Fred A. Yamoah

The relationship between unhealthy food sales, socio-economic deprivation and childhood weight status: results of a cross-sectional study in England

BackgroundRecent increases in obesity prevalence have led to research into the neighbourhood food environment. Research suggests that proximity and density of food outlets around the home is associated with childhood obesity prevalence, however, the evidence is inconclusive, and associations between food outlet locations and diet are less clear. The purpose of this study is to assess area level associations between sales of unhealthy foods in supermarkets and weight status of children.MethodsThis study examined the association between weight status in children (4–5 year olds and 10–11 year olds) measured in the National Child Measurement Programme over three time points (2008/9, 2009/10, 2010/11) and annual sales of unhealthy foods (2012/3), as identified from a large supermarket chain. Geographical analysis was conducted to link store-based food sales for 537 stores with 6517 UK Census Areas. Unadjusted associations were examined with error-bar plots and linear regression was used to examine the relationship between the prevalence of overweight and obesity and sales of unhealthy food, while controlling for covariates known to predict weight status in children.ResultsA statistically significant relationship was identified between the sales of unhealthy foods and the prevalence of overweight and obese children in both age groups (p < 0.01). Of the covariates, area deprivation was positively associated with weight status (p < 0.001). Non-white population (%) was negatively associated (p < 0.001) with overweight and obesity among Reception children, but positively associated with the other weight statuses (p < 0.001). A higher proportion of children in the same age group were associated with statistically significantly lower overweight and obesity prevalence in Reception (p <0.01) but not Year 6 children.ConclusionsThe study provides novel findings linking supermarket food sales with the weight status of children. Food sales in geographically referenced supermarkets are a valuable source of data for research into the factors that influence the weight of the surrounding population. Future research could identify factors that might modify food shopping in supermarkets and use of purchasing data could be an effective way to measure the impact of healthy eating campaigns on the weight status of children over time.

A quantitative model for environmentally sustainable supply chain performance measurement

Abstract The development of robust mechanisms for supply chain performance measurement have been identified as an integral step needed for the transition towards sustainable supply chain systems and a greener global economy. However, measuring the environmental performance of supply chains is a challenging task, due to several factors, such as the lack of standardised methodologies and the inherent multi-criteria nature of the problem. By leveraging the capability of a Multi-Regional Input–Output framework to handle the complex and global nature of supply chains, the current work presents a robust environmental sustainable performance measurement model underpinned by industrial lifecycle thinking. As a result, some theoretical insights are provided and an empirical application of the model to the Metal Products industry of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) nations undertaken in an attempt to address some of the methodological and applied measurement challenges. In particular, this allowed the modelling of carbon emissions trends within, and between the BRICS nations and with the Rest-of-the-World over a 20-year period (1992–2011) as well as providing an opportunity to hypothesis on their future carbon emissions performances. Specific analyses of the Metal Product industry showed that demand represents the main driver for the increasing carbon footprint. However, the overall decline in reported carbon footprint was due to improvements in emissions intensity and efficiency gains induced by technology. The study further assesses the effects of imports and economic growth on carbon footprint and discusses the implications of the study to sustainability transition processes in the BRICS nations.

Consumer motivation and willingness to pay for "safer" vegetables in Ghana

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess consumer motivation and willingness to pay (WTP) for “safer” vegetables from the use of non-treatment options of wastewater use in urban/peri-urban vegetable production. Design/methodology/approach – As a theoretical basis, consumer theory of maximizing utility being an indicator of individual preference was examined through choice experiment (CE) method to measure the WTP for value of safety within the context of health reduced risk (pathogen reduction) of illness. WTP was tested empirically using survey data from 650 households in the two largest cities in Ghana (Accra and Kumasi) that are characterized by a number of well-established vegetable producers who use wastewater in their production and a large urban and peri-urban vegetable consumer market. Findings – Experience of vegetable borne diseases drives the need for safer vegetables and income and gender are key demographic factors influencing WTP. It was further found that consumers are willing to pa...

Exploring supermarket loyalty card analysis to identify who buys fairtrade

The aim of this paper is to show how supermarket loyalty card data from a panel of over 1.7 million shoppers can be analysed to provide insights to profile the fairtrade shopper in order to enhance making targeted marketing decisions. The paper demonstrates the huge marketing potential that loyalty-card-based shopper segmentation can bring to objectively describe who buys fairtrade products, compared to profiling shoppers through a claimed/reported behaviour data-set. A paired-samples t-test is used to test the degree of appeal of fairtrade tea, coffee, chocolate, drinking chocolates, banana and sugar categories in Tesco to life-stage and lifestyle shopper segments in terms of their retail sales values over 104 weeks. The results show that analysing loyalty cards based on actual behaviour provides a more detailed picture of how specific fairtrade food product categories appeal to the various life-stage and lifestyle shopper segments.

Sustainable agricultural intensification practices and rural food security: the case of North Western Ghana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of participation in sustainable agricultural intensification practices (SAIPs) on household food security status in North Western Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The study utilized the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) indicator for the measurement of food access data from 168 households in 10 communities from the North Western region of Ghana for the analyses. Households were categorized into participating households (treatment) and non-participating households (control). The endogenous treatment effects model was employed to evaluate the impact of participation on SAIPs training on food insecurity access scale. Findings The results show that participation in SAIPs training lower on average the household food insecurity access by 2.95, approximately an 11% reduction in HFIAS score. Other significant factors found to influence household food insecurity access scale are age of household head, experience in farming, total acres ow...

Clique structure and node-weighted centrality measures to predict distribution centre location in the supply chain management

Much importance is attached to the weights on the edges in a network, but in actual fact what makes up a network is both the nodes and the edges linking up the network. It is therefore pertinent to investigate the effects and importance of the weights attributed unto the nodes in a network as well as the weights on the links of such networks as they both play important roles in determining the prominence or popularity of actors within any particular network. Principles of centrality measures were employed in the supply chain management to show that the weighted-ness of the edges/nodes together with the clique structure that emanates from it can be a pointer to centrality or otherwise of members of a group in the network of a distribution system. As expected, it was affirmed that the nodes belonging to the high clique members have a high percentage of being chosen/predicted as the most likely distribution centre. We examined the cliques of the weighted centrality matrix for the distributed system of a supply chain management network, and from the outcome we are able to predict a location of a new distribution centre in and around a particular area/region with an accuracy of more than 66%. In addition, the distinction between the notion of link-weightedness and node-weightedness were clarified.

Weighted Marking, Clique Structure and Node- Weighted Centrality to Predict Distribution Centre’s Location in a Supply Chain Management

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