Local, national and imported foods: A qualitative study

The UK government is currently attempting to encourage consumers to buy more locally produced food. It is hoped that this will provide economic, environmental and social benefits to local areas, leading to more sustainable patterns of consumption. This qualitative study looks at the views and behaviour of consumers towards local foods with a particular focus on the barriers that prevent greater uptake of local produce. In total, four focus groups (n = 33) were conducted. Content analysis identified six relevant themes in relation to local, national and imported foods. These were cost, lifestyle, food quality, consumer ethnocentrism, choice and farmers. Overall, although participants reported buying few local products currently, there was widespread enthusiasm across socio-economic groups for local foods, with participants perceiving them as being of a higher quality than imported foods. They also generally endorsed the idea of supporting local farmers and their own national economy. The main barriers preventing participants from buying more local products were price and inconvenience. The results are discussed in relation to developing future strategies for encouraging people to buy more local food products. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local, national and imported foods: a qualitative study

The UK government is currently attempting to encourage consumers to buy more locally produced food. It is hoped that this will provide economic, environmental and social benefits to local areas, leading to more sustainable patterns of consumption. This qualitative study looks at the views and behaviour of consumers towards local foods with a particular focus on the barriers that prevent greater uptake of local produce. In total, four focus groups (n = 33) were conducted. Content analysis identified six relevant themes in relation to local, national and imported foods. These were cost, lifestyle, food quality, consumer ethnocentrism, choice and farmers. Overall, although participants reported buying few local products currently, there was widespread enthusiasm across socio-economic groups for local foods, with participants perceiving them as being of a higher quality than imported foods. They also generally endorsed the idea of supporting local farmers and their own national economy. The main barriers preventing participants from buying more local products were price and inconvenience. The results are discussed in relation to developing future strategies for encouraging people to buy more local food products. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local versus organic: a turn in consumer preferences and willingness-to-pay

Demand for local food in the United States has significantly increased over the last decade. In an attempt to understand the drivers of this demand and how they have changed over time, we investigate the literature on organic and local foods over the last few decades. We focus our review on studies that allow comparison of characteristics now associated with both local and organic food. We summarize the major findings of these studies and their implications for understanding drivers of local food demand. Prior to the late 1990s, most studies failed to consider factors now associated with local food, and the few that included these factors found very little support for them. In many cases, the lines between local and organic were blurred. Coincident with the development of federal organic food standards, studies began to find comparatively more support for local food as distinct and separate from organic food. Our review uncovers a distinct turn in the demand for local and organic food. Before the federal organic standards, organic food was linked to small farms, animal welfare, deep sustainability, community support, and many other factors that are not associated with most organic foods today. Based on our review, we argue that demand for local food arose largely in response to corporate cooptation of the organic food market and the arrival of “organic lite.” This important shift in consumer preferences away from organic and toward local food has broad implications for the environment and society. If these patterns of consumer preferences prove to be sustainable, producers, activists, and others should be aware of the implications that these trends have for the food system at large.

Micronesian banana, taro, and other foods: newly recognized sources of provitamin A and other carotenoids

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and chronic diseases are serious problems in the Federated States of Micronesia and other Pacific island countries. Nutrition education programs to address these in Micronesia have had limited success, partly due to lack of information on nutrient content in local foods. The study objective was to identify local plant foods rich in provitamin A and other carotenoids that have high levels of cultural acceptability. Food cultivars likely to be carotenoid-rich (suggested by coloration) were identified using an ethnographic approach including key informant interviews. Raw and cooked samples (mostly cultivars previously not analyzed) of 12 banana, 13 giant swamp taro, 10 breadfruit cultivars and four other local foods were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Many banana and taro cultivars were found with significant levels of beta- and alpha-carotene; the beta-carotene levels ranged from 30 to 2780 mug/100 g (banana) and. 50 to 2040 mug/100 g (taro). The results highlight the potential significance of cultivar differences in human nutrition, important for evaluation of the diet, establishment of locally relevant dietary guidelines, and research on the relationship between diet, health, and disease. These highly acceptable food cultivars could play an important role in VAD and chronic disease prevention programs in the Pacific. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Servicescape and Local Food Attributes on Pleasure and Revisit Intention in an Upscale-Casual Dining Restaurant

The current study looks at the relationship between servicescape, emotional product involvement, perceived quality of local foods, the positive emotion of pleasure, and revisit intention in an upscale buffet style restaurant on a university campus in the Southeastern U.S. Test results show positive relationships between all of the constructs in the proposed conceptual model. The study also gives practitioners and academics insights into practices that can help to market the use of local foods through the restaurant environment in order to engage emotionally involved customers. This marketing can illicit pleasurable feelings and increase perceived product quality of local foods with the purpose of getting customers to revisit the restaurant. Suggestions for further research on the subject are proposed.

Elevated levels of selenium in the typical diet of Amazonian riverside populations

Selenium (Se) intake is generally from food, whose Se content depends on soil Se and plant accumulation. For humans, adequate Se intake is essential for several selenoenzymes. In the Lower Tapajos region of the Brazilian Amazon, Se status is elevated with large inter-community variability. Se intake in this region, where Hg exposure is among the highest in the world, may be important to counteract mercury (Hg) toxicity. The present study was conducted in 2006 with 155 persons from four communities of the Lower Tapajos. The objectives were: i) to evaluate Se content in their typical diet and drinking water; ii) to compare food Se concentrations with respect to geographic location; and iii) to examine the contribution of consumption of different food items to blood Se. More than 400 local foods and 40 drinking water samples were collected. Participants responded to an interview-administered food frequency questionnaire and provided blood samples. Food, water and blood Se levels were assessed by ICP-MS. Since Brazil nuts may also contain significant levels of barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr), these elements were likewise analyzed in nuts. The highest Se concentrations were found in Brazil nuts, but concentrations were highly variable (median: 13.9 mu g/g; range: 0.4-158.4 mu g/g). Chicken, game meat, eggs and beef also contained considerable levels of Se, with median concentrations from 0.3 to 1.4 mu g/g. There was no particular geographic distribution of food Se. Se concentration in drinking water was very low (<1.4 mu g/L). Blood Se covered a (103-1500 mu g/L), and was positively related to regular consumption of Brazil nuts, domestic chicken and game meat. Brazil nuts were found to contain highly variable and often very high concentrations of Ba (88.0 mu g/g, 1.9-1437 mu g/g) and Sr (38.7 mu g/g, 3.3-173 mu g/g). Further studies should address multiple nutrient/toxic interactions in the diet and related effects on health. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Progettare l'ospitalità: turismi e turisti della città contemporanea

La ricerca si pone come obbiettivo principale quello di individuare gli strumenti in grado di controllare la qualità di una progettazione specifica che risponde alle forti richieste della domanda turistica di un territorio. Parte dalle più semplici teorie che inquadrano una costante condizione dell’uomo, “il VIAGGIARE”. La ricerca si pone come primo interrogativo quello definire una “dimensione” in cui le persone viaggiano, dove il concetto fisico di spazio dedicato alla vita si è spostato come e quanto si sposta la gente. Esiste una sorta di macroluogo (destinazione) che comprende tutti gli spazi dove la gente arriva e da cui spesso riparte. Pensare all'architettura dell’ospitalità significa indagare e comprendere come la casa non è più il solo luogo dove la gente abita. La ricerca affonda le proprie tesi sull’importanza dei “luoghi” appartenenti ad un territorio e come essi debbano riappropriarsi, attraverso un percorso progettuale, della loro più stretta vocazione attrattiva. Così come si sviluppa un’architettura dello stare, si manifesta un’architettura dello spostarsi e tali architetture si confondono e si integrano ad un territorio che per sua natura è esso stesso attrattivo. L’origine terminologica di nomadismo è passaggio necessario per la comprensione di una nuova dimensione architettonica legata a concetti quali mobilità e abitare. Si indaga pertanto all’interno della letteratura “diasporica”, in cui compaiono le prime configurazioni legate alla provvisorietà e alle costruzioni “erranti”. In sintesi, dopo aver posizionato e classificato il fenomeno turistico come nuova forma dell’abitare, senza il quale non si potrebbe svolgere una completa programmazione territoriale in quanto fenomeno oramai imprescindibile, la ricerca procede con l’individuazione di un ambito inteso come strumento di indagine sulle relazioni tra le diverse categorie e “tipologie” turistiche. La Riviera Romagnola è sicuramente molto famosa per la sua ospitalità e per le imponenti infrastrutture turistiche ma a livello industriale non è meno famosa per il porto di Ravenna che costituisce un punto di riferimento logistico per lo scambio di merci e materie prime via mare, oltre che essere, in tutta la sua estensione, caso di eccellenza. La provincia di Ravenna mette insieme tutti i fattori che servono a soddisfare le Total Leisure Experience, cioè esperienze di totale appagamento durante la vacanza. Quello che emerge dalle considerazioni svolte sul territorio ravennate è che il turista moderno non va più in cerca di una vacanza monotematica, in cui stare solo in spiaggia o occuparsi esclusivamente di monumenti e cultura. La richiesta è quella di un piacere procurato da una molteplicità di elementi. Pensiamo ad un distretto turistico dove l’offerta, oltre alla spiaggia o gli itinerari culturali, è anche occasione per fare sport o fitness, per rilassarsi in luoghi sereni, per gustare o acquistare cibi tipici e, allo stesso tempo, godere degli stessi servizi che una persona può avere a disposizione nella propria casa. Il percorso, finalizzato a definire un metodo di progettazione dell’ospitalità, parte dalla acquisizione delle esperienze nazionali ed internazionali avvenute negli ultimi dieci anni. La suddetta fase di ricerca “tipologica” si è conclusa in una valutazione critica che mette in evidenza punti di forza e punti di debolezza delle esperienze prese in esame. La conclusione di questa esplorazione ha prodotto una prima stesura degli “obbiettivi concettuali” legati alla elaborazione di un modello architettonico. Il progetto di ricerca in oggetto converge sul percorso tracciato dai Fiumi Uniti in Ravenna. Tale scelta consente di prendere in considerazione un parametro che mostri fattori di continuità tra costa e città, tra turismo balneare e turismo culturale, considerato quindi come potenziale strumento di connessione tra realtà spesso omologhe o complementari, in vista di una implementazione turistica che il progetto di ricerca ha come primo tra i suoi obiettivi. Il tema dell’architettura dell’ospitalità, che in questo caso si concretizza nell’idea di sperimentare l’ALBERGO DIFFUSO, è quello che permette di evidenziare al meglio la forma specifica della cultura locale, salvandone la vocazione universale. La proposta progettuale si articola in uno studio consequenziale ed organico in grado di promuovere una riflessione originale sul tema del modulo “abitativo” nei luoghi di prossimità delle emergenze territoriali di specifico interesse, attorno alle quali la crescente affluenza di un’utenza fortemente differenziata evidenzia la necessità di nodi singolari che si prestino a soddisfare una molteplicità di usi in contesti di grande pregio.

Insights on food and nutrition in the Federated States of Micronesia: a review of the literature

Background: Nutrition-related disorders, including vitamin A deficiency (VAD) and chronic diseases, are serious problems in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Many suggest that these disorders are new problems related to dietary and lifestyle changes. In the past four decades, imported foods, such as white rice, flour, sugar, refined foods and fatty meats, have increasingly replaced local foods in the diet. Aim: A literature review was conducted to understand underlying issues related to dietary change and obtain insights for nutrition research and interventions. Method: Published and unpublished papers from different disciplines were reviewed and collated for information on food and nutrition in FSM. Topics covered were historical background, local foods, infant and child feeding, dietary assessment, and nutritional status. Particular focus was on information and data relating to VAD, the primary topic that led to the review of the literature. Conclusions: FSM, a tropical country of abundant agricultural resources, has suffered a great loss in production and consumption of local foods. Inconsistent external and internal government policies and food aid programmes have contributed to the problem. Further research on the nutrient content of local foods and factors affecting production, acquisition and consumption is needed, as well as a broad, well-planned, intersectoral intervention aimed at dietary improvement for all age groups in the population.

Tanzanian Food Origins and Protected Geographical Indications

As the world`s population is constantly growing, food security will remain on the policy Agenda, particularly in Africa. At the same time, global food systems experience a new wave focusing on local foods and food sovereignty featuring high quality food products of verifiable geographical origin. This article argues that Geographical Indications (GI´s) hold the potential to help transform the Tanzanian agriculture-dependent economy through the tapping of value from unique products, attributing taste and colour to place or regional geography. This study aims to identify the existence and characteristics of food origin products in Tanzania that have potential for GI certification. The hypothesis was that there are origin products in Tanzania whose unique characteristics are linked to the area of production. Geographical indications can be useful policy instruments contributing to food security and sovereignty and quality within an efficient marketing system with the availability of government support, hence the need to identify key candidates for GI certification. Five Tanzanian origin products were selected from 14 candidate agricultural products through a scoping study. Rice from Kyela, Aloe vera, Coffee and Sugar from Kilimanjaro and Cloves from Zanzibar are some of the product cases investigated and provides for in-depth case study, as ´landscape´ products incorporating ´taste of place´. Interviews were conducted to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Data was collected on the production area, product quality perceived by the consumer in terms of taste, flavour, texture, aroma, appearance (colour, size) and perceptions of links between geography related factors (soil, land weather characteristics) and product qualities. A qualitative case study analysis was done for each of the (five) selected Tanzanian origin products investigated with plausible prospects for Tanzania to leapfrog into exports of Geographical Indications products. Framework conditions for producers creating or capturing market value as stewards of cultural and landscape values, environments, and institutional requirements for such creation or capturing to happen, including presence of export opportunities, are discussed. Geographical indication is believed to allow smallholders to create employment and build monetary value, while stewarding local food cultures and natural environments and resources, and increasing the diversity of supply of natural and unique quality products and so contribute to enhanced food security.

Comportamento alimentar e excesso de peso em profissionais do sector da saúde: estratégias para a promoção de saúde no local de trabalho

Mestrado em Intervenção Sócio-Organizacional na Saúde - Área de especialização: Políticas de Administração e Gestão de Serviços de Saúde.

Cooperatives and Contracting in Agriculture: The Case of West Liberty Foods, October 2005

The West Liberty Foods turkey cooperative was formed in 1996 to purchase the assets and assume operations of Louis Rich Foods (an investor-owned processing rm), which, at the time, announced the imminent shutdown of its West Liberty, Iowa, processing facility. We study the creation and performance of this �new generation� cooperative using eld interviews with grower members and company management. We describe changes, before and after the buyout, in the contractual apparatus used for procuring live turkeys, and in the communication requirements, work expectations, and nancial positions of growers. During the private ownership period, most of the inputs (except labor and facilities) were provided by the rm; there was substantial supervision of the growers' actions; growers faced little price and production risk; and growers' equity was due largely to ownership of land and other farm assets. Our interviews reveal that, after cooperative formation, growers were exposed to considerable additional risk; monitoring of growers by the rm was less intensive; grower time and effort commitments to turkey production increased substantially; and a signicant fraction of rm (cooperative) equity came from growers' willingness to leverage their farm and personal assets (and hence indirectly their existing relationships with local lenders). We argue that some of these changes are consistent with a nancial contract where asset pledging and its corollary risk generate higher work effort by growers and a reduction in agency rents. These economies likely compensate for an organizational deadweight loss traditionally associated with cooperative governance.

Foodstuffs and medicines as legal categories in the EU and China. Functional foods as a borderline case

The thesis discusses the regulation of foodstuffs and medicines, and particularly the regulation of functional foods. Legal systems investigated are the EU and China. Both are members of the WTO and Codex Alimentarius, which binds European and Chinese rules together. The study uses three Chinese berries as case examples of how product development faces regulation in practice. The berries have traditional uses as herbal medicines. Europe and China have similar nutrition problems to be resolved, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. The three berries might be suitable raw materials for functional foods. Consumer products with health-enhancing functions, such as lowering blood pressure, might legally be classifi ed either as foodstuffs or medicines. The classifi cation will depend on functions and presentation of the product. In our opinion, food and medicine regulation should come closer together so the classifi cation issue would no longer be an issue. Safety of both foodstuffs and medicines is strictly regulated. With medicines, safety is a more relative concept, where benefi ts of the product are compared to side-effects in thorough scientifi c tests and trials. Foods, on the other hand, are not allowed to have side-effects. Hygiene rules and rules on the use of chemicals apply. In China, food safety is currently at focus as China has had several severe food scandals. Newly developed foods are called novel foods, and are specifi cally regulated. The current European novel food regulation from 1997 treats traditional third country products as novel. The Chinese regulation of 2007 also defi nes novel foods as something unfamiliar to a Chinese consumer. The concepts of novel food thus serve a protectionist purpose. As regards marketing, foods are allowed to bear health claims, whereas medicines bear medicinal claims. The separation is legally strict: foods are not to be presented as having medicinal functions. European nutrition and health claim regulation exists since 2006. China also has its regulation on health foods, listing the permitted claims and how to substantiate them. Health claims are allowed only on health foods. The European rules on medicines include separate categories for herbal medicines, traditional herbal medicines, and homeopathic medicines, where there are differing requirements for scientifi c substantiation. The scientifi c and political grounds for the separate categories provoke criticism. At surface, the Chinese legal system seems similar to the European one. To facilitate trade, China has enacted modern laws. Laws are needed as the country moves from planned economy to market economy: ‘rule of law’ needs to replace ‘rule of man’. Instead of being citizens, Chinese people long were subordinates to the Emperor. Confucius himself advised to avoid confl ict. Still, Chinese people do not and cannot always trust the legal system, as laws are enforced in an inconsistent manner, and courts are weak. In China, there have been problems with confl icting national and local laws. In Europe, the competence of the EU vs. the competence of the Member States is still not resolved, even though the European Commission often states that free trade requires harmonisation. Food and medicine regulation is created by international organisations, food and medicine control agencies, standards agencies, companies and their organisations. Regulation can be divided in ‘hard law’ and ‘soft law’. One might claim that hard law is in crisis, as soft law is gaining importance. If law is out of fashion, regulation certainly isn’t. In the future, ‘law’ might mean a process where rules and incentives are created by states, NGOs, companies, consumers, and other stakeholders. ‘Law’ might thus refer to a constant negotiation between public and private actors. Legal principles such as transparency, equal treatment, and the right to be heard would still be important.

Environnement alimentaire local et son association avec les habitudes alimentaires de personnes âgées

Contexte : Un accès adéquat aux aliments sains dans les environnements résidentiels peut contribuer aux saines habitudes alimentaires. Un tel accès est d’autant plus important pour les personnes âgées, où les changements associés au vieillissement peuvent accentuer leur dépendance aux ressources disponibles dans le voisinage. Cependant, cette relation n’a pas encore été établie chez les aînés. Objectifs : La présente thèse vise à quantifier les associations entre l’environnement alimentaire local et les habitudes alimentaires de personnes âgées vivant à domicile en milieu urbain. La thèse s’est insérée dans un projet plus large qui a apparié les données provenant d’une cohorte d’aînés québécois vivant dans la région métropolitaine montréalaise avec des données provenant d’un système d’information géographique. Trois études répondent aux objectifs spécifiques suivants : (1) développer des indices relatifs de mixité alimentaire pour qualifier l’offre d’aliments sains dans les magasins d’alimentation et l’offre de restaurants situés dans les quartiers faisant partie du territoire à l’étude et en examiner la validité; (2) quantifier les associations entre la disponibilité relative de magasins d’alimentation et de restaurants près du domicile et les habitudes alimentaires des aînés; (3) examiner l’influence des connaissances subjectives en nutrition dans la relation entre l’environnement alimentaire près du domicile et les habitudes alimentaires chez les hommes et les femmes âgés. Méthodes : Le devis consiste en une analyse secondaire de données transversales provenant de trois sources : les données du cycle 1 pour 848 participants de l’Étude longitudinale québécoise « La nutrition comme déterminant d’un vieillissement réussi » (2003-2008), le Recensement de 2001 de Statistique Canada et un registre privé de commerces et services (2005), ces derniers regroupés dans un système d’information géographique nommé Mégaphone. Des analyses bivariées non paramétriques ont été appliquées pour répondre à l’objectif 1. Les associations entre l’exposition aux commerces alimentaires dans le voisinage et les habitudes alimentaires (objectif 2), ainsi que l’influence des connaissances subjectives en nutrition dans cette relation (objectif 3), ont été vérifiées au moyen d’analyses de régression linéaires. Résultats : Les analyses ont révélé trois résultats importants. Premièrement, l’utilisation d’indices relatifs pour caractériser l’offre alimentaire s’avère pertinente pour l’étude des habitudes alimentaires, plus particulièrement pour l’offre de restaurants-minute. Deuxièmement, l’omniprésence d’aspects défavorables dans l’environnement, caractérisé par une offre relativement plus élevée de restaurants-minute, semble nuire davantage aux saines habitudes alimentaires que la présence d’opportunités d’achats d’aliments sains dans les magasins d’alimentation. Troisièmement, un environnement alimentaire plus favorable aux saines habitudes pourrait réduire les écarts quant à la qualité de l’alimentation chez les femmes ayant de plus faibles connaissances subjectives en nutrition par rapport aux femmes mieux informées. Conclusion : Ces résultats mettent en relief la complexité des liens entre l’environnement local et l’alimentation. Dans l’éventualité où ces résultats seraient reproduits dans des recherches futures, des stratégies populationnelles visant à résoudre un déséquilibre entre l’accès aux sources d’aliments sains par rapport aux aliments peu nutritifs semblent prometteuses.

Zoneamentos agroecológicos e seus reflexos no desenvolvimento da produção agrícola familiar municipal no estado do Pará: a questão da seguridade alimentar da população local

A região amazônica representa atualmente um conjunto de conflitos de interesses, que apresentam como eixos centrais à questão ecológica e a necessidade de garantir a sobrevivência da população local municipal. O presente trabalho discute a eficiência, eficácia e efetividade de parte dos Zoneamentos Agroecológicos realizados pela Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária EMBRAPA, através de sua Unidade Descentralizada no Pará, Centro de Pesquisa Agroflorestal da Amazônia Oriental Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, nos anos de 1975, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 e 2004, quando atendeu dezenas de solicitações, por parte de gestores municipais, estaduais e federais (Instituições e governos), do Estado do Pará, no que tange aos reflexos do seu uso ou desuso, como instrumento de planejamento para o desenvolvimento endógeno desses municípios, principalmente àqueles ligados a garantia da seguridade alimentar da população neles residentes, de produtos como: Arroz (Oriza sativa) e Feijão (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), produzidos por pequenos produtores familiares, que segundo Costa (1973) trata-se do grupo formado por aqueles agricultores que utilizam módulos de terra de até duzentos hectares, e, que noventa e cinco por cento da mão-de-obra... ocupada com as atividades agrícolas, é familiar. Nessa pesquisa, serão avaliados os zoneamentos ecológicoeconômicos dos municípios, pertencentes à microrregião de Paragominas: Abel Figueirêdo, Rondon do Pará, Paragominas e Bom Jesus do Tocantins. De antemão, sabe-se que somente os ZEE, não representam in totum, uma panacéia (remédio para todos os males), mas trata-se de uma ferramenta potente para planificar o uso do território e da terra e ajudaria bastante quando utilizado para definição das áreas potencialmente promissoras para produção de alimentos básicos.

Neutron activation analysis for assessing chemical composition of dry dog foods

Brazil holds the second largest population of domestic dogs in the world, with 33 million dogs, only behind the United States. The annual consumption of dog food in the country is 1.75 million tons, corresponding to the World's sixth in trade turnover. Dog food is supposed to be a complete and balanced diet, formulated with high quality ingredients. All nutrients and minerals required for an adequate nutrition of dogs are added to the formulation to ensure longevity and welfare. In this context, the present study aimed at assessing the chemical composition of dry dog foods commercialized in Brazil. Thirty-four samples were acquired in the local market of Piracicaba and analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to determine the elements As, Br, Ca, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, K, La, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, U, and Zn. In general, the concentrations of Ca, Fe, K, Na, and Zn complied with the values required by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). To evaluate the safety of dog food commercialized in Brazil, further investigation is necessary to better understand the presence of toxic elements found in this study, i.e. Sb and U. INAA was useful for the screening analysis of different types and brands of dry dog foods for the determination of both essential and toxic elements.