Health :: Food Safety Consortium Summarizes Year’s Work

Multiple research projects across three cooperating universities are demonstrating progress that is enabling American producers, processors and consumers to maintain a safe food supply. The Food Safety Consortium summarized that work in its recently completed annual report for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

Psychology :: Spillover effect – Why we end up spending more when we think we’re saving

Ever go to a store intending to buy one item, only to leave with a cartful? Or walked out of a store after feeling you had been overcharged for something you needed? A groundbreaking new paper in the December issue of the Journal of Consumer Research is the first to comprehensively outline “spillover effect” ? that is, the tendency for consumers to spend more on a shopping trip when something they were planning to buy is deeply discounted. Similarly, an unanticipated price increase, or a decrease in quality, on a planned purchase causes overall spending to go down.

Obesity :: Effects of food advertising on young children – overweight

A new study finds that the majority of food advertisements appearing during preschool television programs link food with happiness.. In “Food-Related Advertising on Preschool Television: Building Brand Recognition in Young Viewers,” researchers analyzed television programming, including advertisements and sponsor promotions, on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Disney and Nickelodeon between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Spring of 2005.