What people say they prefer and what they actually do may, of course, be quite different. In order to get a sense of the extent to which people actually exercise the label preferences they indicated in the marketplace, we asked about their purchase patterns of foods with these labels. We asked specifically about fair trade, organic, and local, first defining the terms . Respondents were asked to check one of the following options regarding their purchasing habits: never, at least once a year, at least monthly, at least weekly, and don’t know. Respondents claimed to purchase these products quite often . At least 50% of the respondents reported purchasing products with one of these labels at least monthly or more often. Organic is the most frequently purchased item, with 42% buying such products at least weekly, and 68% at least monthly. Local products were the next most frequently purchased, with 63% purchasing them at least monthly. Almost 25% of people purchase fair trade at least weekly, and 52% at least monthly. A large number of respondents stated that they did not know whether they have purchased products with these labels. Almost a third of the respondents didn’t know whether they had purchased food that was fair trade and 27% didn’t know whether they had purchased local foods. And, even though the organic label is fairly well established, 16% of the people said they didn’t know whether they had purchased organic food. This information implies that either people don’t know enough about the labels, or that they just don’t look for them when they purchase their food. Considering that organic foods are fairly well known, plastic pot plant containers it is likely safe to assume that the high numbers of those who didn’t know whether they had purchased fair trade may be partially due to lack of information about the label. Thus, it would be useful to have more education about the Fair Trade label.
The large percentage of those who didn’t know whether they had purchased local is likely due to the fact that there isn’t a standard label for such products. For example, one of the factors that makes America’s relatively “cheap” food supply possible is low labor costs; the wages of workers in the food industry are often at poverty or below-poverty levels. To get at the criterion of social justice, we asked if people would be willing to pay more for their food if it meant better conditions for workers, and a living wage. In order to gauge this interest, survey respondents were asked whether they would be willing to pay more for a single product, strawberries. We chose strawberries because there had been a United Farm Workers campaign in the region to inform people about how much paying just five cents more for a pint of strawberries would do to improve wages and working conditions for strawberry farm workers. We asked survey respondents how much more they would be willing to pay for a pint of strawberries that guarantees a living wage and safe working conditions for farm workers. Survey respondents were randomly assigned 1 of 4 questions, asking if they would be willing to pay 5 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents or $1.50 more for strawberries that otherwise would cost $1.50 . Results indicate that nearly all respondents would be willing to pay at least 5 cents more and most people state they would pay significantly more than that ; 85% are willing to pay 25 cents more , 74% are willing to pay 50 cents more , and close to 50% claimed willingness to pay twice as much for a pint of strawberries. We posed a second “willingness to pay” question to meal-plan holders. We asked, “Would you be willing to pay more for your meal plan if the food had been produced in a socially just manner—for example, where workers have safe working conditions and receive a living wage ?”
A third of meal-plan holders were willing to pay more for socially just food, a quarter were not, and the remainder were unsure . Why are there so few people willing to pay more in the dining commons than for a pint of strawberries? First, the lack of interest shown here is likely at least partially an artifact of the way the question was asked. Unlike the strawberry question, the meal plan holders were not asked a specific amount more that they might be willing to pay—which likely led to the large “unsure” numbers. We were not able to give a more specific amount because it is not clear how much a meal costs . Second, meal plan holders may just be less likely to pay more in general. From comparing how meal plan holders and all others answered the strawberry question, meal plan holders were somewhat less likely to pay more for the strawberries than the others . As noted, our survey results show that one-third of meal plan holders indicated a willingness to pay more for a meal plan for food produced in a socially just manner, and about one quarter were opposed to such a cost increase. Further research, with more specific scenarios, would be needed to get a better idea of the number of people that might really be willing to pay more. When considering these results, it is important to keep in mind that people don’t always do what they say they will—that they are more likely to respond positively on a survey than they may in practice. People often take many factors into account when making purchases, not just one. However, even given a likely inflated positive response, there appears to be significant support for paying more for socially just food.We asked respondents to indicate their preferences for how they would like to learn about the food system. Ten options were listed on the survey and respondents were asked to check four of them . As is shown in table 7, respondents’ preferred media for learning about their food were product labels and information available where they purchase or eat their food . Print media—e.g., newspapers, magazines, articles, and books—and web pages were the next most preferred at 48% and 47%, respectively. Other methods—tours, audiovisual media, talking to farmer/seller, and lectures—were preferred by less than 25% of respondents. Study groups garnered the least interest at 3%. Providing food system education in the dining halls, campus restaurants, and at coffee carts will likely be the most appreciated and most effective method for sharing information with a broad audience.
This study shows that food issues are important to a campus community, particularly regarding concerns for the environment and for people. Survey respondents showed high levels of interest in purchasing food produced in an environmentally sound and socially just manner. Key points from this study include – • There is significant interest in campus food that is nutritious, safe, supports workers, and is environmentally sound; interest in local food and GE-free food is lower. • People are interested in sustainably produced food and a majority of people already purchase food with labels based on these criteria. • Many people are willing to pay more for food that meets social justice criteria. • A campus community is likely to be receptive to education and discussion about food-system issues. • Since nutrition and food safety were of great importance to people, framing discussions of food-system issues in terms of health will meet people’s needs as well as capture their attention for education on other food-system issues, such as working conditions and environment. It would not be appropriate to extrapolate too much from a study of one campus; results from our 2007 national student survey will provide more comprehensive data. In the meantime, the results of the UC Santa Cruz study support the idea that colleges and universities are excellent choices for developing farm-to-institution programs and for popular education on food-system issues. In plants, a fruit is the seed-containing section, which is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits have their vivid colors due to the presence of phytochemicals as pigments, large plastic gardening pots which are natural compounds that protect against threats and insults such as insects and ultraviolet sunlight. Bright colors of fruits also attract animals and human beings for seed dispersing purposes.1 The belief of using fruits as traditional medicine exist in many cultures worldwide. For instance, cocoa beans and blueberries have been used traditionally as therapies among indigenous people in North America. The fruit, leaves, seed, and bark of the mango plant have been used as traditional medicine in Southeast Asia, Oceania, Africa, and Central America. Goji berries have been used as traditional Chinese medicine for two thousand years. Phytochemicals can be classified primarily as terpenoids, phenolics, alkaloids, nitrogencontaining plant constituents, and organosulfur compounds. Examples of major phytochemical groups that are abundant from dietary sources and related to human health include carotenoids and polyphenols. Carotenoids are a type of terpenoid. Carotenoids can be classified as carotenes and xanthophylls.4 Phenolics can be classified as phenolic acids and polyphenols.
Two primary subclasses of phenolic acids are hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid. Polyphenols include flavonoids, tannins, stilbenes, lignans, and xanthones. As one of the most studied categories of polyphenols, subclasses of flavonoids can be categorized to flavanones, flavones, anthocyanins, flavanols , chalcones, flavonols, and isoflavonoids. Among the thousands of phytochemicals that have been identified in plants, both health promoting and toxic compounds exist. For instance, some tannins decreased the activity of digestive enzymes or the bio-availability of protein or minerals and have been considered as anti-nutrients. Phytochemicals that exist in plant-based dietary sources and have value in human health maintenance and prevention of diseases are defined as phytonutrients. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, spices, nuts, wine, cocoa, tea, and olive oil are examples of foods rich in bio-active phytonutrients. The consumption of these dietary components has been related to decreased risk of developing chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases , age-related eye diseases, type II diabetes, cancers, and all-cause mortality. Observational studies also have reported that the total dietary polyphenol intake was inversely associated with the risk of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and cardiovascular events. Polyphenols under different categories may play various roles in reducing CVD risk. In the United States, the estimated flavonoid intake is 345 mg/day, with flavanols as the most abundant source. The three most consumed flavanols are catechin, epicatechin, and their polymers. Subanalyses of a cohort study indicated that dietary intakes of flavanols along with lignans, dihydrochalcones, and hydroxybenzoic acids showed a stronger inverse association with the risk of overall CVD events than other phenolic compounds.16 Another cohort study reported that the dietary intakes of anthocyanins, dihydrochalcones, dihydroflavonols, proanthocyanidins, catechins, flavonols, hydroxybenzoic acids, and stilbenes were significantly associated with decreased risks of total CVD. Blueberries and cranberries contain high amount of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin, respectively, with moderate concentration of flavonoids. Cocoa is rich in flavanols, especially epicatechin and catechin. Mango, as the fourth leading fruit crop worldwide, is high in carotenoids, phenolic acids, and mangiferin, a polyphenol classified as a xanthonoid. Carotenes exist in dietary sources primarily as α-carotene, β-carotene, and lycopene. Major xanthophylls that exist in dietary sources include lutein , zeaxanthin , and β-cryptoxanthin. Epidemiological studies report inconsistent results on the relationship between dietary L and Z intakes and the risk of age-related macular degeneration. However, clinical studies have shown that the supplementation of L and Z was able to increase the level of these compounds in the retina, suggesting their protection against age-related macular degeneration . A major dietary source of L and particularly of Z is goji berry, which also have other in carotenoids, as well as phenolic acids, and flavonoids. While many examples of fruits used traditionally for health promotion exist, this literature review focuses on the evidence of mango, cocoa, blueberries, and cranberries in cardiovascular health, and goji berries in eye health. The application of modern scientific methods to assess traditional remedies is important because evidence-based data is necessary to transfer historical stories and ancient wisdom to contemporary life and advancement of health and human performance.Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented product obtained from the seeds of Theobroma cacao L. and is the main ingredient in chocolate products.