US government was the first to introduce Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, the system that had a tremendous impact on everybody's life starting from the food and packaging companies up to consumer themselves. The rest of the nations simply followed US approach with a considerable delay both in terms of legislation and implementation. In the case of genetically modified (GM) or genetically engineered foods, the situation was entirely different. United States benefited from the 'dubious', and definitely not proved, 'substantial equivalence' principle invoked as the most practical approach to assess the safety of GM foods and food ingredients. US legislation appeared to be considerably more lenient than the European Union. The latter required many more analyses and labelling of GM food or food components. In this article, an update is attempted of the entire US legislation falling in fields like food safety, food technology, GM foods and finally legislation referring to specific foods (animal origin - meat, poultry, fish, dairy; and agricultural produces - vegetables, fruits) and water quality by means of fourteen comprehensive tables.

With the world's population set to increase by 65% (3.7 billion) by approximately 2050, the additional food required to feed future generations will put further enormous pressure on freshwater resources. This is because agriculture is the largest single user of fresh water, accounting for approximately 75% of current human water use. At present approximately 7% of the world's population live in areas where water is scarce. This is predicted to rise to a staggering 67% of the world's population by 2050. Because of this water scarcity and because new arable land is also limited, future increases in production will have to come mainly by growing more food on existing land and water. This paper looks at how this might be achieved by examining the efficiency with which water is used in agriculture. Globally, in both irrigated and rain fed agriculture only about 10-30% of the available water (as rainfall, surface or groundwater) is used by plants as transpiration. In arid and semi-arid areas, where water is scarce and population growth is high, this figure is nearer 5% in rain fed crops. There is, therefore, great potential for improving water use efficiency in agriculture, particularly, in those areas where the need is greatest. The technical basis for improving agricultural water use efficiency is illustrated. This may be achieved by increasing the total amount of the water resource that is made available to plants for transpiration and/or by increasing the efficiency with which transpired water produces biomass. It is concluded that there is much scope for improvement, particularly, in the former and that future global change research should shift its emphasis to addressing this real and immediate challenge.

Water affects safety, stability, quality and physical properties of food. The influence of water on physical properties of food is dependent on the state of water in food. The state, expressed as water activity, is briefly discussed in the paper. Further, the influence of water on such physical properties as rheological, thermal, mass transfer, electrical, optical and acoustic is presented in details.

During the second half of the 20th century the global food production more than doubled and thus responded to the doubling of world population. But the gains in food production came at a cost, leaving a significant environmental footprint on the ecosystem. Global cropland, plantations and pastures expanded, with large increases in fossil energy, water, and fertilizer inputs, imprinting considerable footprint on the environment. Information from pre eminent publications such as Nature, Science, PNAS and scholarly journals is synthesized to assess the water and energy footprints of global food production. The data show that the footprints are significant, both locally, national and globally and have consequences for global food security and ecosystem health and productivity. The literature nearly agrees that global food production system generates considerable environmental footprints and the situation would likely get worrisome, as global population grows by 50% by 2050. Investments are needed today to buffer the negative impacts of food production on the environment. Investments to boost water productivity and improve energy use efficiency in crop production are two pathways to reduce the environmental footprint.

In an overall evaluation of the situation published by IARC in 1993, beryllium and beryllium compounds are identified as carcinogens to humans. This prompted the initiation of this study on beryllium which reviews the situation up to 1998 on the aspects: properties and applications, toxicity, analytical procedures for food and drinking water, reference materials, occurrence in food and drinking water and estimates of daily dietary exposure. Special emphasis is put on analytical aspects and levels of beryllium in food and drinking water.

This review examines recent published suggestions that "water dynamics" may be applied instead of water activity (aw) determination to predict microbial stability of concentrated and intermediate moisture food systems. Factors such as the relative effectiveness of additives for antimicrobial stabilization through aw-lowering (i.e. glucose vs fructose, glycerol vs propylene glycol) and the importance of glass transition temperature as an indicator of microbial stability were examined, based on available experimental data. Determination of the glass-rubber transition characteristics and/or the use of the "water-dynamics" map does not enable prediction of the microbial stability of foods (i.e. inhibition of growth) with confidence. These were no more effective alternatives than the concept of water activity as a basis for predicting microbial growth in foods.

The authors of the recently completed Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA) concluded that there are sufficient water resources to produce food for a growing population but that trends in consumption, production and environmental patterns, if continued, will lead to water crises in many parts of the world. Only if we act to improve water use will we meet the acute fresh water challenge. Recent spikes in food prices, partially caused by the increasing demand for agricultural products in non-food uses, underline the urgent need to invest in agricultural production, of which water management is a crucial part. The world experienced similar pressure on per capita food supplies and food prices in the 1960s and 1970s, but the challenges now are different than those we experienced 50 years ago. The world's population is substantially larger, there are many more people living in poverty, and the costs of many agricultural inputs are much higher. The current situation and the long-term outlook require a fresh look at approaches that combine different elements such as the importance of access to water for the poor, providing multiple ecosystem services, rainwater management, adapting irrigation to new needs, enhancing water productivity, and promoting the use of low-quality water in agriculture. This special issue highlights the analysis behind a number of policy options identified by the CA, a five-year multi-disciplinary research program involving 700 scientists. This introductory article sets the background and context of this special issue, introduces the key recommendations from the CA and summarizes the papers in this issue.

The susceptibility of lipids to oxidation is a major cause of quality deterioration in food emulsions. The reaction mechanism and factors that influence oxidation are appreciably different for emulsified lipids than for bulk lipids. This article reviews the current understanding of the lipid oxidation mechanism in oil-in-water emulsions. It also discusses the major factors that influence the rate of lipid oxidation in emulsions, such as antioxidants, chelating agents, ingredient purity, ingredient partitioning, interfacial characteristics, droplet characteristics, and ingredient interactions. This knowledge is then used to define effective strategies for controlling lipid oxidation in food emulsions.

A bibliographic search yielded a set of empirical equations that constitute an easy method for the calculation of some thermophysical properties of both liquid water and ice I, properties that are involved in the modeling of thermal processes in the high-pressure domain, as required in the design of new high-pressure food processes. These properties, closely interrelated in their physical derivation and experimental measurement, are specific volume, specific isobaric heat capacity, thermal expansion coefficient, and isothermal compressibility coefficient. Where no single equation was found, an alternative method for calculation is proposed. Keeping in mind the intended applications and considering the availability of both experimental data and empirical equations, the limits for the set of equations where set in -40 to 120 degrees C and 0 to 500 MPa for liquid water and -30 to 0 degrees C and 0 to 210 MPa for ice I. The equations and methods selected for each property are described and their results analyzed. Their good agreement with many existing experimental data is discussed. In addition, the routines implemented for the calculation of these properties after the described equations are made available in the public domain.

The high number of people moving around by ferries and cruise ships in conjunction with great amounts of food and potable water transported (occasionally overloaded) and consumed by passengers constitute a possible risk for communicable diseases. Another issue of equally great importance is the food handlers who come from diverse origin and have a different mentality, habits, and background. In this paper an attempt is made to present comparatively EU and US legislation that could be potentially applicable to passenger ships food premises and potable water supplies. Moreover, food and water related hazards, not currently covered by EU legislation, were assessed together with US legislation and other guidelines for cruise ships.