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COVID‐19 and food processing in Canada

ABSTRACT: Abstract In this paper, I explore the economic activities of the food processing industry during the coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. One of the key lessons from food processing and related industries is that without being designated as an essential service and targeted stimulus packages, the food industry could have fallen victim to the COVID‐19 crisis. Although the social and economic impacts of the interventions are not clear, being designated as an essential service was likely far more important to the food industry than the targeted stimulus packages. The pandemic and shutdown orders had a considerable production reallocation effect. Some processors have seen temporary closure and reduced capacity utilization. On the upside, disruptions in the food processing sector have not been as severe as in non‐essential sectors. The food processing sector has proven to be relatively stable during the pandemic – food was still processed and delivered to consumers and food price increases were minimal in most cases given the scale of the shock. Moving forward, because COVID‐19 is a global crisis, internationally targeted and coordinated efforts to tackle the virus could place the industry on a strong trajectory towards economic recovery and growth. Résumé Dans cet article, j'explore les activités économiques de l'industrie de la transformation des aliments pendant la pandémie COVID‐19. L'une des principales leçons tirées de la transformation des aliments et des industries connexes est que sans être désignée comme un service essentiel et visée par des plans de relance ciblés, l'industrie alimentaire aurait pu être victime de la crise du COVID‐19. Bien que les impacts sociaux et économiques des interventions ne soient pas clairs, être désigné comme un service essentiel était probablement beaucoup plus important pour l'industrie alimentaire que les plans de relance ciblés. La pandémie et les ordres d'arrêt ont eu un effet considérable de réallocation de la production. Certains transformateurs ont connu des fermetures temporaires et une utilisation réduite de leurs capacités. Les perturbations dans le secteur de la transformation des aliments n'ont pas été aussi graves que dans les secteurs non essentiels. Le secteur de la transformation des aliments s'est avéré relativement stable pendant la pandémie ‐ les aliments étaient encore

SUBMITTER: Hailu G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8206950 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:IntroductionFollowing the sudden closure of schools due to the pandemic in 2020, many school food program (SFP) operators lost their operating venues and had to innovate to continue distributing meals to children. Our objective was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery, adaptability, and resiliency of school food programs across Canada by conducting a systematic rapid review.Materials and methodsSystematic literature searches identified newspaper articles and social media sources related to the adaptations and challenges faced by school food programs across Canada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included sources were assessed and thematically categorized according to the dimensions of the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) and Getting To Equity (GTE) frameworks to identify factors impacting the delivery, adaptability, and resiliency of school food programs in Canada.ResultsSchool food programs in Canada made various efforts to meet existing and new challenges associated with the delivery of these programs to keep feeding school children, particularly those most vulnerable, during the pandemic. Distribution of food kits, prepared meals and gift cards/coupons were successful pathways in ensuring support for food accessibility to students and their families. Increased collaborations between community members and organizations/stakeholders to help maintain food delivery or collectively offer new modes to deliver foods were most frequently cited as key to facilitating school food programming. However, maintenance and sustainability related to operating costs and funding were identified as key challenges to successful school food programming.ConclusionOur study highlights the swift and substantial transformation school food programs,, underwent in response to the pandemic, driven by the urgent need to ensure that students still had access to nutritious meals and the importance of policy and resource support to bolster the adaptability and resiliency of these programs. Findings on facilitators and challenges to school food programs during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic can inform development of guidelines to design a robust national Canadian school food program and help make existing programs more sustainable, adaptable, and resilient.

Project description:BackgroundEarly in the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly one in five adults in Canada worried about having enough food to meet their household's needs. Relatedly, throughout the pandemic, public messaging repeatedly urged Canadians to support food charities, including food banks. Yet few studies have examined food bank usage during the pandemic or whether food charities were widely used by Canadians worried about food access.MethodsThis study draws on four rounds of nationally representative surveying conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic between May 2020 and December 2021 among adults 18 years and older living in Canada. Descriptive statistics were used to examine rates of food-related worry during all four survey rounds. Data from the fourth survey round, collected in December 2021, were used to explore use of food-based community programs since the onset of the pandemic, including food banks. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine differences in socio-demographic and health-related characteristics between adults who did and did not report accessing food banks before and after adjusting for household income.ResultsAcross survey rounds (n = 12,091), more than one in seven participants reported stress or worry related to having enough food to meet their household's basic needs in the previous two weeks. Yet, by December 2021, fewer than 4% of participants reported ever accessing a food bank during the pandemic. Younger age, living with a child, financial concerns due to the pandemic, two different measures of food worry, pre-existing mental health conditions, disability, LGBT2Q + identity, and racialized or Indigenous identity, were each statistically significantly associated with higher odds of using food banks even when controlling for household income.ConclusionsDespite persistently high rates of food-related worry in 2020 and 2021 in Canada, relatively few adults reported accessing food banks or other charity-based community food programs. While respondents facing social, financial, and health-related inequities and reporting food worry were more likely to use food banks, most respondents did not report food bank use, regardless of financial or demographic circumstances or experiences of food worry. Findings align with previous research indicating that more adequate and comprehensive supports are needed to alleviate food-related-worry in Canada.

Project description:ObjectivesFood processing facilities represent critical infrastructure that have stayed open during much of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the burden of COVID-19 in this sector is thus important to help reduce the potential for workplace infection in future outbreaks.MethodsWe undertook a workplace survey in the UK food and drink processing sector and collected information on workplace size, characteristics (e.g. temperature, ventilation), and experience with COVID-19 (e.g. numbers of positive cases). For each site, we calculated COVID-19 case rates per month per 1000 workers. We performed an ecological analysis using negative binomial regression to assess the association between COVID-19 rates and workplace and local risk factors.ResultsRespondents from 33 companies including 66 individual sites completed the survey. COVID-19 cases were reported from the start of the pandemic up to June 2021. Respondents represented a range of industry subgroups, including grain milling/storage (n = 16), manufacture of malt (n = 14), manufacture of prepared meals (n = 12), manufacture of beverages (n = 8), distilling (n = 5), manufacture of baked goods (n = 5), and other (n = 6), with a total of 15 563 workers across all sites. Average monthly case rates per 1000 workers ranged from 0.9 in distilling to 6.1 in grain milling/storage. Incidence rate ratios were partially attenuated after adjusting for several local and workplace factors, though risks for one subgroup (grain milling/storage) remained elevated. Certain local and workplace characteristics were related to higher infection rates, such as higher deprivation (5 km only), a lower proportion of remote workers, lower proportion of workers in close proximity, and higher numbers of workers overall.ConclusionsOur analysis suggests some heterogeneity in the rates of COVID-19 across sectors of the UK food and drink processing industry. Infection rates were associated with deprivation, the proportions of remote workers and workers in close proximity, and the number of workers.

Project description:BackgroundCardiac rehabilitation programs (CRPs) had to change quickly in response to a shift in clinical priorities related to to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Yet, no study has examined the effect of COVID-19 on CRPs and if there has been an adequate transition to alternative programming.MethodsTo examine the status of CRPs during the COVID-19 pandemic, a web-based questionnaire was completed by CRP managers from April 23rd to May 14th, 2020.ResultsOverall, 114 representatives of 144 CRPs (79.1% of Canadian programs) responded. Of respondents, 41.2% (n = 47) reported CRP closure; primary reasons were staff redeployment and facility closure (41% of 51 responses, for both). Redeployment occurred in open CRPs and closed CRPs (30% ± 34% and 47% ± 38% of employees, respectively; P = 0.05) and reduced hours in 17.8% ± 31% and 22.5% ± 33% for remaining employees; P = 0.56. Of open CRPs, 84.8% accepted referrals for medically high-risk patients pre-COVID-19; this level fell to only 43.5% during the COVID-19 pandemic, P < 0.001. There was a significant reduction in patients with cognitive/communication/mobility deficits who were eligible to participate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of respondents, 57%-82.6% reported safety concerns related to prescribing exercise to medically high-risk and vulnerable populations. CRPs transitioned from group-based to one-to-one delivery models->80% by phone and/or e-mail. Any tele-rehabilitation (one-to-one/group) was also used by 32.7% and 43.5% of CRPs to deliver exercise and education, respectively (mostly one-to-one). Resource barriers cited by open and closed CRPs were related to technology-no tele-rehabilitation, lack of equipment and patient access (35% of all barriers)-and 25.3% of barriers were owing to greater demands on staff time.ConclusionsWithin 2-months of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic, 41.2% of CRPs were closed and almost half of employees redeployed. Less time-efficient one-to-one models of remote care, mostly by phone/e-mail, were adopted. Vulnerable populations were disproportionately affected, becoming ineligible owing to safety concerns. Strategies to open closed CRPs, admission of high-risk/vulnerable populations, and offering of group-based tele-rehabilitation should be a national priority.

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COVID‐19 and food processing in Canada

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