Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) for sustainability assessment in food sector. A systematic literature review on methods, indicators and tools.

In the last decades, several studies have highlighted the significant impacts of the food sector. Therefore, enhancing sustainability within this sector has become of paramount importance. A crucial step towards achieving this goal involves the definition and implementation of effective sustainability metric and measurements. In this regard, the adoption of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods can be seen as one of the most suitable and promising approach to comprehensively capture the complex and broad-ranging effects of agricultural practices and food supply chains. In such context, a systematic review of the scientific literature on multi-criteria approaches and tools for measuring the sustainability of food supply chains (harvest and post-harvest stages) has been carried out, resulting in the selection and analysis of 42 articles. To delve into the selected articles, three main areas of focus have been identified. The first about MCDA methods and their features, revealing the most adopted methods for sustainability assessments of food supply chains. The second, focusing on the participatory approach, led to the definition of a stakeholder's engagement map, highlighting the typology of stakeholders involved, the reasons of their involvement and engagement methods. Lastly, the third focus is related to the analysis and classification of indicators adopted in each study and the sustainability dimensions to which they refer to. The results of the present review study provide a comprehensive overview of the essential aspects to be considered when developing a MCDA for sustainability assessment in the food sector, serving as a valuable resource for both scholars and practitioners.

Improving the composting process of a treatment facility via an Industry 4.0 monitoring and control solution: Performance and economic feasibility assessment.

The European Union has set ambitious targets for recycling and landfill disposal of urban waste by 2025 and 2035, respectively. Composting is considered one way to achieve these goals. This paper focuses on a case study of a compost industrial treatment facility to identify potential and economically feasible improvements for the process and the factory. Through a thorough analysis of the facility and its production process, a plant section suitable for reengineering intervention has been identified. A technological solution based on Industry 4.0 is proposed to facilitate the monitoring and control of the bio-oxidation phase. An economic and feasibility analysis of this investment has been carried out over a ten-year lifecycle, comparing it with the company's business plan. A hybrid simulation model has been implemented to simulate and evaluate the reengineered plant, revealing that the bio-oxidation phase can be shortened to an average of six days. This result suggests that the adoption of smart technologies to control these types of processes are desirable and should become a standard. The social and economic effects of this investment were also analyzed to evaluate how to reduce the fares keeping the investment still valuable for the community and the private entrepreneurs.

A systematic literature review of life cycle assessments in the durum wheat sector.

It is recognised today that the global food system does not always deliver good nutrition for all human beings, and, additionally, dramatically contributes to climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss. In particular, the cereal sector threatens biodiversity and ecosystem functions, due to environmentally harmful farming activities, that critically alter climate conditions, along with energy, land, and water resources. According to this paper's authors' opinion, this supports the rationale of conducting a systematic literature review of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in the durum wheat (DW) sector, to highlight environmental hotspots and improvement potentials in the phases of cultivation and processing into finished products like pasta and bread. Methodological aspects were also discussed in this paper, to provide useful insights on how to best perform LCA in such agri-food supply chains. Given the findings from the papers reviewed, the authors could document that the cultivation phase is the primary environmental hotspot of DW-derived food products and suggested several mitigation and improvements solution including, organic farming practices, diversified cropping systems, reduction of N fertilisers and pesticides application, and irrigation optimisation strategies. Furthermore, the review highlighted that there exist two main gaps in the literature, mainly related to the scarce attention on the organic farming sector and DW landraces, and the lack of nutritional-property accounting in LCAs. Finally, although specific, the review may be of interest to researchers, LCA practitioners, farmers and producers, policy- and decision-makers, and other stakeholders, and could support the promotion of environmental sustainability in the DW sector.

Home Working and Physical Activity during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, human lifestyles and occupational settings have changed in the workplace. This survey explores associations of home working employment and related physical activity (PA-MET min/week). METHODS: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted between March 2020 and March 2021. A standardized method for assessing PA and sedentary time, the Italian version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), was used through the Microsoft Forms® platform for self-administering the questionnaire. Baseline data were collected, and four follow-ups were performed; a full calendar year was observed. RESULTS: In total, 310 home workers were recruited in this investigation. The average body mass index (BMI- kg/m2) was 21.4 ± 4.2 at baseline. The value increased at the first follow-up and fluctuated in the other recalls. The t-test of MET values of the four activities (Total PA, Vigorous-intensity activity, Moderate-intensity activity, Walking) show similar results; the total PA, at baseline 275.7 ± 138.6, decreased statistically significantly at the first (198.5 ± 84.6), third (174.9 ± 98.4), and fourth (188.7 ± 78.5) follow-ups, while it increased statistically significantly at the second follow-up (307.1 ± 106.1) compared to the baseline. Sedentary time was constant until the second follow-up, while it increased statistically significantly at the 3rd and 4th follow-up. CONCLUSION: workers involved reduced and reorganized their PA during this pandemic year. Each business company should intervene to improve the PA levels of workers and reduce sedentary behavior in the workplace.