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Firm’s compliance behaviour towards food fortification regulations: Evidence from oil and salt producers in Bangladesh☆

ABSTRACT: Highlights • An alternative, systems-based approach to determine compliance with food fortification, based on the fortification process.• More aware and engaged firms have a better understanding of the policy that helps recognise the value of complying.• Greater frequency of face-to-face interactions is linked to better compliance for recently introduced regulations.• Firms’ distrust in the effectiveness of incentives and penalties can hamper compliance.• A sustainable longer-term method could combine frequent monitoring of compliance behaviour with occasional product testing. Impact of national food fortification programs is contingent on the extent to which there is compliance with national standards. However, this compliance is often sub-optimal and is not consistently measured. One of the challenges to more regular measurement is an over-reliance on quantitative assessments of micronutrient levels for compliance, which are costly. In resource constrained environments, this contributes to weaknesses in regulatory monitoring. We offer an alternative, systems-based approach to determine compliance, presenting a unique score that can capture firms’ compliance behaviour, based on whether and how firms actually carry out stages of the fortification process. The key utility of such a measure being its use to monitor fortification propensity and assess changes in response to interventions. Further, we present an empirical application of this measure, providing novel evidence on firms’ compliance towards food fortification regulations in Bangladesh, investigating the institutional and firm-level factors that correlate with compliance behaviour towards food fortification regulations among edible oil and salt producers.

SUBMITTER: Saha A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8546459 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundFish oil supplements that are rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs). PUFAs are among the most widely-used dietary supplements globally, and millions of people consume them regularly. There have always been public concerns that these products should be guaranteed to be safe and of good quality, especially as these types of fish oil supplements are extremely susceptible to oxidative degradation.ObjectivesThe aim of the current study is to investigate and examine the oxidation status of dietary supplements containing fish oils and to identify important factors related to the oxidation status of such supplements available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).MethodsA total of 44 fish oil supplements were analysed in this study. For each product, the oxidative parameters peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (AV), and total oxidation (TOTOX) were calculated, and comparisons were made with the guidelines supplied by the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED). Median values for each of the above oxidative parameters were tested using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. P values < 0.05 were chosen as the statistically significant boundary.ResultsThe estimate for the average PV value was 6.4 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [4.2-8.7] compared to the maximum allowable limit of 5 meq/kg. The estimate for the average P-AV was 11 with a 95% CI [7.8-14.2] compared to the maximum allowable limit of 20. The estimate for the average TOTOX value was 23.8 meq/kg with a 95% CI [17.4-30.3] compared to the maximum allowable limit of 26 according to the GOED standards.ConclusionThis research shows that most, although not all, of the fish oil supplements tested are compliant with the GOED oxidative quality standards. Nevertheless, it is clear that there should be a high level of inspection and control regarding authenticity, purity, quality, and safety in the processes of production and supply of dietary supplements containing fish oils.

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Firm’s compliance behaviour towards food fortification regulations: Evidence from oil and salt producers in Bangladesh☆

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