Data collection on meat substitutes packaging

The consumption of food packaging is one of the major issues in our society today. Although consumers are more and more aware of this issue, there are still many products with single-use packaging or packaging that is difficult to recycle. Not surprisingly, the consequences of this overconsumption are disastrous for the environment.

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) is responsible for measuring and evaluating the consumption of food packaging in Switzerland. Currently, the data collection process involves interviews or questionnaires. These methods are burdensome both for the respondents and for the employees of the FSVO.

Goals

The main goal of this project is to use modern IT tools to simplify the data collection process for a specific food category: meat substitutes. The process of the survey should be explained to the users in a succinct way. In addition, consumers must be able to easily identify products considered as meat substitutes: tofu, falafel, etc. The platform must be functional on all kinds of devices.

Work done

As part of this work, a web platform has been developed and tested. This one follows a conventional 3-tiers architecture:

• Client: Next.js
• Server: Node.js
• Database: PostgreSQL

The core functionality of the platform allows users to scan the meat substitutes in their possession. It is necessary that the user has a mobile device equipped with a camera for the scanner to work optimally.

With the barcodes obtained, the employees of the FSVO can accurately identify and then obtain the products in question. In addition, the Open Food Facts community database provides detailed information on each product.

Functional testing was used to ensure that the code worked properly. These are executed continuously through a GitLab CI pipeline. Other aspects such as performance or accessibility of the interface were evaluated using Google's Lighthouse tool. Some accessibility gaps have been filled.

Conclusion

A sample of four average users was selected to participate in the empirical tests. The scenario consists in simulating a real situation: each user receives an email, similar to those that the FSVO usually sends, inviting him to participate in this survey.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you to request your participation in a scientific survey on the eating habits of the Swiss population conducted by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)...

These tests have shown that the use of a web platform with a scanner is a feasible and less burdensome solution than the usual methods. Although some usability problems were noted, the users' feedback is generally positive.

However, large-scale tests should be conducted to measure and compare the participation rate in such a survey.

Footnotes

I worked on this project for my Bachelor thesis at the HEIA-FR in Fribourg. This project was given a grade of 6 / 6.