., ultraviolet irradiation (UV) and two UV-based advanced oxidation processes (UV-AOPs) (UV/hydrogen peroxide, UV/H2O2 and UV/peroxymonosulfate, UV/PMS) were studied for the inactivation of Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) due to their high capability for the degradation of emerging contaminants. The inactivation rate of B. cereus species was 2-log lower than that of Escherichia coli (E. coli) at 1 mg/L NaClO. The spores were more chlorine-resistant than other growing cells because of their structure and chemical composition. A strong linear relationship was identified between the UV dosage and the inactivation rate. When the UV dosage was increased to 180 mJ/cm2, an inactivation rate of over 3-log was observed. Furthermore, H2O2 and PMS at 20 mg/L decreased the consumption of UV radiation to 140 mJ/cm2 and 120 mJ/cm2, respectively. According to the DNA and protein concentration analysis, the UV-AOPs prevented the regrowth of chlorine-resistant bacteria and its spores in drinking water within 24 h. The flow cytometry and scanning electron microscopy results showed that UV/H2O2 and UV/PMS treatment methods destroyed the particle characteristics of the spores and caused the release of intracellular materials due to the damage of the cell membrane and the cytoplasm. Among these three methods, the best inactivation effect was achieved by UV/PMS followed by UV/H2O2 and then UV alone.
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•B. cereus spores were more chlorine-resistant than bacteria in drinking water.•UV was efficient for the inactivation of chlorine-resistant spores.•H2O2 and PMS benefited the cell structure damage and intracellular material leakage.•UV/PMS achieved the best inactivation effect followed by UV/H2O2 and UV alone.
Food reserve is the cornerstone of national strategic security. China strives to build a complementary reserve system between government and enterprises, and how to improve the efficiency of food ...reserves is a matter of great concern to the government and society. Based on the analysis of the connotation of food reserve efficiency, this paper constructs the revenue function and the cost function of food reserve in an emergency and uses the cost–benefit method to explore the best ratio of government reserve, corporate social responsibility reserve, and commercial inventory when maximizing the efficiency of food reserve. This ratio is closely related to the total food reserve, the scale of supply interruption, the reserve cost of food stored by enterprises, and the government’s subsidy cost for the social responsibility reserve. The unit subsidy cost of government to social responsibility reserve is inversely proportional to the proportion of corporate social responsibility reserve to corporate reserve. Doing a good job in the social responsibility management of food enterprises is an effective way to improve the efficiency of food reserves. To expand the scale of social responsibility reserves and realize “storing food in enterprises,” the subsidies given by the government for corporate social responsibility reserves should not be too high. Taking food social responsibility reserve as an important part of corporate social responsibility, it’s the key to promoting enterprises to actively undertake food social responsibility reserves. The conclusion of this paper provides a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for how to improve the efficiency of food reserves.
As the main service target of recreational fishery operators, customers’ willingness to revisit has a profound impact on stimulating the rapid development of recreational fishery. However, there is ...currently little research on the influencing factors and improvement strategies of recreational fishery customers’ willingness to revisit from the perspective of perceived value. This article selects 500 customers participating in recreational fishing in Chun’an County and Xiangshan County, Zhejiang Province, China as the research objects, and uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method to explore the influencing factors of recreational fishing customers’ willingness to revisit. Research has found that: (1) Economic value and experiential value play a core role in four conditional configurations that lead to high customer revisit intention, and are key factors affecting the high revisit intention of recreational fishing customers; (2) two conditional configurations lead to low revisit intention of recreational fishery customers, and the lack of economic value plays a core role in these two conditional configurations, which are the key factors affecting the low revisit intention of recreational fishery customers; (3) Based on the controllability of conditional factors, it can be concluded that providing economically applicable and experiential recreational fishery services is the best strategy to enhance customers’ willingness to revisit. This study, under the synergistic effect of multiple conditions, reveals the complexity of factors influencing customer revisit intention. Setting reasonable charging standards and improving customer experience are inevitable choices to enhance the revisit intention of recreational fishing customers.
Research background: The motive behind intentional non-microbiological contamination or adulteration of foods is to limit costs, enhance competitiveness, and increase profits. Profits motivate ...entrepreneurs and costs caused by operating a quality assurance program that is not offset by revenue increases are resisted. Purpose of the article: To understand the constraints preventing companies from having quality assurance programs, this study examines differences in importance of various constraints in three food industry sub-sectors in Shanghai, China. Methods: The study applies the own survey data because there is a lack of readily available data on the selected topic. A total of 199 food company representatives completed a questionnaire during a workshop on food regulations between September and December, 2016. Descriptive statistics and the heteroskedasticity corrected regression technique are applied to identify statistically significant factors. Findings & Value added: Results show that perishable food sub-sector companies more often agreed that constraints were important in limiting quality assurance programs as compared to the non-perishable food sub-sector. A company anticipating a decrease in revenues in the three years following the survey (2017-2019), employing seasonal workers, and represented by a middle level manager was more likely to view constraints as barriers. Although Shanghai is a large commercially area, the study does not include companies from other provinces recognizing that some regional specificity may matter in implementing quality assurance program. The identified factors suggest the role for government agencies in facilitating such implementation by offsetting selected costs associated with the process of adopting a quality assurance program, while the society at large learns about factors motivating or hampering the implementation of quality assurance programs by food manufacturing companies. This study fills the void in the literature and provides insights about the constraints faced a company generating knowledge for regional and national regulators useful in choosing subsectors and specific aspects facilitating food quality program implementation.
A cluster of acute respiratory illness, now known as Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic. Aged population with ...cardiovascular diseases are more likely be to infected with SARS-CoV-2 and result in more severe outcomes and elevated case-fatality rate. Meanwhile, cardiovascular diseases have a high prevalence in the middle-aged and elderly population. However, despite of several researches in COVID-19, cardiovascular implications related to it still remains largely unclear. Therefore, a specific analysis in regard to cardiovascular implications of COVID-19 patients is in great need.
In this single-centered, retrospective, observational study, 116 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled, who admitted to the General Hospital of Central Theater Command (Wuhan, China) from January 20 to March 8, 2020. The demographic data, underlying comorbidities, clinical symptoms and signs, laboratory findings, chest computed tomography, treatment measures, and outcome data were collected from electronic medical records. Data were compared between non-severe and severe cases.
Of 116 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the median age was 58.5 years (IQR, 47.0-69.0), and 36 (31.0%) were female. Hypertension (45 38.8%), diabetes (19 16.4%), and coronary heart disease (17 14.7%) were the most common coexisting conditions. Common symptoms included fever 99 (85.3%), dry cough (61 52.6%), fatigue (60 51.7%), dyspnea (52 44.8%), anorexia (50 43.1%), and chest discomfort (50 43.1%). Local and/or bilateral patchy shadowing were the typical radiological findings on chest computed tomography. Lymphopenia (lymphocyte count, 1.0 × 10
/L IQR, 0.7-1.3) was observed in 66 patients (56.9%), and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (245.5 U/L IQR, 194.3-319.8) in 69 patients (59.5%). Hypokalemia occurred in 24 (20.7%) patients. Compared with non-severe cases, severe cases were older (64.0 years IQR, 53.0-76.0 vs 56.0 years IQR, 37.0-64.0), more likely to have comorbidities (35 63.6% vs 24 39.3%), and more likely to develop acute cardiac injury (19 34.5% vs 4 6.6%), acute heart failure (18 32.7% vs 3 4.9%), and ARDS (20 36.4% vs 0 0%). During hospitalization, the prevalence of new onset hypertension was significantly higher in severe patients (55.2% vs 19.0%) than in non-severe ones.
In this single-centered, retrospective, observational study, we found that the infection of SARS-CoV-2 was more likely to occur in middle and aged population with cardiovascular comorbidities. Cardiovascular complications, including new onset hypertension and heart injury were common in severe patients with COVID-19. More detailed researches in cardiovascular involvement in COVID-19 are urgently needed to further understand the disease.
The aquaculture industry in China is not complete without the freshwater industry. The scientific assessment of the regional competitiveness of the freshwater aquaculture industry has significant ...theoretical and practical implications for fostering the industry's sustainable development. Based on the diamond model, this study developed a competitiveness evaluation index system for Chinese freshwater aquaculture industry which included six primary indicators and sixteen secondary indicators. The primary indicators included resource endowment, production capacity, science and technology promotion capacity, related and supporting industries, market demand and guiding development policy. The study analyzed freshwater aquaculture industrial competitiveness during 2012–2020 and classified the Chinese 18 major freshwater aquaculture provinces into five competitive levels. The results showed that the development of related and supporting industries has the greatest contribution to the competitiveness, followed by resource endowment and market demand capacity. The analysis and tier classification showed that the competitiveness of Jiangsu Province and Hubei Province has always been at the forefront, and the province of Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Anhui, Liaoning, and Guangxi were above the middle level. Moreover, the results indicated that the competitiveness of most provinces showed an upward trend.
While maintaining a robust reserve of daily necessities is crucial for urban safety, but there is a lack of scientific basis for determining “what to store” and “how much to store.” This paper ...address this gap by classifying and summarizing the emergency materials of urban necessities in Shanghai, and establishing a corresponding reserve list. By constructing an index model of daily necessities reserve, this paper provides a scientific foundation for “what to store.” Additionally, the reserve levels of different types of daily necessities are classified and managed, the reserve model of emergency daily necessities is constructed. This approach clarifies the scientific basis for “how much to store,” overcoming the problems of subjective factors interference and the potential mismatch between the results of objective weighting method and reality. Furthermore, to better cope with emergencies, countermeasures and suggestions are put forward: optimizing the material structure of emergency reserves, managing the material reserves at different levels, scientifically and reasonably planning the amount of emergency materials, and reducing the cost of reserves and improve the efficiency of emergency reserves.
Technology includes hard technology and soft technology. Material technology embodied in production conditions and working conditions such as machinery, equipment and infrastructure is called hard ...technology, referring to the technology directly used in the development and production of means of production and means of subsistence, such as product design technology, equipment manufacturing technology, etc. Non-material technology, which embodies the experience, skills and management ability of process management, decision support and information technology, is called soft technology. Hard technologies make things easier and faster, while soft technologies promote flexibility and creativity. However, hard technologies take time to produce and have negative environmental impacts, while soft technologies are simple to produce but hard to use. Hence, finding the right balance between hard and soft technology investment is important for the sustainable increase of productivity. In recent years, China has continuously increased its investment in science and technology in aquaculture industry. However, the majority of the investment has gone to hard technology, which has hampered the long-term development of the industry. This paper aims to look at the status quo of the scientific and technological progress of the aquaculture industry in China and explore how the advancement of hard and soft technologies play a role in the economic growth of the aquaculture industry. Transcendental logarithmic production function is employed to calculate the contribution rate of technological progress on China’s aquaculture industry, and the contribution rates of hard technologies and soft technologies are examined separately. The results indicate that, from 2012 to 2020, the contribution rate of overall technical progress on aquaculture in China was 80.159%, of which 71.720% came from the progress of hard technologies, while only 8.439% came from the progress of soft technologies. Based on this conclusion, the paper calls for a balance of hard and soft technologies in the aquaculture industry in China to ensure a healthy and sustainable aquaculture industry. Policy suggestions are also put forward.
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