A Short History of Food Ethics

Moral concern with food intake is as old asmorality itself. In the course of history, however,several ways of critically examining practices of foodproduction and food intake have been developed.Whereas ancient Greek food ethics concentrated on theproblem of temperance, and ancient Jewish ethics onthe distinction between legitimate and illicit foodproducts, early Christian morality simply refused toattach any moral significance to food intake. Yet,during the middle ages food became one of theprinciple objects of monastic programs for moralexercise (askesis). During the seventeenth andeighteenth century, food ethics was transformed interms of the increasing scientific interest in foodintake, while in the nineteenth century the socialdimension of food ethics was discovered, with theresult that more and more attention was given to theproduction and distribution of food products. Becauseof the increasing distance between the production andconsumption of food products ever since, theoutstanding feature of contemporary food ethics is itreliance and dependence on labeling practices.     

Beyond Substantial Equivalence: Ethical Equivalence

The concept of substantial equivalence,introduced for the risk assessment of geneticallymodified (GM) food, is a reducing concept because itignores the context in which these products have beenproduced and brought to the consumer at the end of thefood chain. Food quality cannot be restricted to meresubstance and food acts on human beings not only atthe level of nutrition but also through theirrelationship to environment and society. To make thiscontext explicit, I will introduce an ``equivalencescale' for the evaluation of food chains (GM or notGM). By contrast with substantial equivalence, whichinvolves mainly quantitative, analytical methods ofevaluation, ``qualitative equivalence' refers to ``less'or non-substantial factors that require new methodsof evaluation based on qualitative principles.``Ethical equivalence' refers to factors that show themoral value contained in food products. To analyze thedifferent levels at which ethics is needed in foodchains, I will use the French principles: ``Liberty,Equality, Fraternity,' or freedom, equality,solidarity, and add a fourth principle:sustainability. Sustainability, solidarity, andfreedom can be applied to the evaluation ofenvironmental, socio-economic, and socio-culturalethical equivalence, respectively. Equality refers tojustice and should operate so as to guarantee thatsustainability, solidarity, and freedom are satisfied.I suggest that ethics can provide a basis for arenewal of the food chain concept. Besides QualityAssurance, it is now essential to develop an ``EthicalAssurance' and this equivalence scale could provide abasis to set up ``Ethical Assurance Standards' (EAS)for food chains.     

Evaluation of ecological network analysis: Validation of output

Ecological network analysis (ENA) is a modeling approach increasingly being used to evaluate food webs and provide an ecosystem-based approach to resource management. Unfortunately, validation of ENA output is rarely performed. This study represents part of a larger effort to critically evaluate ENA. Here we validate ENA output using stable isotope analysis (SIA), and where validation is not met, determine the effects of modifying trophic networks to reflect validation.     

苄·丁可湿性粉剂中丁草胺在稻田土壤和田水中残留动态

采用气相色谱法研究了35%苄·丁可湿性粉剂中丁草胺在2006年和2007年湖北省、广东省2年两地水稻田土壤和水中的残留降解动态和最终残留量.研究结果表明丁草胺在土壤和田水添加回收率分别为82.78%～93.20%和90.31%～93.51%.丁草胺在稻田土壤和田水中降解动态符合一级动力学指数模型,在湖北省和广东省水稻田土壤中的半衰期分别为3.21～3.83 d、2.49～3.66 d,水稻田水中的半衰期分别为1.20～1.66 d、1.13～1.48 d.861 g(a.i.)·hm-2和高剂量1 292 g(a.i.)·hm-2两个剂量施药后丁草胺在稻田土壤中的最终残留量为0.001 0～0.002 9 mg·kg-1.     

利用味精厂米渣生产发泡粉和蛋白质灭火剂

将米渣清洗、过滤以除去液化液、糖液,再加水调至130Be,用石灰调为不同pH,在不同时间下进行水解,结果表明当pH为11.5,在蒸气压为0.1MPa条件下,经过3h水解后蛋白质含量最高,可达到6.0%(水解液含量),再过滤、浓缩成为30%的蛋白质液,经过适当配制可成为蛋白质泡沫灭火剂,经过武汉市科威消防材料厂进行灭火测试,结果表明,粘度、沉淀物、发泡倍数、90%火焰控制时间、灭火时间、抗烧时间等指标均达到中华人民共和国公共安全行业标准(GA2191999);将30%的蛋白质液喷雾干燥后,可制备成为食用蛋白质发泡剂。     

Wastewater management in small- and medium-size enterprises: case studies

Wastewater management in small and medium-sized enterprises representing the chemical and food industries was investigated. The results showed that wastewater discharged from an ink-production factory was highly contaminated with organic pollutants. Anaerobic biological treatment followed by chemical coagulation using ferric chloride aided with lime proved to be very effective and produced an effluent that complied with national regulatory standard for wastewater discharge into public sewage network. Also, management of wastewater from a confectionery factory representing the food sector was carried out. Aerobic biological treatment using plastic-packed trickling filter proved to be an effective treatment method. However, application of in-plant control measures alleviated the requirement for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. The applied pollution prevention and cleaner production measures involved good housekeeping, recovery of spent chocolate, modification of floor cleaning and installation of suction devices for the removal of sugar and starch powders. All improvement measures were documented by cost/benefit analysis.     

Heavy metals' content of automotive shredder residues (ASR): evaluation of environmental risk

Every year between 8 and 9 millions of vehicles in the European Union arrive to their end of life. Car wastes can have a very high metal content, falling into hazardous waste class. A preliminary evaluation of these wastes could be made by metals' leaching test runs which is the main objective of the present study. Evaluation of the total metal content was carried out by X-ray fluorescence and the mobility of these metals using two simple standardized extractions such as the TCLP (Toxicity Characterisation Leaching Procedure) of the US EPA and the German leaching test DIN 38414-S4. Additionally, an extraction test with acetone was performed in order to recognise metals bounded to organic matter. The results show that the total metal content of the ASR can overpass the established values for inert residues. Lead and zinc contents are fairly well correlated with grain-size, whilst other metals' contents do not exhibit clear grain-size dependence.     

The sex in short supply for matings varies over small spatial scales in a katydid (Kawanaphilanartee, Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

In katydids such as Kawanaphilanartee, a female bias in the operational sex ratio (OSR) results in female competition for mates and male choice of mates. Previous work showed that the excess of sexually active females occurs when food availability is low, in part because less food increases the propensity of females to mate as they forage for the large edible spermatophores produced by males. In this study with K.nartee, a pollen-feeding species, we estimate natural variation in numbers of sexually active males and females by assessing male calling activity and the propensity of females to respond to experimental calling males. We found an excess of sexually active males at a site with many flowers and an excess of sexually active females at a site with few flowers about 900 m away. Between-site differences in gut masses of calling males were consistent with the hypothesis that pollen availability controls OSR. Finally, at a third site where flowers were at first scarce, we found that the initial excess in sexually active females changed to an excess of sexually active males after a clump of grass-trees flowered. The mean gut mass of all sampled males from this site increased after flowering. The large variation in OSR that we document for K. nartee highlights the importance of identifying the appropriate spatial and temporal scales over which OSRs are measured in studies of factors controlling sexual selection. Received: 13 May 1997 / Accepted after revision: 27 October 1997     

南京市城郊蔬菜生产基地有机氯农药残留特征

以网格法在南京市无公害蔬菜生产基地八卦洲采集70个土壤样品,用加速溶剂萃取、固相萃取柱净化后GC-μECD测定土壤中有机氯农药(α-HCH,β-HCH,γ-HCH和δ-HCH以及o,p'-DDT,p,p'-DDT,o,p'-DDE,p,p'-DDE 和p,p'-DDD)残留量.结果表明,土壤中有机氯农药残留总量在6.18～84.72 μg·kg-1之间,平均18.63 μg·kg-1.DDT残留量高于HCH,为3.36～74.19 μg·kg-1,平均12.61 μg·kg-1.土壤中HCH残留量为2.48～17.80 μg·kg-1,平均6.02 μg·kg-1.DDT同系物中以p,p'-DDE和p,p'-DDT为主,而HCH中δ-HCH含量较低,其他3种异构体含量水平相当.所有土样中DDT和HCH残留量均远远低于GB/T 18407 无公害蔬菜产地土壤标准限定值500 μg·kg-1,但大多数土样中DDT和HCH残留量远远高于荷兰无污染土壤标准.     

气相色谱-质谱法测定废酸油渣中的16种多环芳烃

建立了废酸油渣中16种多环芳烃超声萃取、Florisil萃取柱净化、气相色谱-质谱测定的方法.笔者对提取方式、提取剂类型和体积、提取时间和次数、净化方式等进行研究,采用无水硫酸钠分散,二氯甲烷作为提取剂超声40 min,提取液经纯水清洗、离心后取适量有机相经过3 g Florisil萃取柱净化,采用气相色谱-质谱选择离...