Zeitschriftenartikel zum Thema „Yoghurt packaging“

The important effect of yoghurt on people's health caused increasing of many technological works and researches not only in our country but also all over the world.The environment in which yoghurt kept, may cause many sort of germs and contamination paths by the effects of some factors which are fairly similar to its own structure. These factors change the shelf-life of yoghurt and finally cause spoilage in yoghurt. In this context, it is known that the scientific works in this area which are aiming to minimize this spoilage effect, focus on the yogurt structure and packaging of yoghurt. The aim of this paper is to improve a smart polymer material which interacts with serum and changes color of the package by considering serum occurring within the shelf-life of yoghurt. PP based material will be used with the biological agencies like “kaoline” and “talc” and implemented mainly or superficial, the color change will be arised if the serum's PH increases. In practice, everyone can see the color changes with the window which will be placed on the label and the window will include the cautions according to the color levels.

The organic food market is constantly growing, while organic yoghurt belongs to the category of the best-selling organic products in the dairy products group. The aim of this study was to determine consumer behaviour in the purchase and consumption of organic yoghurt, attitudes concerning organic yoghurt, and motives for organic yoghurt purchase. An online survey was conducted among organic yoghurt buyers. More than a third of respondents buy and consume organic yoghurt two to three times a month. Respondents buy most often organic yoghurt made from cow’s milk, in plastic packaging, in supermarkets and specialty stores. The most important motives for buying organic yoghurt are health, nutritional value, and food safety. Respondents have positive attitudes about organic yoghurt. The results of this research are useful for organic food producers (especially organic yoghurt producers) in planning and improving production, and also for food marketing experts in designing and implementing promotional activities.

The quality of yoghurt produced in District of Cipari, Cigugur Kuningan Regency failed to meet the required standard despite the fact that socialization of yoghurt GMP program, facilitation and delivery of inkubator for yoghurt production had been implemented. Therefore, this study reported the performance of the incubators which had been produced and granted to two cooperatives in the District of Cipari, Kuningan, namely Laras Ati and Lembah Kamoning. The method used was to directly test the incubators for the production of yoghurt in a laboratory Institut Teknologi Indonesia and in Kuningan. Five litres of cow's milk that had been heated to a temperature of 90° C for 15 minutes and cooled down to a temperature of 40° C were directly inoculated with a 10% volume of fresh commercial yoghurt starter, culture consisting of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Streptococcus thermophilus and Bifidobacterium. The measured parameters were incubator temperature stability, product's pH value, total acid and organoleptic of product. The results showed that the performance of the two incubators were in good condition. It was proved by stable temperature in the range of 44.1±0.6°C during evaluation within 7 hours of incubation. During fermentation, pH of the product has decreased and reached a pH value of 4.6 ± 0:02 within 7 hours of incubation, total acid reached 0.84±0.052%. The organoleptic product of yoghurt showed the percentage of product acceptance reached 85%, 83%, 86% and 82% in colour/appearance, texture, odour/flavour and taste respectively. The two delivered incubators met the required standard, thereby making the household-scale production process of yoghurt safe for public consumption. Yoghurt ready for sale and kept at the room temperature remains fresh and does not suffer damage because the packaging is not inflated as before.Yoghurt that is ready to be sold and even kept at room temperature remains fresh and does not suffer damage ie. the packaging is not inflated as before.

Probiotic yoghurt with fruit was produced to enrich the intestinal flora of infants and to prevent various ailments in infants when the flora is inadequate. Peach, apple and pear purees (10% and 20% each), cow milk, milk powder, starter culture (combination of Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium longum and Lactobacillus paracasei) were used in the production of probiotic yogurt for babies. Some properties of yoghurt samples were investigated during fermentation and on the 1st, 7th, 14th and 21st days of storage. After ten hours of fermentation, the lowest pH was observed in samples with apple puree. It has been determined that syneresis increases with increasing concentrations of fruit purees. The water holding capacity was less in yoghurts containing fruit puree compared to control yoghurt and in 20% fruit puree compared to yoghurts containing 10% fruit puree. The number of L. bulgaricus generally increased in all samples during storage. It was determined that the number of S. thermophilus in control sample was higher than other samples during storage. The number of L. paracasei and Bifidobacterium spp. decreased during storage. While the control sample remained probiotic until the 14th day of storage, other samples lost its probiotic properties before the 7th day of storage. Considering that the number of probiotic microorganisms in a probiotic product should be at least 106-107 CFU/g according to FAO, it has been decided that the most suitable fruits for probiotic yogurt with fruit puree are peach and apple, respectively. Considering the structural features, it is more appropriate to use 10% fruit puree, and considering the probiotic feature, it is more appropriate to use 20% fruit puree. Choosing the appropriate packaging and fixing suitable storage conditions will help probiotic microorganisms to preserve their vitality for a long time.

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the nutrient profile of yoghurts and dairy desserts.DesignNutrition information panels and product labels on yoghurts and dairy desserts offered for sale were surveyed in 2005 and 2008 and nutrients analysed by two nutrient profiling systems.SettingA large supermarket in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.ResultsIn total, 248 and 140 dairy snacks (yoghurt, fromage frais or dairy desserts) were surveyed in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Over this time, median packet size rose significantly (P≤ 0·001). In yoghurts, median energy and total fat content also increased while protein decreased (allP< 0·05). The proportion of ‘full-fat’ products rose from 36 % to 46 %. Because of the addition of sugar, most ‘reduced-fat’ yoghurts had energy content similar to many ‘full-fat’ yoghurts. Overall, the proportion of yoghurts and dairy desserts that were ‘less healthy’ (i.e. displaying one or more ‘red traffic lights’ for high fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar content) rose from 12 % in 2005 to 23 % in 2008. Only 1–2 % could be deemed ‘healthy’ by the most stringent criterion (displaying four ‘green traffic lights’), while 21 % (2005) or 28 % (2008) were ‘healthy’ by a nutrient profiling system that included a score for protein. Sucrose, the most common sweetener, was found in levels up to 29 g/100 g. Claims on packaging mainly related to Ca, fat or protein content. Few labels referred to sugar content.ConclusionsThe deterioration in nutrient quality of yoghurts needs to be redressed.

Most of the published research on the perception of food and drink has focused on what happens in-mouth during consumption. It is, however, important to note that people’s judgments are also profoundly influenced by other sensory cues, such as haptic input, be it their direct (oral-somatosensory) contact with the food itself, or their indirect contact with the product packaging, plateware, or cutlery as well. A series of experiments are reported which together demonstrate that people also evaluate the sensory characteristics, and even the quality and estimated price, of foods and beverages based on attributes, such as the weight or the texture, of the items we utilize during consumption (be it the cutlery, the tableware, or the product packaging). For instance, yoghurt samples were rated as being significantly more dense and more satiating when consumed from a heavy bowl than when exactly the same yoghurt was consumed from an identical bowl that was somewhat lighter. In another study, the texture of a yoghurt pot was shown to influence participants’ ratings of certain of the textural attributes of foods. We have also investigated the effect of the weight of the cutlery. These results suggest that the haptic cues associated with the consumption of food and drink can also influence our in-mouth perception of their textural properties. Given that the participants did not touch the food directly with their hands, the phenomenon observed might reflect an example of ‘sensation transference’ between what participants feel in their hands and what they perceive in their mouths.

AbstractHimmatun Ayat was an orphanage located on Jalan Dukuh Kupang, Surabaya, East Java which aimed to build public awareness of orphans, poor people, and neglected children in achieving their goals for a better future. The problems faced by the Himmatun Ayat orphanage during the COVID-19 pandemic were the decline in turnover and market saturation for their products. The solution was to evoke entrepreneurship development during the pandemic with innovation and technology by providing training on the manufacture of various flavors pasteurized milk, yogurt, and packaging methods to increase the economic value of the product so it could increase the income of the Himmatun Ayat Orphanage. The implementation of this activity was carried out by three methods: 1. Counseling, 2. Training, and 3. Monitoring and evaluation. The result obtained from this community service was all participants displayed the results of pasteurized milk and yogurt products as well as good packaging according to what was conveyed. The successful application of technology through community service could increase the income and welfare of the Himmatun Ayat Orphanage.Keywords: pasteurized milk, yogurt, packaging, orphanage, community service. AbstrakHimmatun Ayat merupakan lembaga panti asuhan yang di Jalan Dukuh Kupang, Surabaya, Jawa Timur yang bertujuan membangun kepedulian masyarakat kepada anak-anak yatim, kaum dhuafa dan anak terlantar dalam meraih cita-cita menuju masa depan yang lebih baik. Permasalahan yang dihadapi panti asuhan Himmatun Ayat saat pandemi COVID-19 ini adalah penurunan omset dan kejenuhan pasar terhadap produk mereka. Solusinya membangkitkan pengembangan kewirausahaan di masa pandemi dengan inovasi dan teknologi dilakukan dengan memberikan pelatihan pembuatan produk susu pasteurisasi aneka rasa, yoghurt dan cara pengemasannya untuk menambah nilai ekonomis produk sehingga meningkatkan pendapatan Panti Asuhan Himmatun Ayat. Pelaksanaan kegiatan ini dilaksanakan dengan tiga metode: 1) Penyuluhan, 2) Pelatihan, dan 3) Monitoringdan evaluasi. Hasil yang didapat dari pengabdian masyarakat ini semua peserta menampilkan hasil produk susu pasteurisasi dan yoghurt serta kemasan yang bagus sesuai dengan yang disampaikan. Keberhasilan pengaplikasian teknologi melalui pengabdian masyarakat ini dapat meningkatkan pendapatan dan kesejahteraan Panti Asuhan Himmatun Ayat.Kata kunci: susu pasteurisasi, yoghurt, pengemasan, panti asuhan, pengabdian masyarakat.

Packaging design is an important factor when consumers look out for healthy food. The study tested for effects of packaging color and health claims of a fictional fruit yoghurt package on attitude towards the product and subsequently, consumer’s buying intention, using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design. We also tested whether interest in healthy food is a moderating factor. We found no evidence to support that visual cues (color) and textual cues (health-related advertising claims) are effective in influencing consumer attitude towards the product. Consumers did not show a more positive attitude towards products presented in low-arousal packaging colors (green/blue) compared to high arousal packaging colors (red/yellow). Also, the claim “palatability” did not result in a more positive attitude towards the product than the claim “healthy”. A moderating role of interest in healthy food could not be confirmed. The results confirmed, however, a significant relation of attitude towards the product and buying intention. Thus, buying intention could be explained mostly by whether consumers had a positive or negative attitude towards the product, which confirms that people’s attitudes are powerful predictors of buying decisions.

Cílem práce bylo posoudit environmentální dopady různých typů zvolených jogurtových kelímků vyrobených z různých materiálů: z plastu, papíru, skla či z kompozitního materiálu. Environmentální dopady byly vyhodnoceny metodou posuzování životního cyklu (z angl. life cycle assessment, LCA). Výsledky práce ukazují, že skleněné a kompozitní obaly jsou horší než obaly plastové, s výjimkou kategorie dopadu Spotřeba fosilních surovin a humánní toxicita. Jako nejlepší vychází plastový obal s K3 dekorací (papír), který ve všech hodnocených kategoriích dopadu vykazuje nejlepší výsledky. V kategorii dopadu Klimatické změny se nejhůř umístil kompozitní obal a obal skleněný. Nejvíce ovlivněnou kategorií je Sladkovodní ekotoxicita, nejvyšší dopady v rámci této kategorie vykazuje obal skleněný a následně kompozitní. V rámci kategorie dopadu Ionizující záření má největší dopad skleněný obal následovaný obalem kompozitním. Na základě výsledků výzkumu bylo zjištěno, že hlavní příčinou dopadů plastových kelímků na životní prostředí je výroba PP granulátu, u skleněných obalů je to výroba samotného skla a v případě kompozitních obalů výroba kompozitního obalu. Abstract (en) The aim of the work was to assess the environmental impacts of different types of selected yoghurt cups made of different materials: plastic, paper, glass or composite material. Environmental impacts were assessed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The results of the work show that glass and composite packaging is worse than plastic packaging except for the impact category Resource use (mineral and metals) and Human toxicity. The best packaging appears to be plastic packaging with K3 decoration (paper), which has the smallest impacts in all evaluated impact categories. In the impact category Climate change, composite packaging and glass packaging have the greatest impact. The most affected category is Freshwater ecotoxicity. The highest impacts within this category are shown by glass packaging and subsequently composite packaging. In the impact category Ionizing radiation, the greatest impact has a glass packaging, then a composite packaging. Based on the results, it was determined that the main cause of the impacts of plastic cups is the production of PP granulate. In the case of glass packaging, it is the production of the glass itself, and in the case of composite packaging, the production of the composite packaging.

Modern consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the perceived health benefits of food. As a result, they are in search of various types of information, for example, information on the packaging of food products that could confirm to what extent the purchased product will meet their expectations regarding the proper composition, that is, nutritional value, or perceived health values earlier mentioned. Furthermore, consumers increasingly seek new dairy products with additional health benefits and, therefore, it is essential to explore which attributes are important drivers of food choices and how producers can better respond to shifting consumer values and needs in each dairy product category. Therefore, the aims of our research was twofold: (1) To determine different segments of consumers based on their preferences towards food and nutrition, including opinion on new food products with a particular emphasis on a dairy market as well as (2) to study the importance of some statements related to nutrition presented on the yoghurt label with a precise focus on aspects of the increased and decreased content of some ingredients. The data were collected using a CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) survey on a sample of 489 adult Polish consumers. Respondents provided answers to questions and took part in a discrete choice-based experiment. The obtained data were analysed using the clustering method. The segmentation was performed using a hierarchical Ward’s method. As a result, four segments were identified: Quality-oriented, Involved, Quality Enthusiasts, and Neutral. The results indicated that in relation to the features that are important in the case of yoghurts, the following were indicated above all: Beneficial effects on health, its sensory values, as well as its availability on the market and production by traditional methods. Consumers belonging to Quality Enthusiasts seemed to be the most promising segment due to their openness to new products, as well as positive feedback on yoghurt. From the perspective of taking action on the food market, Involved may also be interesting, as it showed their openness to new products available on the food market. However, due to the relatively lower, compared to other segments, assessment on the beneficial effect of yoghurt on health, their taste, aroma, availability, as well as the importance of information on care for the proper method of breeding animals, this segment can pose a special challenge to entrepreneurs. Moreover, Involved seemed to be more demanding and critical towards some projects undertaken on the market by policy makers and marketing practitioners.

Advertising as a material for semiotic study, this article describes the signs found in SilverQueen chocolate advertisements for the very berry yogurt flavor variant on YouTube and also the meaning of the signs between the signifier and signified based on the object. This study aims to find out signifiers and signifieds, find out the meaning contained in SilverQueen chocolate advertisements with very berry yogurt flavors on YouTube, such as how semiotics looks at the meaning of messages in advertisements. The method used in this study uses qualitative analysis methods. With this method, researchers can study and examine the meaning contained in a sign based on the information obtained by researchers, such as video footage in advertisements depicting messages for consumers, creating recognizable products with the intention of attracting consumer interest in the form of names, packaging, logo, price, and the power of image visualization.

Although there were many consumer behavior studies, their focus was on traditional brands. Despite that, their conclusions and recommendations can serve as a model for private label research. This paper aims to find out the influence of packaging on consumer purchasing decisions in the yoghurt segment. Attention was drawn to Slovak consumers under the age of 25 years. To achieve the aim, survey, structured questionnaire (549 randomly chosen respondents) and blind test (20 respondents) methods were used. For a deeper analysis, four hypotheses were set out and tested using statistical methods of Pearsons’ Chi-Square Test, Friedman test, Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square Test, Phi Coefficient, Cramer’s V Coefficient and correspondence analysis. The results proved that almost 58% of respondents bought private labels sporadically, over 20% of respondents bought them multiple times a week, and over 18% of respondents bought them once a week. In terms of perceived quality, it can be said that quality of private label products is perceived as good and adequate, they evoke impression of adequate quality at a reasonable price, the decisive factor for their purchase is a combination of reasonable price and quality, and the reasons not to buy are high price, low quality and lack of information about the producer. Regarding the impact of packaging on respondents’ purchasing decisions, it is found that less than 34% of respondents believe that packaging of private label products is unattractive, and up to 33% of respondents think that packaging does not affect them. AcknowledgementThe paper was supported by the research project GA SUA No. 8/2019 “Private labels as the alternative to purchase”, which is solved at the Department of Marketing and Trade, Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra.

Spinach is food that is easily wilted and easily damaged, so spinach that has been harvested must be immediately marketed and consumed. There are two methods to extend the shelf life of spinach, namely cooling and drying methods. This study uses the drying method. The advantages of drying compared to cooling are that the dried material is more durable, the volume and weight are reduced, resulting in lower costs for packaging, transportation and storage. Along with the development of food technology, vegetable milk began to be introduced as an alternative ingredient for making yogurt whose nutritional value is not inferior to animal milk yogurt. In order to be more attractive to increase income and add coloring, the natural coloring is green spinach, considering there has never been researched into making yogurt with the addition of green spinach as a natural coloring. The treatment of adding green spinach vegetable extracts by 15% and 25% affects the quality changes that occur in yogurt made from soy milk. By simply differentiating the addition of 15% and 25% can prove the influence of changes in yogurt quality made from soy milk. Keywords: Organoleptic Test, Yoghurt, Green Spinach, Soy Milk

[Bahasa]: M99 Beverage adalah salah satu industri rumah tangga (IRT) di desa Tambakyudan, Kota Pasuruan yang bergerak pada produk olahan susu, salah satunya yaitu ‘Gully’ (Yoghurt Jelly). Di masa sulit pandemi Covid-19, M99 Beverage terpaksa vakum setelah berupaya maksimal untuk tetap beroperasi di tiga bulan awal kasus positif Covid-19. Permasalahan yang dihadapi M99 Beverage adalah terkait dengan upaya produksi, pengemasan, dan pemasaran produk. Produksi Gully tidak berjalan secara maksimal karena masih diproduksi secara manual dan tergantung pada suhu ruangan dalam pembuatan kefirnya. Masalah lainnya adalah desain kemasan produk yang belum optimal dan strategi pemasaran yang masih manual (hanya mengandalkan pemasaran dari mulut ke mulut). Tujuan pelaksanaan pengabdian ini adalah untuk meningkatkan aktivitas produksi dan penjualan M99 Beverage sebagai mitra kegiatan melalui pengadaan alat produksi, pemasaran produk, dan perbaikan desain label atau kemasan produk. Metode yang digunakan meliputi observasi, identifikasi masalah, perumusan masalah, pelaksanaa kegiatan sebagai tindakan solusi permasalahan, dan evaluasi output Hasil pengabdian menunjukkan bahwa mitra dapat berinovasi dalam penambahan varian produk yang baru yaitu es lilin, es krim dan Gully Squeeze. Setelah kegiatan ini mitra juga berhasil mendesain label yang lebih representatif dan mencerminkan branding yang baik. Mitra juga berhasil membuat media promosi produk yang berbasis platform digital antara lain facebook, twitter, dan landing page. Dengan langkah-langkah solusi yang dilakukan melalui program ini, produksi dan penjualan mitra bertambah dari 40 botol/ minggu di bulan Juni 2021, menjadi 60 botol/minggu di bulan Juli 2021. Ini menunjukkan pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini efektif dalam meningkatkan aktivitas produksi industri rumah tangga yang bergerak dalam bidang susu olahan. Kata Kunci: susu olahan, kefir, landing page, M99 Beverage, Gully [English]: M99 Beverage is one of the home industries (IRT) in Tambakyudan village, Pasuruan City that produces dairy products, one of which is 'Gully' (Yoghurt Jelly). During the Covid-19 pandemic, M99 Beverage had to halt any operations after trying to operate in the first three months of Covid-19. The problems faced by M99 Beverage are related to production, packaging, and product marketing efforts. Gully production was not optimal because it is still produced manually and depends on room temperature. Other problems are related to the non-optimal design of product packaging and marketing strategies, which are still manual (only relies on word-of-mouth marketing). The purpose of this community program is to increase the production and sales activities of M99 Beverage as a partner through procurement of production equipment, product marketing, and improvement of product labels or packaging designs. The methods used include observation, problem identification, problem formulation, implementation of problem solution actions, and evaluation of the outputs. The results of this program show that the partners can innovate in adding new product variants, namely ice wax, ice cream, and Gully Squeeze. After this program, partners also succeeded in designing labels that were more representative and reflect good branding. They have also succeeded in creating product promotion media based on digital platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and landing pages. With the solution steps carried out through this program, partners' production and sales have increased from 40 bottles/week in June 2021, to 60 bottles/week in July 2021. This shows that this program is effective in increasing household industrial production activities, which operates in the dairy sector. Keywords: dairy product, kefir, landing page, M99 Beverage, Gully

Seniors are usually perceived as an unattractive segment, mostly due to their limited spending power. In Slovakia, the number of seniors has continuously been increasing. The population has been growing older. In Europe, more than a quarter of the population is expected to be aged 65 years or older by 2050. That is the main reason why we have to understand the consumer behaviour and decision-making processes of senior consumers. The presented paper deals with the consumer behaviour of seniors on the Slovak market of cow’s milk since it is the most commonly consumed type of milk in Slovakia. Opinions of nutrition specialists differ on whether it is beneficial or not for humans to consume milk. However, in general, milk is considered to be an essential component of the diet not only for children but also for adults and especially for seniors because of its high nutrition value. Milk and dairy products should be a daily part of the seniors’ diet. Since older people no longer have the necessary enzyme (lactase) to break down milk sugar (lactose), it is recommended to consume milk products that no longer contain milk sugar, but that lactic acid is produced by fermentation. Sour milk products such as curd, yoghurt or kefir have a beneficial effect on stomach, intestines and also the immune system. Long-term insufficiency of calcium intake causes osteoporosis – a disease that manifests itself in bone loss and structural disorders. It leads to increased fracturing of the bones and thus an increased risk of health complications resulting from there. This study explores senior consumers’ preferences for milk and their decision-making strategies on the market of cow’s milk. The study is oriented primarily on visual cues catching the attention of consumers. Anonymous survey was conducted on a sample of 470 senior respondents (210 males and 260 females) aged 61 – 84. Using selected psychological tools and a short questionnaire it was found out that Slovak seniors prefer traditional motives and bright colours on the milk packaging, they highly prioritise price over quality of milk products and in comparison with young adults, they are loyal to chosen products or brands. Seniors who score higher on the scale of neuroticism personality trait state that the packaging of milk products is significant for their decisions. Seniors with higher emotional stability tend to experiment more on the market of milk. Keywords cow’s milk, seniors, consumer behaviour, packaging, persuading techniques.

Food safety is a worldwide health goal so foodborne diseases are a main health concern. A total 150 of dairy products samples (locally made yoghurt, ice cream and Talaga cheese) (50 for each type) were examined for E.coli O157:H7 detection and PCR confirmation using fliCH7 gene. E. coli O157:H7 was detected at 18%, 4%, 8% respectively, in samples. The isolates showed broad antibiotic resistance against vancomycin (84.6%), penicillin G (76.9%), cloxacillin (69.2%) and tetracycline (61.5%). Because of increasing number of microorganisms that are resistant to multiple antibiotics causing continuing economic losses in dairy manufacturing, there is an urgent need for development of alternative, cost-effective, and efficient antimicrobial agents to overcome antimicrobial resistance. Here, silver nanoparticle (AgNPs) solution was prepared, identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with an average size 26.5 nm and examined for bactericidal activity against E. coli O157:H7 by using well diffusion assay. The mean inhibition zones of 25 and 50 µg/ml concentrations of Ag-NPs were 15.0±1.2 and 20.9±1.4 mm, respectively. In addition, the statistical analysis showed highly significant differences in the bactericidal effect of different Ag-NPs concentrations on E. coli O157:H7 strains. Bacterial sensitivity to nanoparticles is a key factor in manufacture, so nanoparticles were considered suitable for long life application in food packaging and food safety.

Selotapak is one of the villages in the Trawas District area of ​​Mojokerto Regency, East Java. This village is one of the sweet potato producing communities. At the time of harvest, the harvest reaches 40-50 tons per hectare. But often at the time of harvest, the price of sweet potatoes becomes very low. This price makes farmers unable to benefit, even many who lose. On the other hand, the storage period of sweet potatoes is also not long. The farmers must immediately sell their crops. Therefore another alternative is needed in marketing sweet potatoes so that the selling price can increase. One way to do this is by processing sweet potatoes into other products with longer shelf life and higher prices. In this activity, training in preparing sweet potatoes into several products, namely flour, noodles, brownies, roll ice cream, and yoghurt. This activity can be done through PKK empowermen and several youth organizations. Based on the training results, over 80% of the training participants feel the benefits of the training,. The participants can practice it independently in producing this sweet potato-based product. By making sweet potatoes into flour, the storage period extended. Sweet potato flour can be used to make other food products that become superior products in the village of Selotapak. For the sustainability of sweet potato processing, it is necessary to cooperate with all village communities in marketing their products. The role of the village government is essential in this regard, for example, by requiring presenting sweet potato products (at least one piece) as consumption in each village activity. For the next steps, supporting training is needed for the development of superior village products, for example training in making packaging and marketing.

The work substantiates the choice of leaven in order to produce a sour milk product with the most desirable organoleptic characteristics. As a result of the study, the fermentation for yoghurt of Chr. Hansen (Denmark) was selected. These studies determines the choice of scientifically proven methods of fermentation of the following samples. Organoleptic analysis of four samples of dairy products with gluten-free flour was carried out. It was shown that the consistency in each sample was homogeneous and estimated by the tasting commission at 5 points. It was established that the color and smell of samples of the dairy product directly depends on the type of introduced gluten free flour. It is shown that the color in the first and the third samples is estimated at 4 points. The second sample was slightly inferior and was estimated at 3.7 points. The highest score (4.8) was the fourth sample of buckwheat and rice-corn flour. The taste of pure sour milk was present in all abovementioned samples. It was found that the content of buckwheat flour in the first and the second samples gave the product an excessive taste of “porridge”. The taste of corn flour was distinguishedly felt in the third sample. It was shown that the first three samples yielded the optimum taste of the fourth to 0.6–1.9 points. It was found that the most balanced is the sour milk sample of the product with buckwheat and rice-corn flour. All organoleptic characteristics were distributed evenly in it. A new technological approach was developed in preparation of the milk-flour mixture to the fermentation. The model of technological process of manufacturing of sour milk product with gluten-free flour is made, which allows to develop technological stages of product production with functional additives. The influence of technological parameters and prescript components on the organoleptic parameters of the dairy product has been established. It was shown that the fermentation of the selected sample proceeds for 8 hours at a temperature of 43 ± 2 °С. The product is cooled to a temperature of 18 °C before aseptic packaging. It is recommended to store the ready gluten-free dairy product for 14 days at a temperature of 4–6 °C. Studies conducted show that the developed formula of sour-milk product can be recommended for the production of dairy enterprises.

Ready to eat breakfast cereals (REBCs) and yoghurts provide important nutrients to children’s diets, but concerns about their high sugar content exist. Food reformulation could contribute to sugar reduction, but policies across countries are not uniform. We aimed to compare the sugar content and nutritional quality of child-orientated REBCs and yoghurts in Latin American countries with the UK. In a cross-sectional study, nutritional information, marketing strategies, and claims were collected from the food labels and packaging of products available in Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador and the UK. Nutritional quality was assessed using the UK Ofcom Nutrient Profiling System. In total, 262 products were analysed (59% REBCs/41% yoghurts). REBCs in the UK had a lower sugar content (mean ± SD) (24.6 ± 6.4) than products in Ecuador (34.6 ± 10.8; p < 0.001), Mexico (32.6 ± 7.6; p = 0.001) and Guatemala (31.5 ± 8.3; p = 0.001). Across countries, there were no differences in the sugar content of yoghurts. A large proportion (83%) of REBCs and 33% of yoghurts were classified as “less healthy”. In conclusion, the sugar content of REBCs in Latin America is higher than those of the UK, which could be attributed to the UK voluntary sugar reduction programme. Sugar reformulation policies are required in Guatemala, Mexico and Ecuador.

AbstractObjectiveThe predominance of marketing of products high in fat, sugar and/or salt to children has been well documented and implicated in the incidence of obesity. The present study aimed to determine whether foods marketed to children in UK supermarkets are nutritionally similar to the non-children's equivalent, focusing on food categories that may be viewed as healthier options.DesignNutritional data were collected on yoghurts (n 147), cereal bars (n 145) and ready meals (n 144) from seven major UK supermarkets and categorised as children's or non-children's products based on the characteristics, promotional nature or information on the product packaging. Fat, sugar and salt content was compared per 100 g and per recommended portion size.SettingUK.ResultsPer 100 g, children's yoghurts and cereal bars were higher in total sugars, fat and saturated fat than the non-children's; this was significant for all except sugar and total fat in cereal bars. Per portion these differences remained, except for sugars in yoghurts. Conversely children's ready meals were significantly lower in these nutrients per portion than non-children's, but not when expressed per 100 g. Children's yoghurts and ready meals had significantly lower sodium content than non-children's both per portion and per 100 g.ConclusionsSignificant differences between the nutritional composition of children's and non-children's products were observed but varied depending on the unit reference. A significant number of products marketed towards children were higher in fat, sugar and salt than those marketed to the general population.

Paper/plastic/aluminum (PPA) multilayer composite is one of the most favorable packaging material for milk and yoghourt because of its excellent material properties, especially the unbreakability, machinability and barrier properties towards moisture, oxygen and light. Ecological demands on littering and on carbon footprint gave pressure on the public community. Together with the increasing amount of PPA packaging containers all over the world, the recollection and recycling of PPA packages was steadily increasing. In this paper, an electromagnetic shielding board was produced with Tetra Pak waste and copper fibers. Electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (SE) and volume resistivity (VR) were investigated. It was found that SE increased with the increased copper fiber content but declined with the increases copper fiber length. However, VR showed an opposite tendency. In the condition of 100 g/m2 copper fiber content and 3-4 mm fiber length, the board showed good shielding performance, e.g., in the range of 9 KHz 5 GHz frequency, the average SE was up to 24.11 dB, and in the range of 600 MHz 1000 MHz frequency, the maximum SE came up to 58.91 dB. Based on the findings of this study, a conclusion could be made that manufacturing electromagnetic shielding boards using PPA packaging waste should be regarded as a step in the prevention of the environmental pollution and as a method of achieving economical worth from these items, and this type board could be considered as an alternative raw material with accepted properties to be used in packaging, interior finish, furniture, and other applications.

<p><span><em>This research was conducted to study the elements and value chain of milk-processing cluster </em><span><em>industry in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The respondent in this study consisted of cow and goats milk </em><span><em>processing industry, dairy cooperative and related institution. The data consisted of primary data and </em><span><em>secondary data. Primary data were collected through observation and interviews, while secondary data </em><span><em>obtained from statistical data from Department of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Agricultural Service </em><span><em>of Agriculture Department and LPPOM MUI DIY. Descriptive analysis were used in this study to analyzed </em><span><em>the data. Respondent and locations were determined using purposive sampling methods lead to be </em><span><em>analyse descriptively. The results showed that stakeholders involved as important elements of milkprocessing cluster industry were milk suppliers (farmer, dairy groups, and cooperative), core industry </em><span><em>(small-medium scale processor of cow’s and goat milk), supporting industry (sugar, packaging and tools), </em><span><em>supporting institution (bank, university, and government agencies), related industry (food chain, bakery, </em><span><em>and coffee shop), and also buyers (retailer, distributor, end user or consumer). Their main products are </em><span><em>pasteurized cow’s and goat milk, yoghurt of cow’s milk, and goat milk powder. The long chains to produce </em><span><em>milk product since the raw milk have indicated some added values on economy and involvement of </em><span><em>man powers leading to local economic development as well as of technology innovation or industry. It has </em><span><em>been concluded that milk-processing cluster industry could be used as a locomotive for regional </em><span><em>economics development.</em></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><em></em><br /><span><em>(Key words: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Elements, Milk-processing cluster industry, Regional economic </em><span><em>development, Value chain)</em></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span></p>

Phthalic acid esters are used as plastic softeners and also can be found in food packaging materials. European legislation defines specific migration limits of plastic additives for plastic materials that come into contact with food. This study monitors the phthalic acid ester concentrations in yogurts after manufacturing and then after a 3‑week storage. The studied yoghurts were natural yogurt with 1 % of chia flour, natural yogurt with 5 % of chia flour, natural yogurt with 1 % of bamboo fibre, natural yogurt with 5 % of bamboo fibre and natural yogurt. The analysed phthalic acid esters were dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di‑(2‑ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The average phthalate concentrations in plastic cups were detected for DBP of 59.5 µg/g and for DEHP of 9.0 µg/g of the plastic material. Higher DBP concentrations than DEHP concentrations were also found in all studied yogurts. The average DBP concentrations in yogurts were detected from 1.8 µg/g up to 5.0 µg/g of the original matter and the average DEHP concentrations were determined from 0.5 µg/g up to 1.0 µg/g of the original matter. No statistically significant difference was found when comparing phthalic acid ester concentrations in yogurts immediately after production and after three weeks of storage. However, in our study in all cases of yogurts, the DBP concentrations were higher than the specific migration limit set by the legislation (0.3 mg/kg) and the DEHP concentrations were in all cases of yogurts lower than the specific migration limit set by the legislation (1.5 mg/kg).

The research has shown that in the last 5,000 years the human evolution has made the greatest leap in the human history. As a result of these changes, thanks to relatively recent discovery of a specific gene, even adult Europeans can digest milk. In their nutritional guidelines based on the scientific evidence, the official health organizations and institutions recommend drinking milk and eating low-fat dairy products such as yoghurts or cheese. The human body absorbs the necessary amount of calcium in the easiest form from cow's milk. Calcium is the essential element not only for healthy bones and teeth but it is also the important factor for the transmission of nerve impulses, it supports heart activity, helps reduce high blood pressure and "bad" LDL cholesterol levels and alleviate allergic reactions. It has impact on proper blood clotting, affects sperm mobility, helps prevent arthritis or can also contribute to better sleep. Milk is a valuable food not only for calcium content but also for selenium which slows down the aging process and contributes to the protection of the immune system. Acid dairy products prevent the digestive disorders, protect against gastrointestinal infections and improve skin condition. Despite all these positive aspects the consumption of milk, as well as dairy products, has the downward trend in Slovakia. In the last decade, the consumption was at a historical minimum and below the recommended annual dose, which is 91 liters of milk per person. Therefore, the main objective of this research paper was to examine the quality of milk produced by two selected competing companies and identify the various factors affecting consumers´ decision-making process when purchasing milk and dairy products. The attention was concentrated on the sensory attributes (colour, appearance, smell, taste and quality) and marketing tools (brand, packaging, label and price). The primary data were obtained by the questionnaire survey, which was conducted in the Slovak Republic with 284 respondents. For a deeper analysis, the data were evaluated by the statistical methods. Based on the results of the blind testing it was determined that even though the quality of monitored milk is the same, the respondents prefer the sensory attributes of Rajo semi-skimmed milk. When it comes to brand, packaging, label and price Tami semi-skimmed milk also lagged behind.

Front of pack food labels (FOPLs) provide accessible nutritional information to guide consumer choice. Using an online experiment with a large representative British sample, we aimed to examine whether FOPLs improve participants’ ability to identify the healthiness of foods and drinks. The primary aim was to compare ability to rank between FOPL groups and a no label control. Adults (≥18 years), recruited from the NatCen panel, were randomised to one of five experimental groups (Multiple Traffic Light, MTL; Nutri-Score, N-S; Warning Label, WL; Positive Choice tick, PC; no label control). Stratification variables were year of recruitment to panel, sex, age, government office region, and household income. Packaging images were created for three versions, varying in healthiness, of six food and drink products (pizza, drinks, cakes, crisps, yoghurts, breakfast cereals). Participants were asked to rank the three product images in order of healthiness. Ranking was completed on a single occasion and comprised a baseline measure (with no FOPL), and a follow-up measure including the FOPL as per each participant’s experimental group. The primary outcome was the ability to accurately rank product healthiness (all products ranked correctly vs. any incorrect). In 2020, 4504 participants had complete data and were included in the analysis. The probability of correct ranking at follow-up, and improving between baseline and follow-up, was significantly greater across all products for the N-S, MTL and WL groups, compared to control. This was seen for only some of the products for the PC group. The largest effects were seen for N-S, followed by MTL. These analyses were adjusted for stratification variables, ethnicity, education, household composition, food shopping responsibility, and current FOPL use. Exploratory analyses showed a tendency for participants with higher compared to lower education to rank products more accurately. Conclusions: All FOPLs were effective at improving participants’ ability to correctly rank products according to healthiness in this large representative British sample, with the largest effects seen for N-S, followed by MTL.

This study is concluded to investigate and determine the effect of Brand Packaging to Brand Preference with Food Quality as the Mediating Variable of Heavenly Blush’s yoghurt in Kelapa Gading Mall. The method used in this research is non probability samples. The questionnaire was distributed to 107 respodent who bought Heavenly Blush yoghurt at Kelapa Gading Mall in North Jakarta. All the data was collected and tested using the SmartPLS 3 application. The result indicates that the Brand Packaging wasn’t significantly affect Brand Preference, Brand Packaging is a positive and significant predictor to Food Quality and Food Quality is the positive and significant predicted Brand Preference.Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui dan menentukan pengaruh Brand Packaging terhadap Brand Preference dengan Kualitas Makanan sebagai Variabel Mediasi dari yogurt Heavenly Blush di Kelapa Gading Mall. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah sampel non probabilitas. Kuesioner dibagikan kepada 107 responden yang membeli yoghurt Heavenly Blush di Mal Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara. Semua data dikumpulkan dan diuji menggunakan aplikasi SmartPLS 3. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Brand Packaging tidak mempengaruhi Brand Preference secara signifikan. Brand Packaging merupakan prediktor positif dan signifikan terhadap Kualitas Makanan dan Kualitas Makanan adalah Brand Preference yang diprediksi positif dan signifikan.

Produk es yoghurt dan yoghurt tidak dapat bertahan lama jika tidak disimpan pada lemari pedingin freezer, tidak adanya merek pada kemasan es yoghurt dan yoghurt menjadikan produk tersebut tidak mudah diingat oleh konsumen serta serta susahnya akses permodalan karena belum memiliki laporan keungan. Kegitan ini bertujuan untuk memberikan pemehaman tentang kewirausahaan, pasar, merek, etika bisnis, teknologi informasi untuk dsain merk dan laporan keuangan. Metode yang digunakan adalah pelatihan serta tutorial kepada para pekerja es yoghurt dan yoghurt. Hasil kegiatan ini peserta memahami pentingnya membuat produk dengan kemasan dan merk yang menarik sehingga memiliki daya jual. Disamping itu mereka mampu merubah mindset untuk menjadi wirausaha dengan memiliki serta memahami pentingnya pembukuan sebagai kontrol keuangan perusahaan juga dapat digunakan untuk persyaratan dalam mengajukan modal kepada lembaga keuanga.

An attempt has been made in the present study to explore the potential of Spirulina, a cyanobacterium, photoautotrophic microorganism in initiating a stimulatory effect on the microflora of Probiotic yoghurt. Probiotic yoghurt was prepared by adding 1 percent inoculum of probiotic Bifidobacterium bifidum to yoghurt cultures viz., Streptococcus. salivarius ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus. Spirulina enriched functional Probiotic yoghurt was prepared by using 1 gram of Spirulina per litre of mix.The pH and acidity of probiotic yoghurt and Spirulina enriched Probiotic yoghurt on 0 day was 4.31± 0.007, 0.96± 0.002 and 4.31± 0.009, 0.96± 0.005 respectively. On the 3rd it was 4.30 ± 0.003, 0.96 ± 0.004 and 4.31 ± 0.004, 0.96± 0.005 respectively. There was no significant difference in the pH and acidity of Probiotic and Spirulina enriched yoghurt between these 2 sampling periods. The pH and acidity of probiotic yoghurt and spirulina enriched probiotic yoghurt on the 7th day was 4.28 ± 0.001, 1.11 ± 0.030 and 4.31 ± 0.004, 1.02 ± 0.023 respectively. Significant difference was noticed in pH and acidity in these two treatments on 7th day. The Spirulina enriched sample was less acidic than Probiotic yoghurt. There was virtually no difference in viable numbers of S. salivarius ssp. thermophilus, L. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and Bifidobacterium bifidum on 0 and 3rd day. However the growth of the three lactic acid bacteria used was higher in Spirulina enriched yoghurt than in Probiotic yoghurt on the 7th day. The addition of cyanobacterial bio mass to Bifidobacterium bifidum, S. salivarius ssp. thermophilus and L. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus had beneficial effect on their viability. No spoilage organism was detected at any sampling time, indicating the high degree of sanitation during processing and packaging products. Thus the abundance of bioactive substances in Spirulina is of great importance from a nutritional point of view as it provides new opportunity for the manufacture of functional dairy foods.

Tiger nuts are one of the healthy sources to substitute for many consumer products such as cow milk and gluten. This study aimed to enhance the use of tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus) as main raw material in the production of yoghurt. Phytochemical analyses were carried out and sensory parameters were evaluated. 1 kg of tiger nuts followed chronological steps to produce 2 liters of milk. These steps were: sorting and weighing, soaking, grinding using a blender, filtration through a polyethylene filter, pasteurization, packaging and filling at hot in polyethylene bottles then rapid cooling. The resulting milk went through a process to produce 2 liters of tiger nuts yoghurt. This process consisted of the following steps: pasteurization, cooling, inoculation, mixing and homogenization using a spatula, incubation 6 hours, packaging and storage. Tiger nuts yoghurt was served chilled to untrained panelists for sensory analyses. The results of this study showed that 100 g of tiger nuts yoghurt contain 4.4±0.1 g protein, 1.9±0.06 g fat, 5.7±0.0 pH, 3.7±0.07 g sugar, 1.3±0.02 g fiber, 140±3.00 mg potassium, 126±2.00 mg calcium, 12.1±0.70 mg magnesium, 43±1.00 mg sodium, 0.40±0.01 mg zinc, 176±1.00 mg phosphorus, 0.001±0.1 mg vitamin A and 0.3±0.00 mg vitamin C. The overall acceptability of yogurt showed that 35% of panelists like the product very much while, 65% moderately like the product; this indicates that the product is highly valued. In order to improve the value addition of tiger nuts, the optimization of tiger nuts milk extraction can be done using a machine.

Yoghurt, a product prepared by fermentation of milk with bacterial cultures consisting of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, has been popular for a long time, however, dehydrated yogurt is still uncommon. Freeze drying is well-known as an effective method to preserve the nutritional and sensory characteristics of the food product compared to other dehydration ways. This study developed a protocol to produce freeze-dried yoghurt fermented by commercial probiotic starter culture containing betacyanin – a bioactive component from red dragon fruit on laboratory scale. The freeze-dried red dragon yoghurt was produced by the following steps: (1) plain yoghurt preparation: Milk with 12% milk dry matte was heated at 95oC for 5 min, cooled down to 42oC, followed by the addition of commercial probiotic bacteria starter, then fermented for 3 hours until the pH reached to 4.6 and the milk coagulated (2) obtained yoghurt was mixed with 30 % red dragon fruit, molding in the tray (3) Freeze at -20oC and freeze-dried (4) packaging to obtain the final product. Betacyanin – well-known as a bioactive compound from red dragon fruit of the obtained products and viable bacteria remained during 30 days storage at room temperature.

AbstractIntroduction:Children are exposed to marketing of foods with a high content of energy, fat, sugar and salt on a daily basis, which can have negative consequences via increasing children's preferences for those foods. An unhealthy diet can promote obesity and other noncommunicable diseases. The objective of this scientific work was to assess the applicability of the nutrient profile model (NPM) for food products available in the Austrian market. The model was developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe to reduce the impact of marketing to children.Material and Methods:The NPM was applied to food product information, which was recorded for the project “Food in the Spotlight” (www.lebensmittellupe.at). Food products were assigned to food categories made by the WHO and the NPM was applied to identify products, which should not be allowed to be marketed to children. As the WHO NPM is flexible and can be adapted to the national context possible adaptations of the model to the Austrian market were developed.Results:Among those product groups which were included in Food in the Spotlight 0% of cocoa (n = 89), milk drinks with additional ingredients (e.g. strawberry milk, n = 111), soup pearl croutons (n = 13), ketchups (n = 79) and pestos (n = 119), 0.4% of soft drinks (Cola, lemonade etc., n = 454), 8% of pizza and pizza-like products (n = 274), 13% of yoghurt products with additional ingredients (n = 611), 18% of sugos (n = 193), 28% of fruit and vegetable purees (n = 36) and 33% of breakfast cereals (n = 678) were found to be eligible for marketing to children. Those 0.4% of soft drinks which would be allowed are two waters flavoured with aroma. Pure products such as whole milk and yoghurts with 3.5% fat would not be allowed because they exceed the thresholds for total fat. For those products with a packaging appealing to children and adolescents almost none passed the NPM.Conclusion:Our results showed, that before the NPM can be implemented in Austria, it is important to adapt the model to national dietary guidelines. Additionally, food categories could be modified to be more suitable for the Austrian market, as some products which are common in Austria could not be easily assigned to the WHO food categories. To adapt the WHO NPM to the national context cooperation between health experts and food manufacturers is necessary.

Abstract Objective: To characterise the nutritional quality of food products targeted to children, we aimed: (1) to determine if the nutritional composition of child-targeted food products is different from those for the general population and (2) to verify differences in the nutrient content of child-targeted food products between three selected food categories. Design: The present study is part of the work conducted by the Food Quality Observatory, created in 2016 in the province of Quebec (Canada). Ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals (n 331), granola bars (n 310) and yoghurts and dairy desserts (n 380) were the food categories analysed. Setting: Nutritional values and all packaging information were obtained by purchasing every product available in supermarkets, grocery stores and specialty grocery stores. Free sugars were manually differentiated from total sugars for each product. Products were classified according to two targeted consumer groups: children or general population. Results: The nutrient profile of RTE breakfast cereals, granola bars and yoghurts and dairy desserts targeted to children differed from that of products intended at the general population. Child-targeted RTE breakfast cereals had the least favourable nutritional composition, with significantly higher content of carbohydrates, total sugars, free sugars and Na compared with breakfast cereals for the general population as well as child-targeted granola bars and yoghurts and dairy desserts. All child-targeted products analysed contained free sugars. Conclusions: The current study supports the relevance to further regulate marketing to children on food product packages to ensure that such marketing is not present on food products with poor nutritional quality.

Introduction The trope of food is often used in the humanities to discuss aspects of a culture that are customarily overlooked by a textualist approach, for food embodies a kind of knowledge that comes from the direct engagement with materials and processes, and involves taste as an aesthetics that exceeds the visual concept of the “beautiful.” Moreover, cooking is one of the most ancient cultural practices, and is considered the habit that defines us as humans in comparison to other animals—not only culturally, but also physiologically (Wrangham). Today we have entered a post-human age in which technological augmentations, while promoting the erasure of embodiment in favour of intelligence (Hayles), create new assemblages between the organic and the digital, thus redefining what it means to be human. In this context, a reassessment of the practice of cooking as the manipulation of what constitutes food—both for thought and for the body—may promote a more nuanced approach to contemporary culture, in which the agency of the non-human (from synthetic materials to the digital) affects our modes of being and reflects on our aesthetic sensibility. In the 1980s, Guy Debord observed that the food industry's standardisation and automation of methods of production and consumption have anaesthetised the consumer palate with broader political and cultural implications. Today the Internet has extended the intertwinement of food and technology to the social and aesthetic spheres, thus further impacting on taste. For instance, cultural trends such as “foodism” and “slow food” thrive on blogs and social networks and, while promoting an artisanal style in food preparation and presentation, they paradoxically may also homogenise cooking techniques and the experience of sharing a meal. This leads to questions regarding the extent to which the digitalisation of culture might be hindering our capacity to taste. Or, given the new possibilities for connectivity, can this digitalisation also foster an aesthetic sensibility associated with different attitudes and approaches to food—one that transgresses both the grand narratives and the standardisation promoted by such gastronomic fashions? It also leads to the question of how such activities reflect on the collective sphere, considering the contagious character of networked communication. While foodism thrives online, the Internet has nevertheless prompted a renewed interest in DIY (do-it-yourself) cooking techniques. As a recent issue of M/C Journal testifies, today cookbooks are produced and consulted at an unprecedented rate—either in print or online (Brien and Wessell). Taking the example of the online diffusion of DIY cheese-making recipes, I will below trace the connections between cooking, computer culture, and taste with the support of Gilbert Simondon's metaphysics of technics. Although Simondon never extensively discussed food in relation to technology, the positioning of technicity at the heart of culture allows his work to be used to address the multifaceted nature of taste in the light of recent technological development, in particular of the Network. As a matter of fact, today cooking is not only a technical activity, in the sense that it requires a certain practical and theoretical skilfulness—it is also a technological matter, for the amount of networked machines that are increasingly used for food production and marketing. Specifically, this paper argues that by disentangling the human—albeit partially—from the capitalist cycle of production-marketing-consumption and by triggering an awareness of the increasingly dominant role technology plays in food processing and manufacturing, the online sharing of home-cooking advice may promote a reconfiguration of taste, which would translate into a more nuanced approach to contemporary techno-culture. In the first part of this discussion, I introduce Simondon’s philosophy and foreground the technical dimension of cooking by discussing cheese-making as a process of individuation. In the second, I focus on Simondon’s definition of technical objects and technical ensembles to position Internet culture in relation to cooking, and highlight how technicity folds back on taste as aesthetic impression. Ultimately, I conclude with some reflections on how such a culinary-aesthetic approach may find application in other techno-cultural fields by promoting an aesthetic sensibility that extends beyond the experience of the “social” to encompass an ethical component. Cooking as Individuation: The Networked Dimension of Taste Simondon is known as the thinker, and “tinkerer”, of technics. His project is concerned with ontogenesis—that is, the becoming of objects in relation to the terms that constitute them as individual. Simondon’s philosophy of individuation allows for a better understanding of how the Internet fosters certain attitudes to food, for it is grounded on a notion of “energetic materiality in movement” (Deleuze and Guattari 408) that explains how “immaterial” algorithms can affect individual experience and cultural production. For Simondon, individuation is the process that arises from objects being out-of-phase with themselves. Put differently, individuation allows for “the conservation of being through becoming” (Genesis 301). Likewise, individualisation is “the individuation of an individuated being, resulting from an individuation, [and creating] a new structuration within the individual” (L’Individuation 132). Individuation and individualisation are processes common to all kinds of being. Any individual operates an internal and an external resonance within the system in which it is enmeshed, and produces an “associated milieu” capable of entering into relation with other individuals within the system. Simondon maintains that nature consists of three regimes of individuation, that is, three possible phases of every being: the physical, the biological, and the psycho-social—that develop from a metastable pre-individual field. Technology traverses all three regimes and allows for further individualisation via transductive operations across such phases—that is, via operations of conversion of energy from one form to another. The recent online diffusion of DIY cheese-making recipes lends itself to be analysed with the support of Simondon’s philosophy. Today cheese dominates degustation menus beside the finest wines, and constitutes a common obsession among “foodies.” Although, as an object, cheese defies more traditional canons of beauty and pleasure—its usual pale yellow colour is not especially inviting and, generally speaking, the stinkier and mouldier it is, the more exclusive and expensive it usually is—it has played a sizeable role in the collective imagination since ancient times. Although the genesis of cheese predates archival memory, it is commonly assumed to be the fruit of the chemical reaction naturally occurring in the interaction of milk with the rennet inherently contained in the bladders made of ruminants’ stomachs in which milk was contained during the long transits undertaken by the nomadic cultures of Central Asia. Cheese is an invention that reportedly occurred without human intervention, and only the technical need to preserve milk in high temperature impelled humans to learn to produce it. Since World War II its production is most exclusively factory-based, even in the case of artisanal cheese (McGee), which makes the renewed concern for homemade cheese more significant from a techno-cultural perspective. Following Simondon, the individualisation of cheese—and of people in relation to cheese—depends on the different objects involved in its production, and whose associated milieu affects the outcome of the ontogenetic process via transductive operations. In the specific case of an industrial block of cheese, these may include: the more or less ethical breeding and milking of cows in a factory environment; the types of bacteria involved in the cheese-making process; the energy and costs inherent in the fabrication of the packaging material and the packaging process itself; the CO2 emissions caused by transportations; the physical and intellectual labour implied in marketing, retailing and selling; and, last but not least, the arguable nutritional value of the factory-produced cheese—all of which, in spite of their “invisibility” to the eyes of the consumer, affect physical conditions and moods when they enter into relation with the human body (Bennet). To these, we may add, with specific reference to the packaging: the RFID tags that electronically index food items into databases for a more efficient management of supplies, and the QR codes used for social media marketing purposes. In contrast, the direct engagement with the techno-material conditions at the basis of the home cookery process allows one to grasp how different operations may affect the outcome of the recipe. DIY cheese-making recipes are specifically addressed to laypeople and, because they hardly demand professional equipment, they entail a greater attunement with, and to, the objects and processes required by the recipe. For instance, one needs to “feel” when milk has reached the right temperature (specifically, 82 degrees centigrade, which means that the surface of the milk should be slightly bubbly but not fully boiling) and, with practice, one learns how the slightest movement of the hand can lead to different results, in terms of consistency and aspect. Ultimately, DIY cheese-making allows the cook to be creative with moulding, seasonings, and marinading. Indeed, by directly engaging with the undiscovered properties and potentials of ingredients, by understanding the role that energy (both in the sense of induction and “transduction”) plays on form and matter, and by developing—often via processes of trial and error—technics for stirring, draining, moulding, marinading, canning, and so forth, making cheese at home an exercise in speculative pragmatics. An experimental approach to cooking, as the negotiation between the rigid axioms that make up a recipe and the creative and experimental components inherent in the operations of mixing and blending, allows one to feel the ultimate outcome of the cooking process as an event. The taste of a homemade cheese is linked to a new kind of knowledge—that is, an epistemology based on continuous breakages that allow for the cooking process to carry on until the ultimate result. It is a knowledge that comes from a commitment to objects being out-of-phase, and from the acknowledgement of the network of technical operations that bring cheese to our tables. The following section discusses how another kind of object may affect the outcome of a recipe, with important implications for aesthetics, that is, technical objects. The Internet as Ingredient: Technical Objects, Aesthetics, and Invention The notion of technical objects complements Simondon’s theory of individuation to define the becoming of technology in relation to culture. To Simondon: “the technical object is not this or that thing, given hic et nunc, but that of which there is a genesis” (Du Mode 20). Technical objects, therefore, are not simply technological artifacts but are constituted by a series of events that determine their evolution (De Vries). Analogously to other kinds of individuals, they are constituted by transductive operations across the three aforementioned phases of being. The evolution of technical objects extends from the element to the individual, and ultimately to the technical ensemble. Elements are less than individualised technical objects, while individuals that are in a relation of interconnection are called ensembles. According to Simondon, technical ensembles fully individualise with the realisation of the cybernetic project. Simondon observes that: “there is something eternal in a technical ensemble [...] and it is that which is always present, and can be conserved in a thing” (Les Cahiers 87). The Internet, as a thing-network, could be regarded as an instance of such technical ensembles, however, a clarification needs to be made. Simondon explains that “true technical ensembles are not those that use technical individuals, but those that are a network of technical individuals in a relation of interconnection” (Du mode 126). To Simondon, humankind has ceased to be a technical individual with the industrialisation and automation of methods of production, and has consigned this function to machines (128). Expanding this line of thought, examples such as the viral spreading of memes, and the hypnotic power of online marketing campaigns, demonstrate how digital technology seems to have intensified this process of alienation of people from the functioning of the machine. In short, no one seems to know how or why things happen on the Internet, but we cannot help but use it. In order to constitute “real” technical ensembles, we need to incorporate technics again into culture, in a relation of reciprocity and complementarity with machines, under the aegis of a technical culture. Simondon specifies that such a reconfiguration of the relation between man and machines can only be achieved by means of an invention. An invention entails the individualisation of the technical ensemble as a departure from the mind of the inventor or designer that conceived it, in order to acquire its own autonomous existence (“Technical Mentality”). It refers to the origin of an operative solidarity between individual agents in a network, which provides the support for a human relation based on the “model of transidividuality” (Du Mode 247). A “transindividual relation” is a relation of relations that puts the individual in direct contact with a real collective. The notion of real collective is opposed to that of an interindividual community or social sphere, which is poisoned by the anxieties that stem from a defected relation with the technical ensemble culture is embedded in. In the specific context of the online sharing of DIY cheese-making recipes, rather than a fully individualised technical ensemble per se, the Internet can be regarded as one of the ingredients that make up the final recipe—together with human and the food—for the invention of a true technical ensemble. In such a framework, praxis, as linked to the kind of non-verbal knowledge associated with “making,” defines individuation together with the types of objects that make up the Network. While in the case of foodism, the practice of online marketing and communication homogenises culture by creating “social phenomena,” in the case of DIY cooking advice, it fosters a diversification of tastes, experiences, and flavours linked to individual modes of doing and cooking, that put the cook in a new relation with the culinary process, with food, and with the guests who have the pleasure to taste her meal. This is a qualitative change in the network that constitutes culture, rather than a mere quantitative shift in energy induction. The term “conviviality” (from the Latin con-vivere) specifically means this: a “living together,” rather than a mere dinner party. For Simondon, a real technical ensemble is an assemblage of humans, machines, tools, resources and milieus, which can only be éprouve—i.e., experienced, also in the sense of “experimented with”—rather than represented. A technical ensemble is first and foremost an aesthetic affair—it can only be perceived by experimenting with the different agents involved in the networked operations that constitute it. For Simondon “aesthetics comes after technicity [and] it also returns to us in the heart of technicity” (Michaud in De Boever et al. 122). Therefore, any object bears an aesthetic potential—even something as trivial as a homemade block of cheese. Simondon rejects the idea of an aesthetic object, but affirms the power of technicity to foreground an aesthetic impression, which operates a convergence between the diverging forces that constitute the mediation between man and world, in terms of an ethical treatment of technics. For Simondon, the beautiful is a process: “it is never, properly speaking, the object that is beautiful: it is the encounter operating a propos of the object between a real aspect of the world and a human gesture” (Du Mode 191 emphasis added). If an analysis of cooking as individuation already foregrounds an aesthetics that is both networked and technical, the relational capabilities afforded by networked media have the power to amplify the aesthetic potential of the human gesture implied in a block of homemade cheese—which today extends from searching for (or writing) a recipe online, to pouring the milk and seasoning the cheese, and which entails less environmental waste due to the less intensive processing and the lack of, or certainly a reduction in, packaging materials (Rastogi). The praise of technical creativity resounds throughout Simondon’s thought. By using the Internet in order to create (or indeed cook) something new, the online sharing of DIY cooking techniques like cheese-making, which partially disengages the human (and food itself) from the cycle of production-marketing-consumption that characterises the food industry in capitalist society by fostering an awareness of the networked operations that constitute her as individual, is an invention in its own right. Although the impact of these DIY activities on the global food industry is still very limited, such a hands-on approach, imbued with a dose of technical creativity, partially overcomes the alienation of the individual from the production process, by providing the conditions to “feel” how the individualisation of cheese (and the human) is inscribed in a larger metabolism. This does not stop within the economy of the body but encompasses the techno-cultural ensemble that forms capitalist society as a whole, and in which humans play only a small part. This may be considered a first step towards the reconciliation between humans and technical culture—a true technical ensemble. Indeed, eating involves “experiments in art and technology”—as the name of the infamous 1960s art collective (E.A.T.) evokes. Home-cooking in this sense is a technical-aesthetic experiment in its own right, in which aesthetics acquires an ethical nuance. Simondon’s philosophy highlights how the aesthetics involved in the home cooking process entails a political component, aimed at the disentanglement of the human from the “false” technical ensemble constituted by capitalist society, which is founded on the alienation from the production process and is driven by economic interests. Surely, an ethical approach to food would entail considering the biopolitics of the guts from the perspective of sourcing materials, and perhaps even building one’s own tools. These days, however, keeping a cow or goat in the backyard is unconceivable and/or impossible for most of us. The point is that the Internet can foster inventiveness and creativity among the participants to the Network, in spite of the fixity of the frame in which culture is increasingly inscribed (for instance, the standardised format of a Wordpress blog), and in this way, can trigger an aesthetic impression that comprises an ethical component, which translates into a political stand against the syncopated, schizophrenic rhythms of the market. Conclusion In this discussion, I have demonstrated that cooking can be considered a process of individuation inscribed in a techno-cultural network in which different transductive operations have the power to affect the final taste of a recipe. Simondon’s theory of individuation allows us to account for the impact of ubiquitous networked media on traditionally considered “human” practices, thus suggesting a new kind of humanism—a sort of technological humanism—on the basis of a new model of perception, which acknowledges the non-human actants involved in the process of individuation. I have shown that, in the case of the online sharing of cheese-making recipes, Simondon’s philosophy allows us to uncover a concept of taste that extends beyond the mere gustatory experience provided by foodism, and in this sense it may indeed affirm a reconfiguration of human culture based on an ethical approach towards the technical ensemble that envelops individuals of any kind—be they physical, living, or technical. Analogously, a “culinary” approach to techno-culture in terms of a commitment to the ontogenetic character of objects’ behaviours could be transposed to the digital realm in order to enlighten new perspectives for the speculative design of occasions of interaction among different beings—including humans—in ethico-aesthetic terms, based on a creative, experimental engagement with techniques and technologies. As a result, this can foreground a taste for life and culture that exceeds human-centred egotistic pleasure to encompass both technology and nature. Considering that a worryingly high percentage of digital natives both in Australia and the UK today believe that cheese and yogurt grow on trees (Howden; Wylie), perhaps cooking should indeed be taught in school alongside (rather than separate to, or instead of) programming. References Bennet, Jane. Vibrant Matter: a Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke UP, 2010 Brien, Donna Lee, and Adele Wessell. “Cookbook: A New Scholarly View.” M/C Journal 16.3 (2013). 7 Jan. 2014. ‹http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/688›. Crary, Jonathan, and Sanford Kwinter. Incorporations. New York: Zone, 1992. De Boever, Arne, Alex Murray, Jon Roffe, and Ashley Woodward, eds. Gilbert Simondon: Being and Technology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2012. De Vries, Marc. “Gilbert Simondon and the Dual Nature of Technical Artifacts.” Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 12.1 (2008). Debord, Guy. “Abat-Faim.” Encyclopedie des Nuisances 5 (1985) 2 Jan. 2014. ‹http://www.notbored.org/abat-faim.html›. Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. London: Continuum, 2004. Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999. Howden, Saffron. “Cultural Cringe: Schoolchildren Can’t See the Yoghurt for the Trees.” The Sydney Morning Herald 5 Mar. 2012. 5 Jan. 2014. ‹http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/cultural-cringe-schoolchildren-cant-see-the-yoghurt-for-the-trees-20120304-1ub55.html›. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004. Michaud, Yves. “The Aesthetics of Gilbert Simondon: Anticipation of the Contemporary Aesthetic Experience.” Gilbert Simondon: Being and Technology. Eds. Arne De Boever, Alex Murray, Jon Roffe, and Ashley Woodward. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2012. 121–32. Rastogi, Nina. “Soft Cheese for a Clean Planet”. Slate 15 Dec. 2009. 25 Jan. 2014. ‹http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2009/12/soft_cheese_for_a_clean_planet.html›. Simondon, Gilbert. Du Mode d’Existence des Objets Techniques. Paris: Aubier, 2001. ---. L’Individuation a La Lumière Des Notions de Forme et d’Information. Grenoble: Millon, 2005. ---. “Les Cahiers du Centre Culturel Canadien” 4, 2ème Colloque Sur La Mécanologie. Paris, 1976. ---. “Technical Mentality.” Parrhesia 7 (2009): 17–27.---. “The Genesis of the Individual.” Incorporations. Eds. Jonathan Crary, and Sanford Kwinter. New York: Zone, 1992. 296–319. Wrangham, Richard. “Reason in the Roasting of Eggs.” Collapse: Philosophical Research and Development Volume VII. Eds. Reza Negarestani, and Robin Mackay. London: Urbanomic, 2011. 331–44. Wylie, Catherine. “Significant Number of Children Believe Cheese Comes from Plants, Reveals New Survey.” The Independent 3 Jun. 2013. 5 Jan. 2014. ‹http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/significant-number-of-children-believe-cheese-comes-from-plants-reveals-new-survey-8641771.html›.

“Di? Di? Come on, Di. I know you’re in there.” It would have been better if she had just said nothing, just lay there. The voice would have gone away eventually. She did attempt a small silence, leaning back on her pillow and listened to the rattling of the door handle, then a sigh, and an ongoing tapping. “Di?” Finally, she couldn’t help herself. “Fuck off, Nic.” “Come on, Di. What’s up?” “Why don’t you go and find someone else to rip off?” “What do you mean?” “You know what I mean.” “What’s wrong? Come on, let me in, Di. Please?” The door to Diana’s King Street bed-sit was pink, the paint chipped. She threw a cushion at it, producing a dull thumping sound followed by a soft whistle as the polyester cover slid down toward the floor. “So, where’d you take it all to, Nic?” Diana raised her voice to the ceiling. “What was it worth to you?” There was no answer. She could feel bitterness rising in her throat. “What am I supposed to do now? You want me to go down to the fucking pawn shop and buy back my own stuff just so you can come and rip me off again?” Silence. A shifting of weight. The sliding of cloth against the door. Then, again: tap, tap. “Di?” A low, childish whisper. “Don’t shut me out, Di, please, I need you.” Something compelled Diana Kooper. She rose up from her spot on the futon and moved toward the closed door. The movement seemed to stretch out momentarily, as if offering the chance to change her mind, to sit down again, to forget. But she did none of these things, instead opening the door with a swish and a body fell immediately into the room. Diana was ready for it. Her hands landed quickly on the soft hollow of Nicole’s armpits, pulling the other girl further inside then pinning her by the shoulders to the filthy carpet. She climbed on top of the body and knocked the head against the floor, hard. Soon she was aware only of sounds: fabric tearing; the soft whoosh of her friend’s breath beneath shawls of hair. Diana discovered a vital physical strength fed by rage and despair: a blinding extravagance of will. But Nicole fought back, so that Diana too was flung against the furniture legs, against the floor, against the corner of the low bed. Blood swam from their noses and skin burnt at hips, knees, elbows. They knocked into an open cupboard door, sending empty containers and food packaging like celebratory confetti across the stained carpet. They were using fists, boots, wrangles, pinches. They were tripping each other up, wedging grit and splinters and skin beneath short fingernails. Wrestling gave way briefly to a round of boxing. Diana could picture the kids practising in the warehouse near their old place in Glebe. Maybe Nicole could see them too. For a moment the girls were fenced in by thick red ropes. They had bright silk shorts on. Diana could feel her right fist clenched at her side, burning to lodge a lethal knock. She was raking up stray instructions from the schoolyard: Go for the soft temple / Avoid the jaw / Form the fist right / Dance! Dance on your feet. Diana’s bare fist made sharp contact with an eye, flinging the other girl back. Nicole stumbled and held one hand across her damaged eyelid, trying to refocus. Diana smirked, too pleased with herself. She had only glanced away momentarily when she felt something land with the force against her own gut. Suddenly the wind was gone from her. Breathing is life. Life is breathing. She folded forward and fell. The world blackened. When she came to there was a smell of hot metal. The electric kettle had boiled dry. There was a pillow beneath her head, and the familiar shape of Nicole Carr sprawled out on the bed beside her. “Oh, God,” she said. All that effort, for nothing. The body beside her moaned in response. Diana got up and turned off the kettle. Diana had coined the term Big Change Trouble when she was small. It was something she reckoned she could sense early, before others got a whiff of it. It was the kind of trouble she had watched her mother trying to dodge at the last minute, the way drivers who speed are forced to dodge sudden obstacles on the road, without much success. When she was a kid, Big Change Trouble meant the convergence of all number of small trouble things - things to do with her mother’s drinking, things to do with money, or things to do with school. It started with little ruptures right across all the stuff she’d gotten used to. Sometimes it was like she was outside of herself, looking down, watching it all going on, and always this sense that nobody else could make out it quite like she could. Just before she did the bolt from Sydney, Diana could sense that eerie childhood feeling, so rotten, so familiar. It rose up the day after she and Nicole had beat the shit out of each other. She went to work, as usual, in the bar in Redfern in the late afternoon, her limbs tired and sore. Dick Richards, the guy who always gave her good, reliable tips, stood at the bar rubbing his hand across his left nipple and saying “Caaaw,” widening his eyes and blinking. She got an odd feeling, watching the way his t-shirt creased beneath his hand as he rubbed. Maybe he was actually having a heart attack, right there at the bar. She felt removed from him, on edge, and said nothing that might have helped. She was more concerned that there was something wrong with one of her work shoes. The rubber sole was coming off at the front, and it was flip-flapping around, getting stuck on the edges of the bar mats. Twice she nearly tripped carrying two full schooners of Resch’s. Later one of the other regulars, Marty Miller, told her about how he had to walk home all the way from St Peters the previous afternoon, because he had these three boils on his arse and they had burst, and even though one of his mates went by and offered him a lift, he didn’t want to get in. He didn’t want to make a mess on his mates’ seat. It was so bad, he wouldn’t even have gotten into a taxi. It was about eight kilometres he had to walk. He was the nicest guy, Marty, but he didn’t generally talk too much, it was unlike him to even be standing at the bar. Usually he drank over by the window, looking out at the street. Diana was left wondering about him, long after he’d gone home. Marty Miller and the boils on his arse, the blood and puss leaking down his legs as he walked. Why did he have to tell her about it? That night, Jeff Fenech was due to defend his WBC Featherweight Title. Skychannel was broadcasting it live. Gradually, the place filled up and soon there wasn’t a punter in the whole pub who wasn’t barracking for Fenech. It was dead busy. Diana’s boss, Micheal, was completely stoned. He kept smiling and pointing at the bruises on her face and shaking his head, but he was smiling from the wrong side of the bar. There should have been two of them serving. It was annoying. Beryl and Matt’s two kids came in again, they must be six and eight years old, and Diana had to keep her eyes on them as they pushed their way through the crowd to find Mum and Dad at their usual spot in front of the card machines. Probably just asking for money for a feed, poor buggers, but they weren’t supposed to come into the pub, especially at night, especially in a big crowd like this. She lost track of them, couldn’t tell if they’d already gone or not. Big Change Trouble gives a certain flavour to everything. It might as well have been in the beer itself, the yeasty scent of it filling the room every time a drinker exhaled. Jeff Fenech went to twelve rounds with the tiny little Mexican, Mario Martinez. It was a long, monotonous fight with barely any drama in it. Jeff wasn’t at his best. “His hands are fucked,” people were saying. “His fucking hands are ratshit.” There’d been too many fractures, too many punches over too many years. It was difficult to watch. Everybody sensed the champion’s reign close to being over. Jeff won the fight, but it wasn’t with anything you could call style. The pub emptied out quickly after that. It was like someone had just taken a giant scoop out of the place, and everybody was gone, even Dick Richards. She put up the stools, wiped down the bar, emptied the flat amber fluid out of the trays. When she got outside, she watched two taxis go past with their “Engaged” signs up, even though there was no one but the drivers in them. Several mounted police turned out of Raglan Street and she could hear the sound of their horse’s hooves against the blacktop, the clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop ricocheting up and down the length of near empty Botany Road. Her little Suzuki coughed to a start and she drove home the back way through this odd disquiet. When she got to the laneway behind her King Street bed-sit, she was met by the picture of Nicole Carr walking into the stream of her headlights. Nicole held up a limp hand, shielding her face from the light. “What?” “You gotta help me, Di. I want to get clean.” She seemed thinner than ever, her hair all flat. “I want to give it a go, I mean it, really,” she said through the open driver’s window. “I got to stay away from Harry.” She followed Diana up the stairs. “You’ve got to help me keep away from him, Di. We’re bad for each other.” Nicole was going to move out of Harry’s place in Bondi and find a place of her own. She was going to work two jobs and save to go to a private college, do a course in natural medicine. Diana could tell she’d had a hit not long before she arrived. Her friend sat at the table, flicking her hair back out of her eyes and doodling on an old telephone bill. They went to sleep a little after one, but Diana slept lightly. At seven, Nicole was up and getting restless, wandering in small loops around the tiny space. Diana tried to sleep on, raising an eyelid occasionally to see Nicole hunched over, biting her nails, staring out into space. They ate blueberry yoghurt for breakfast, sharing the same spoon, eating straight out of the tub. Diana was supposed to be at the TAFE that morning, to see about a supplementary exam. And she was due to start at her shift at The Royal at two. But she was afraid to leave. If she left, Nicole might go out. If Nicole went out, that would be the end of it. “You must hate me,” Nicole said, sulkily. “Yes and no.” The bed-sit had very little in it. The old blue fridge rumbled and buzzed. Nicole had already stolen the stereo, the television, the microwave, even the little dual ring gas cooktop. There were two folding chairs beside a fold-out table. There was the futon. Diana shared the bathroom down the hall with Bernie and Wanda, the drag queens in the next room. The tiny bed-sit’s best feature was a set of French doors, opening onto a railing and overlooking the busy road below. The breeze, or sometimes just the hot air created by the ceaseless traffic, made the red curtains above the doorway dance and sway. The girls sat watching this dance for most of the morning. Funny the way the fabric lifted, ballooned then fell. Lifted, ballooned, then fell. There was something in it. And yet, also, there was nothing. Soon Nicole Carr’s stomach would knot into a long, sharp cramp. Citation reference for this article Substitute your date of access for Dn Month Year etc... MLA Style BLoon, Julienne van. "An Excerpt from the Novella Moving" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 6.1 (2003). Dn Month Year < http://www.media-culture.org.au/0302/02-feature.php>. APA Style Loon, J. v., (2003, Feb 26). An Excerpt from the Novella Moving. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture, 6,(1). Retrieved Month Dn, Year, from http://www.media-culture.org.au/0302/02-feature.html

Introduction Feline Hitler look-alikes. Dogs attired in hats and bow-ties. Rabbits wearing lace bonnets. Images of these animals abound on the Internet with a host of websites paying homage to their cuteness. Emphasising the cuteness of non-human animals by anthropomorphising them is a common trend online, but there is also another side to the human relationship with other animals that has created a different category of cuteness. The blogger, Tiffiny Carlson, remarks that there has been an “onslaught of virtual love for disabled animals” who are not dressed to look like humans or imagined as human look-alikes to signify as cute. Rather, an animal’s disability becomes the signifier for cuteness. Carlson defines this as “cute-ifying disability” wherein disability is what makes an animal cute. In this context, a dog with an artificial leg, a gold-fish with a “wheelchair”, and a cat with visible breathing difficulties register as cute precisely because of their disabilities. In this paper, I draw on Carlson’s idea of “cute-ifying” disability to analyse the popularity of the cat, Lil Bub (https://www.facebook.com/iamlilbub). In doing so, I name non-human animals as animals and human-animals as humans. This is not to state that humans are not animals, but rather to use these terms to make visible the hierarchical relationship developed between them. (Re)defining Disability and Cuteness Critical disability studies aims to challenge and unpack the norms through which disability is dominantly represented, understood and politicised in terms of a “lack”. In keeping with this intention, Tanya Titchkosky argues that perceptions about disability need to move away from defining disability as an object of knowledge. Instead, Titchkosky advocates for an experience that conceives of disability as a “space of interpretive encounter” (56) that enables a “way of perceiving and orienting toward the world” (4). Here, Titchkosky discusses disability in terms of the norms through which disability is treated, thus intimating that “disability” and “ability” are socio-cultural constructs that establish the norms through which human capacity and capability (mental, physical and emotional) are understood. In line with this observation, this section intends to analyse the norms through which disability is formed, and in turn, how these norms inform human-animal relations and their impact on “cuteness”. One of the fundamental norms that undergirds understandings of disability is the idea that disability is inferior to “ability”, so much so that the philosopher, Paul W. Taylor suggests that human illness and disablement equates to an animal’s existence, regardless if they are disabled or not. He specifies, “We [humans] have a sense of gratitude at the good fortune that we were not born one of them [animals], a sense that comes sharply into focus when, through some abnormality of birth or by some accident or disease a human being is reduced to leading an animal’s simple kind of life…In comparison with the severely restricted kind of existence that is the lot of plants and animals, our own human modes of life are naturally appreciated for being so much richer, fuller, more interesting and desirable in every way” (158). Taylor asserts that disability becomes equated to animality through defining both as simpler examples of existence. Animals are therefore recognised in a similar way to disabled humans, wherein both are rendered as reduced facsimiles of “interesting” and “desirable” human existence. Other scholars of critical human-animal studies, such as Kari Weil and Cary Wolfe also make a connection between animality and disability, but do so in such a way that challenges normative assumptions about both as lacking agency. Kari Weil argues that the normative ways in which the complexity of human expression and consciousness is measured according to linguistic ability is not necessarily correct, rather, it is “an obstacle to a…fullness of vision” (88). Weil claims that this “fullness of vision” is expressed by “beings who are removed from ‘normal’ sociolinguistic behavior. These beings may be nonhuman animals as well as persons with certain linguistic and cognitive disabilities” (88-89). Drawing on the example of Temple Grandin, (who has written about her life with autism and how this has enabled her to form a bond with animals), both Weil and Wolfe state that the idea of animals and disabled humans as “simple” needs re-assessment. Wolfe makes this clear when she cites Grandin’s first book, Emergence: Labeled Autistic, as demonstrating the interior narrative to autistic thought and experience, and therefore enabling an “unthinkable” act “because it had been medical dogma…that there was no ‘inside,’ no inner life, in the autistic…” (111). Wolfe uses this re-conception of the inner life of disability to think through the complexity of animals’ “interior” life. This is not to conflate animals with disabled humans, but instead, to offer a more nuanced understanding of representations of difference. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson analyses how these representations of difference normalise disability as a spectacle. She writes, “the history of disabled people in the Western world is in part the history of being on display, of being visually conspicuous while politically and socially erased” (56). Disability, then, is visibilised as a spectacle to be looked at as “other”, and in this act of looking, disabilities are rendered as irrelevant to “ordinary” normality. Garland- Thomson further indicates that curiosity preoccupies the human eye when gazing on perceived disabilities, wherein the compulsion to “gawk with abandon at the prosthetic hook, the empty sleeve, the scarred flesh…” occurs without seeing (or wanting to see) the whole body “of the person with a disability” (57). In this context, those who gawk fail to see the interior life Wolfe and Weir state is taken away from disability. Instead, disabled people are labelled in terms of their perceived anomalies to a normative social order. Garland-Thomson states that this process of looking at disability is considered “illicit” (2002: 57) and therefore the need to look away accompanies the compulsion to “gawk”. Why is this process of looking illicit? The stories of those who contend with disabilities provide an explanation. For example, the blogger, BigMamaDiva2, writes about how her son’s diagnosis of PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) was the official label used to identify the series of “symptoms” her son was exhibiting (1). PDD-NOS is under the umbrella of the Autism spectrum of diagnoses. In her blog, BigMamaDiva2 narrates how people perceive her son through a narrow lens defined by the hegemony of normalcy and the assumptions attached to autism. Through this lens, her son is deemed “limited” and “rude”. Part of the reason that he is perceived in this manner is the fact that he looks back and even stares intently at the people who misjudge him. The look of judgement people give him is thrown back in their faces, accounted for, and not dismissed. Even if BigMamaDiva2’s son does not intend to challenge these people, the fact that he does not give them the opportunity to look away, or to look with impunity, creates a sense of discomfort for those who mark out his “disability” and look down on him because of it. This exchange in looking/being looked at contributes to the illicitness in looking at disability because of the discomfort it brings to those who stare and those who are stared at. There is a message that informs this sense of discomfort; it is a message that tells those who are looked at that they are being judged as helpless and inferior. Extending this discomfort is the fact that those who are looked at can look back and stare in response to those who castigate them. This desire to “look away”, as Garland-Thomson puts it, intimates the need to look away before the person being stared at has the chance to look back. In this context, this sense of looking at/looking away attempts to construct a hierarchy wherein the exceptional is pathologized and the “ordinary” is normalised (Garland-Thomson 56). However, when a person views animals, a different kind of gaze can be evoked. This kind of gaze is informed by cuteness and how it frames some animals as human objects of appreciation and adoration. By “cuteness,” I refer to Joshua Dale’s definition of “cute” as: juvenile features that cause an affective reaction, somatic cuteness…namely, large head and small, round body; short extremities; big eyes; small nose and mouth. Whether genetic, or activated by learned signals, the cuteness response is also associated with a range of behavioral aspects, including: childlike, dependent, gentle, intimate, clumsy, and nonthreatening. Such physical and behavioral features trigger an attachment based on the desire to protect and take care of the cute object. (1) The reasons that contribute to the illicitness of looking at human disability are the factors which “cute-fy” animals and disability. It is precisely because of the animals’ supposed “disabled” characteristics of helplessness, inferiority and child-like appeal that package them as cute. In this context, this kind of animal refers to a domesticated pet. If that pet has a disability, this sense of cuteness is enhanced as it emphasises the factors which construct them as cute in the first place. Disability is thus “cute-fied” through asserting signifiers of disability as cute. The following section draws on this process of cute-fying disability to chart the ways in which animals are framed in a human/animal hierarchy that conceptualises disabled animals as commodified spectacles for human consumption. The following section also demonstrates how cute-fying disability also engenders a re-reading of disability in the manner advocated by Titchkosky, Weir, and Wolfe to “see” and contend with disabilities in a more ethical manner. Lil Bub: Commodity, Charity and Companion Lil Bub, a cat which has become a celebrity, is an example of how “cute-ifying” disability occurs online. According to Mike Bridavsky (Lil Bub’s carer/owner), this cat was: discovered as the runt of a healthy feral litter in a tool shed in rural Indiana, she was taken in as a rescue when it was clear that she would require special care. BUB was born with a multitude of genetic anomalies […] She is a “perma-kitten”, which means she will stay kitten sized and maintain kitten-like features her entire life. She also has an extreme case of dwarfism, which means her limbs are disproportionately small relative to the rest of her body and she has some difficulty moving around. She has very short, stubby legs and a weird, long, serpent-like body. Her lower jaw is significantly shorter than her upper jaw, and her teeth never grew in which is why her tongue is always hanging around. (1) As of the 16th of April 2014, Lil Bub’s genetic anomalies have garnered 669,617 likes on the Facebook page dedicated to her. This page has links to an online shop selling merchandise (for example, shirts, calendars, and mugs) highlighting Lil Bub’s genetic anomalies, as well as a YouTube channel which showcases Lil Bub’s disability as cuteness. A documentary about Lil Bub (Lil Bub & Friendz) also won the award for best online feature film at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. On both the Facebook page and the YouTube channel, people have written about how cute Lil Bub is. Many use highly emotive language to express how cute they think Lil Bub is, writing that they are “dying” from Lil Bub’s cuteness to how “overwhelmingly sweet” Lil Bub’s face is. These comments are predominantly in response to images of Lil Bub walking and sitting. On the Facebook page, these images are paired with captions written by Lil Bub’s owner and fans of Lil Bub. These captions imagine a context to Lil Bub’s expression of permanent cuteness, which shows her tongue hanging out and eyes that boggle in a look of surprise. For example, the caption “Friday!” is written above a picture of Lil Bub staring at the camera. Another caption, “must be raining yoghurt” is written above a picture of Lil Bub with a similar expression. Images of Lil Bub are predominantly the same, but the captions change to add diversity to what viewers can see on Facebook. Lil Bub also features on the online portal, I Can Has Cheezburger, which has a page dedicated to animals with disabilities (http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/tag/disabled). Carlson questions the popularity of these animals, and more specifically, why animal disabilities are considered as cute. Taking the definition of cute as categorising something/one as infantilised, needing assistance, and simpler than oneself, it can be argued that this definition matches with the views expressed by Taylor, as well as akin to how disability is seen in terms of “normality”. In this context, cuteness can encourage reductive ideas about disability and those who are differently-abled as “simple”. In Lil Bub’s case, several memes are made about her, including one with her usual look of surprise. This meme (http://cheezburger.com/7459833088#comments), which features on I Can Has Cheezburger, notes, “most cats look at you, questioning your intelligence…not this one.” The assumption that Lil Bub is not “condescending” (like other cats are supposed to be) is due to the fact that her tongue is sticking out because she has not grown any teeth. Her disability is framed as non-threatening, less confrontational than other cats, and therefore is a cuter, loveable option. In this context, disability is used to neutralise and make disability a manageable spectacle that can be commented on. Consequently, cuteness makes disability palatable by rearranging how people can consume and grasp the spectacle of disability. As mentioned earlier in this paper, Garland-Thomson writes about the illicitness which surrounds looking at disability. Cute-ifying disability through animals can remove the illicitness that informs the interaction Garland-Thomson describes. The online presence of cute animals, who are “cute” because of their disabilities, invites the human gaze to rest on their disabilities and encourages them to linger, to keep looking without feeling the need to look away. This desire to linger on the cute animal informs the commodification of Lil Bub. For example, the range of products produced to celebrate Lil Bub’s cuteness highlight how viewers are invited to visually absorb everything to do with Lil Bub. Cute-ifying disability, in terms of packaging “cute disabilities” as commodities, re-signifies how humans can perceive and view disability through rearranging the “awkward partnership” between disability and ability. Disability, in this case, can be marketed as “cute” and bought and sold because of its cuteness. However, the marketing of cuteness can also act as an entry point to think through and create awareness about complex social issues. For instance, cuteness can promote awareness about the “right to life” of disabled animals, which is one of Bridavsky’s aims. On a fact sheet written by Bridavsky, the message of celebrating difference is expressed: Beyond being overwhelmingly cute, exceptionally smart and painfully witty, BUB is an advocate for homeless and special needs pets all over the universe. Since before she was a star she has made it a point to spread a message of positivity. She proves that being different is better and she encourages the adoption of pets and helping those less fortunate. To date Lil BUB has directly raised more than $60,000 for various charities through her online store and meet-and-greets at animal shelters all of the country while spreading awareness about the importance of adoption, and spaying and neutering your pets. (1) While Bridavsky focuses on difference through the figure of Lil Bub’s cuteness, this does not detract from the potential cuteness has to expand normative horizons and go beyond acting in the service of enabling reductive norms. For instance, through Bridavsky’s initiative, Lil Bub has partnered with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to generate funds for cats with special needs. In this context, Lil Bub’s “cute-fied” disability enables humans to think charitably towards animals with disabilities, and brings awareness to animals with special needs. Moreover, the online presence of Lil Bub and other disabled animals, and their packaging as cute creatures, can operate in the service of disabled people. This is not to state that animals are only relevant in terms of human existence, but to specify that representations of disabilities can resignify normative ideas about disability as something that is other to the complexity of human existence. Viewing an animal’s disability online can be a recuperative process with humans with disabilities. For instance, Nancy, a person who commented on Carlson’s idea of “cute-ifying disability” on 24 February 2014, remarked: “Children identify with cartoons and animals. A lot. Children have told me how Winter the dolfin has a fake tail, and relate it to their leg brace. Or how they saw a dog in a wheelchair and they identified with it since they are in a wheelchair [sic]” (1). Conclusion As the examples above demonstrate, Lil Bub’s popularity can be read in terms of the interaction between the commodification and characterisation of animals as cute, the use of cuteness and disability to raise awareness and funding for charities, and the relationship between animals and humans as companions and sources of inspiration for one another. Cute-fying disability is informed through this complex assemblage that reorients one-sided ideas of cuteness as simply enabling ethical engagements with disability or disenabling such negotiations. At the heart of this is the question: “in whose interest is this for?” As Carlson notes, the issue is not so much in seeing animals as cute, but in not seeing humans with disabilities in a way that sees them as human beings (1). Carlson takes issue with the fact that the same level of benevolence and friendliness offered to disabled animals online is not extended to humans with disabilities. By this, Carlson is not suggesting that people see other people with disabilities as “cute”. Rather, she, like Garland-Thomson, advocate for the “process of dismantling the institutional, attitudinal, legislative, economic, and architectural barriers that keep people with disabilities from full participation in society” (75). The example of Lil Bub demonstrates the various ways through which these barriers are erected and challenged. For instance, Lil Bub has been framed in terms of a human/animal hierarchy that positions her as figure for human entertainment. Her disabilities have also positioned her within another kind of hierarchy wherein she is packaged as less complex and less threatening than “normal” cats, as suggested by the meme that claims that Lil Bub does not judge people, unlike other cats. Simultaneously, Lil Bub’s popularity has garnered awareness towards animals with disabilities and the help humans can offer to assist them. Moreover, Lil Bub, and other disabled animals that are represented as cute, are relatable as companions for humans and can be a source of inspiration for many people. In mapping out the nuances to cute-fying disability in Lil Bub’s case, this paper is not invested in stating whether cute-fying disability is wrong or right, but rather, to point towards the ways in which cute-fying disability can simultaneously work for and against ethical engagements with disability for humans and animals. References BigMamaDiva2. “Winn-ER son!!!” BigMamaDiva2, 2014. 10 Jan. 2014 ‹http://bigmamadiva2.blogspot.com.au/›. Bridavsky, Mike. Lil Bub: About. n.d. 2 Apr. 2014 ‹http://lilbub.com/about›. Carlson, Tiffiny. “Animals and Wheelchairs: Cute-ifying Disability.” Easy Stand Blog, 19 Feb. 2013. 17 Feb. 2014 ‹http://blog.easystand.com/2013/02/animals-and-wheelchairs-cute-ifying-disability/›. Dale, Joshua. Cute Studies, 2014. 17 Feb. 2014 ‹http://www.academia.edu/5132057/CFP_Cute_Studies›. 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