The Experts below are selected from a list of 1650 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
James R Mihelcic - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Household food security, economic empowerment, and the social capital of women’s Shea Butter production in Mali
Food Security, 2017Co-Authors: Colleen C. Naughton, Tara F. Deubel, James R MihelcicAbstract:Shea Butter, an edible oil and lotion produced primarily by women in over twenty-one countries in sub-Saharan Africa and consumed locally and exported internationally, can contribute considerably to achievement of several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This study investigated the importance of Shea Butter to women and their families for food security, household economy, women’s empowerment, and social capital. It highlights the vital social value of Shea Butter in cooperative labor for production, gifting customs among women, and traditional and religious ceremonies. In addition, this study identifies critical opportunities for and obstacles to further market expansion. Based on a mixed methods approach employed in Mali from 2009 to 2014, this study included participant observation, interviews, surveys, and focus group discussions as well as Shea tree mapping and weighing of Shea and firewood. Major challenges that exist for Shea market expansion and food security potential include climate change and globalization of other competing world edible oils. Nevertheless, there are promising opportunities for the Shea market with the extensive Shea tree distribution, growth of consumer support for environmentally and socially conscious products, and capacity building efforts of rural Shea nut collectors and Butter producers by the Global Shea Alliance.
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Modelling energy and environmental impacts of traditional and improved Shea Butter production in West Africa for food security
Science of the Total Environment, 2017Co-Authors: Colleen C. Naughton, Qiong Zhang, James R MihelcicAbstract:This study improves the global application of methods and analyses, especially Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), that properly incorporates environmental impacts of firewood and a social sustainability indicator (human energy) as tools for sustainable human development. Specifically Shea Butter production processes, common throughout sub-Saharan Africa and crucial to food security, environmental sustainability, and women's empowerment, are analyzed. Many economic activities in the world rely on firewood for energy and labor that aren't included in traditional LCAs. Human energy (entirely from women) contributed 25–100% of Shea Butter production processes (2000–6100 kJ/kg of Shea Butter) and mechanized production processes had reduced human energy without considerably greater total energy. Firewood accounted for 94–100% of total embodied energy (103 and 172 MJ/kg of Shea Butter for improved and traditional Shea Butter production processes respectively) and global warming potential and 18–100% of human toxicity of the production processes. Implementation of improved cookstoves modeled in this study could reduce: (1) global warming potential by 78% (from 18 to 4.1 kg CO2eq/kg and 11 to 2.4 kg CO2eq/kg of Shea Butter for the traditional and improved processes respectively), (2) the embodied energy of using firewood by 52% (from 170 to 82 MJ/kg and 103 to 49 MJ/kg for the traditional and improved processes respectively), and (3) human toxicity by 83% for the non-mechanized traditional and improved processes (from 0.041 to 0.0071 1,4 DB eq/kg and 0.025 to 0.0042 1,4 DB eq/kg respectively). In addition, this is the first study to compare Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) and process-based LCA in a developing country and evaluate five traditional and improved Shea Butter production processes over different impact categories. Overall, this study developed a framework to evaluate and improve processes for achievement of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 particularly to obtain food security.
Gerhard Buchbauer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Volatile compounds of Shea Butter samples made under different production conditions in western, central and eastern Africa
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2009Co-Authors: Stefanie Bail, Heidrun Unterweger, Sabine Krist, Eliot T. Masters, Gerhard BuchbauerAbstract:Abstract African Shea Butter, a vegetable fat produced from the seeds of Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn. (syn. Butyrospermum parkii L.), Sapotaceae, is a unique natural product of African countries and is of great nutritional and commercial significance. The volatile compounds of various Shea Butter samples were analysed to investigate the influence of differences in manufacturing (boiling/roasting or combined procedures) on the headspace composition and with regard to the different origin of the samples. Volatile compounds were analysed by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry after headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME). Qualitative and semi-quantitative patterns of volatile compounds investigated in this study were composed of fatty acids degradation products, e.g. acetic and hexanoic acid, carbonyl compounds (hexanal, heptanal, trans-2-heptenal, 2,4-heptadienal), 2-pentylfurane, processing compounds like furfural as well as glycerol and residue compounds from technical processing steps including milling. Comparison of the volatile profile of 16 different Shea Butters from four African countries showed that processing steps including drying of kernels before producing the fat and additional roasting procedures influence Shea Butter headspace composition significantly.
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Volatile compounds of original African black and white Shea Butter from Tchad and Cameroon
European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 2006Co-Authors: Sabine Krist, Stefanie Bail, Heidrun Unterweger, Ahmed M. Mohagir, Martin Benoit Ngassoum, Gerhard BuchbauerAbstract:Shea Butter is used as an edible vegetable fat in many African countries. It can be utilized as a substitute or complete replacement for cocoa Butter in various applications and plays an important role in traditional African medicinal practice. Although detection of volatile compounds by solid-phase micro-extraction gas-chromatography mass-spectroscopy (SPME-GC-MS) is a very reliable and reproducible technique, which can be used as an important part of authenticity checking, production monitoring and contamination detection, no published data about volatile compounds of Shea Butter are available so far. In this investigation, the characteristic volatiles in the headspace of original African Shea Butter samples were identified by using SPME-capillary-GC coupled to a mass selective detector. Almost 100 different volatile components were identified, e.g. fatty acids, saturated and unsaturated aldehydes and ketones, terpenes, and typical Maillard reaction products such as methylfuranes and pyrazines. Furthermore, the samples have been olfactorily evaluated by a panel of professional flavorists and trained analytical chemists. It can be stated that variations in processing conditions of Shea Butter result in considerable differences in the composition of headspace volatiles, detected by SPME-GC-MS and human olfaction.
Zeev Wiesman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Methods and Technologies Related to Shea Butter Chemophysical Properties and to the Delivery of Bioactives in Chocolate and Related Products
Cocoa Butter and Related Compounds, 2012Co-Authors: Orit Segman, Zeev Wiesman, Leonid YarmolinskyAbstract:Publisher Summary The major raw materials for production of vegetable oil in the world are sunflower, palm, soya bean, and cotton seeds; however, the usefulness of indigenous and semi-domesticated plants and trees as vegetable oil source is starting to percolate into the awareness and knowledge of agro-foresters, entrepreneurs, and the public. The Shea Butter tree is indigenous to the wild and dry savannah belt of West Africa from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east and grows onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. Shea Butter, which is the fat extracted from the seeds of the Shea tree fruits, is becoming increasingly popular as a component of cosmetic formulations, in addition to its longstanding use as a cocoa Butter substitute in the chocolate industry. The predominated fatty acids in Shea Butter are oleic and stearic acid; however, only the hard fraction is useful to the chocolate industry. Due to its chemical and physical properties, Shea Butter is an excellent cocoa Butter equivalent and improver, which helps in achieving the desirable organoleptic characteristics of the chocolate. Moreover, the high levels of antioxidants in Shea Butter may impede rancidity and confer more stability to confectionary products.
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Regional variation in Shea Butter lipid and triterpene composition in four African countries.
Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 2005Co-Authors: Daria Di Vincenzo, Steven Maranz, Zeev Wiesman, Arnaldo Serraiocco, Raffaella Vito, Giorgio BianchiAbstract:The triacylglycerol, fatty acid, and polycyclic triterpene compositions of Shea Butter were determined for 150 samples from the sub-Saharan countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Uganda. The compositional profiles showed high variability in all three classes of compounds. Shea Butter is made up mainly of four triglycerides (TAG) differing in carbon number (CN) by two, starting from CN 50 to CN 56. The greatest source of variation was in the CN 54 TAG. Shea Butter is characterized by 16 saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in greatly varying proportion, the major ones being the even homologues in the range of C(16)-C(20). Oleic acid is dominant in Ugandan provenances, whereas stearic acid is dominant in West African Shea Butter. Acetyl and cinnamyl polycyclic triterpene means for countries ranged from 3.69 to 12.57%, with the highest values found in Nigerian provenances. Statistical comparisons of fat composition show that the geographic distance between Shea populations is reflected in the degree of separation of their chemical profiles.
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Influence of Climate on the Tocopherol Content of Shea Butter
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2004Co-Authors: Steven Maranz, Zeev WiesmanAbstract:The Shea tree, Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertner, is the source of a commercial seed fat known as Shea Butter. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the tocopherol content of Shea Butters from different regions of Africa showed high variability between provenances and a significant effect of climate on alpha-tocopherol levels. The total tocopherol content (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) in 102 Shea Butter samples from 11 countries ranged from 29 to 805 microg/g of Shea Butter, with a mean of 220 microg/g. alpha-Tocopherol, the principal form detected, averaged 64% of the total tocopherol content. Shea Butters from Vitellaria populations situated in hot, dry climates had the highest levels of alpha-tocopherol (for example, a mean of 414 microg/g in samples from N'Djamena, Chad). The lowest concentrations of alpha-tocopherol were found in samples from cool highland areas, especially in northern Uganda (a mean of 29 microg/g).
Colleen C. Naughton - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Household food security, economic empowerment, and the social capital of women’s Shea Butter production in Mali
Food Security, 2017Co-Authors: Colleen C. Naughton, Tara F. Deubel, James R MihelcicAbstract:Shea Butter, an edible oil and lotion produced primarily by women in over twenty-one countries in sub-Saharan Africa and consumed locally and exported internationally, can contribute considerably to achievement of several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This study investigated the importance of Shea Butter to women and their families for food security, household economy, women’s empowerment, and social capital. It highlights the vital social value of Shea Butter in cooperative labor for production, gifting customs among women, and traditional and religious ceremonies. In addition, this study identifies critical opportunities for and obstacles to further market expansion. Based on a mixed methods approach employed in Mali from 2009 to 2014, this study included participant observation, interviews, surveys, and focus group discussions as well as Shea tree mapping and weighing of Shea and firewood. Major challenges that exist for Shea market expansion and food security potential include climate change and globalization of other competing world edible oils. Nevertheless, there are promising opportunities for the Shea market with the extensive Shea tree distribution, growth of consumer support for environmentally and socially conscious products, and capacity building efforts of rural Shea nut collectors and Butter producers by the Global Shea Alliance.
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Modelling energy and environmental impacts of traditional and improved Shea Butter production in West Africa for food security
Science of the Total Environment, 2017Co-Authors: Colleen C. Naughton, Qiong Zhang, James R MihelcicAbstract:This study improves the global application of methods and analyses, especially Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), that properly incorporates environmental impacts of firewood and a social sustainability indicator (human energy) as tools for sustainable human development. Specifically Shea Butter production processes, common throughout sub-Saharan Africa and crucial to food security, environmental sustainability, and women's empowerment, are analyzed. Many economic activities in the world rely on firewood for energy and labor that aren't included in traditional LCAs. Human energy (entirely from women) contributed 25–100% of Shea Butter production processes (2000–6100 kJ/kg of Shea Butter) and mechanized production processes had reduced human energy without considerably greater total energy. Firewood accounted for 94–100% of total embodied energy (103 and 172 MJ/kg of Shea Butter for improved and traditional Shea Butter production processes respectively) and global warming potential and 18–100% of human toxicity of the production processes. Implementation of improved cookstoves modeled in this study could reduce: (1) global warming potential by 78% (from 18 to 4.1 kg CO2eq/kg and 11 to 2.4 kg CO2eq/kg of Shea Butter for the traditional and improved processes respectively), (2) the embodied energy of using firewood by 52% (from 170 to 82 MJ/kg and 103 to 49 MJ/kg for the traditional and improved processes respectively), and (3) human toxicity by 83% for the non-mechanized traditional and improved processes (from 0.041 to 0.0071 1,4 DB eq/kg and 0.025 to 0.0042 1,4 DB eq/kg respectively). In addition, this is the first study to compare Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) and process-based LCA in a developing country and evaluate five traditional and improved Shea Butter production processes over different impact categories. Overall, this study developed a framework to evaluate and improve processes for achievement of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 particularly to obtain food security.
Stefanie Bail - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Volatile compounds of Shea Butter samples made under different production conditions in western, central and eastern Africa
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2009Co-Authors: Stefanie Bail, Heidrun Unterweger, Sabine Krist, Eliot T. Masters, Gerhard BuchbauerAbstract:Abstract African Shea Butter, a vegetable fat produced from the seeds of Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn. (syn. Butyrospermum parkii L.), Sapotaceae, is a unique natural product of African countries and is of great nutritional and commercial significance. The volatile compounds of various Shea Butter samples were analysed to investigate the influence of differences in manufacturing (boiling/roasting or combined procedures) on the headspace composition and with regard to the different origin of the samples. Volatile compounds were analysed by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry after headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME). Qualitative and semi-quantitative patterns of volatile compounds investigated in this study were composed of fatty acids degradation products, e.g. acetic and hexanoic acid, carbonyl compounds (hexanal, heptanal, trans-2-heptenal, 2,4-heptadienal), 2-pentylfurane, processing compounds like furfural as well as glycerol and residue compounds from technical processing steps including milling. Comparison of the volatile profile of 16 different Shea Butters from four African countries showed that processing steps including drying of kernels before producing the fat and additional roasting procedures influence Shea Butter headspace composition significantly.
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Volatile compounds of original African black and white Shea Butter from Tchad and Cameroon
European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 2006Co-Authors: Sabine Krist, Stefanie Bail, Heidrun Unterweger, Ahmed M. Mohagir, Martin Benoit Ngassoum, Gerhard BuchbauerAbstract:Shea Butter is used as an edible vegetable fat in many African countries. It can be utilized as a substitute or complete replacement for cocoa Butter in various applications and plays an important role in traditional African medicinal practice. Although detection of volatile compounds by solid-phase micro-extraction gas-chromatography mass-spectroscopy (SPME-GC-MS) is a very reliable and reproducible technique, which can be used as an important part of authenticity checking, production monitoring and contamination detection, no published data about volatile compounds of Shea Butter are available so far. In this investigation, the characteristic volatiles in the headspace of original African Shea Butter samples were identified by using SPME-capillary-GC coupled to a mass selective detector. Almost 100 different volatile components were identified, e.g. fatty acids, saturated and unsaturated aldehydes and ketones, terpenes, and typical Maillard reaction products such as methylfuranes and pyrazines. Furthermore, the samples have been olfactorily evaluated by a panel of professional flavorists and trained analytical chemists. It can be stated that variations in processing conditions of Shea Butter result in considerable differences in the composition of headspace volatiles, detected by SPME-GC-MS and human olfaction.