Seventy-one percent of the earth surfaces is covered by oceans. Water therefore is an important habitat for microorganisms and the other living beings. A consistent microbial biodiversity is present in water from phototrophs to chemioorganotrophs. The complex relationships between different microorganisms and the environment are often modified by organic, chemical and physic contaminations. The input of organic material can determine pathogenic pollution. The presence of pathogens has to be monitored to eliminate serious problems for animal and human health. Water, in fact, can be a vehicle direct (drinking water) or indirect (irrigation water) for microbial pathogens | Il 71% della superficie terrestre è costituito dagli oceani. L'acqua pertanto è un importante ambiente per i microrganismi, oltre che per tutti gli altri esseri viventi. Una grande varietà di tipi microbici colonizzano l'habitat acquatico, dai fototrofi ai chemiorganotrofi. Le dinamiche che si creano fra i diversi componenti microbici e l'ambiente sono spesso alterate da contaminazioni organiche, chimiche e fisiche. L'immissione di materiale organico può anche essere fonte di inquinamento di microrganismi patogeni la cui presenza va monitorata al fine di evitare seri problemi alla salute umana e animale. L'acqua, infatti, può rappresentare un veicolo di trasferimento, sia diretto (acqua potabile), sia indiretto (acque di irrigazione), di microrganismi patogeni

Current patterns of agricultural expansion and intensification are bringing unprecedented environmental externalities, including impacts on water quality. While water pollution is slowly starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture to this problem has not yet received sufficient consideration.We need a much better understanding of the causes and effects of agricultural water pollution as well as effective means to prevent and remedy the problem. In the existing literature, information on water pollution from agriculture is highly dispersed. This repost is a comprehensive review and covers different agricultural sectors (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), and examines the drivers of water pollution in these sectors as well as the resulting pressures and changes in water bodies, the associated impacts on human health and the environment, and the responses needed to prevent pollution and mitigate its risks.

Current patterns of agricultural expansion and intensification are bringing unprecedented environmental externalities, including impacts on water quality. While water pollution is slowly starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture to this problem has not yet received sufficient consideration. We need a much better understanding of the causes and effects of agricultural water pollution as well as effective means to prevent and remedy the problem. In the existing literature, information on water pollution from agriculture is highly dispersed. This repost is a comprehensive review and covers different agricultural sectors (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), and examines the drivers of water pollution in these sectors as well as the resulting pressures and changes in water bodies, the associated impacts on human health and the environment, and the responses needed to prevent pollution and mitigate its risks.

Papers on mycobacteria in food, feed and water, published between 1945 and 2010 and indexed in the database Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), were ranked according to authors, institutions, countries and source titles. The total number of papers on mycobacteria and food, and mycobacteria and water were 1,486 and 1,419, respectively. More than 40% of papers have been published in the last five years. In addition to publications in peer reviewed journals the archives of ProMED-mail and the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Union were also searched. It is evident that much attention is being paid to mycobacteria in food, feed and water as they likely pose a public health risk.

The emerging foodborne and waterborne pathogen, Arcobacter, has been linked to various gastrointestinal diseases. Currently, 19 species are established or proposed; consequently, there has been an increase in the number of publications regarding Arcobacter since it was first introduced in 1991. To better understand the potential public health risks posed by Arcobacter, this review summarizes the current knowledge concerning the global distribution and the prevalence of Arcobacter in food and water. Arcobacter spp. were identified in food animals, food‐processing environments and a variety of foods, including vegetables, poultry, beef, dairy products, seafood, pork, lamb and rabbit. A wide range of waterbodies has been reported to be contaminated with Arcobacter spp., such as wastewater, seawater, lake and river water, drinking water, groundwater and recreational water. In addition, Arcobacter has also been isolated from pets, domestic birds, wildlife, zoo and farm animals. It is expected that advancements in molecular techniques will facilitate better detection worldwide and aid in understanding the pathogenicity of Arcobacter. However, more extensive and rigorous surveillance systems are needed to better understand the occurrence of Arcobacter in food and water in various regions of the world, as well as uncover other potential public health risks, that is antibiotic resistance and disinfection efficiency, to reduce the possibility of foodborne and waterborne infections.

Reuse of water in the food industry is attracting much attention due to the increasing cost of water and water discharge. A major obstacle for extensive reuse is the associated risk of microbiological contamination of food and the production environment. A hazard analysis critical control point based generic model has, therefore, been elaborated for implementation and evaluation of systems for the reuse of water in the food industry. The model includes information on food and water borne pathogens and their sensitivity towards various water treatment methods. Previous implementation of the pre-requisite programs and combination of knowledge from very different research areas are also required for safe implementation of water reuse in the food industry.

Oil and gas extraction in the western United States generates significant volumes of produced water (PW) that is typically injected into deep disposal wells. Recently, crop irrigation has emerged as an attractive PW reuse option, but the impact on plant immune response is not known. In this study, we conducted a 3-month greenhouse pot study. Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) was irrigated 3 times a week with 150 mL (∼80–100% of soil water holding capacity) with one of four irrigation treatments: tap water control, 10% PW dilution, 50% PW dilution, and salt water (NaCl50) control containing the same amount of total dissolved solids as PW50 to determine the effect on disease resistance. The wheat leaves were inoculated with either bacterial or fungal pathogens and changes in pathogenesis-related PR-1 and PR-5 gene expression were measured from the leaf tissue. PW50 experienced the largest relative suppression of PR-1 and PR-5 gene expression compared to noninfected wheat, followed by PW10, NaCl50, and the tap water control. A combination of PW contaminants (boron, total petroleum hydrocarbons, and NaCl) are likely reducing PR-gene expression by reallocating metabolic resources to fight abiotic stresses, which then makes it more challenging for the plants to produce PR genes to fight pathogens. This study provides the first evidence that plant disease resistance is reduced due to irrigation with reused PW, which could have negative implications for food security.

Purpose - Leafy vegetables may get contaminated with pathogens through the use of irrigation water during open field cultivation. The main control option to prevent this contamination is the use of disinfection technologies that will reduce the pathogenic load of the irrigation water. Several technologies, either chemical or physical, are available for disinfection, which were gathered from the literature and European Union (EU) projects. The purpose of this paper is to prioritise these technologies.Design/methodology/approach - A feasibility study was performed to identify the most promising disinfection technology considering 12 different criteria. A two-tier approach was used in which the technologies were first evaluated based on three criteria: legal status, effectiveness and technology readiness level (TRL). Only the technologies that reached pre-set thresholds for these three criteria were then evaluated in the second tier.Findings - The evaluation showed that the most promising technologies after the tier-2 evaluation were ultrasound, microfiltration, ultraviolet and ozone. The study showed that the followed approach enabled prioritising disinfection technologies allowing for selecting the most promising technologies that can be tested further on a possible application during primary production to prevent possible food safety issues in leafy vegetables.Research limitations/implications - The overview is not an exhaustive list of disinfection technologies available rather only those technologies that seemed promising for application in horticulture were addressed. Some technologies may, thus, have been missed. Nevertheless, a total of 12 single and seven combined technologies were evaluated.Originality/value - This is the first study that uses a structured approach to prioritise a broad range of possible water disinfection technologies for use at primary production

Food production is a source of various pollutants in aquatic systems. For example, nutrients are lost from fertilized fields, and pathogens from livestock production. Water pollution may impact society and nature. Large-scale water pollution assessments, however, often focus on single pollutants and not on multiple pollutants simultaneously. This study draws lessons from air pollution control for large-scale water quality assessments, where multi-pollutant approaches are more common. To this end, we present a framework for future water pollution assessments searching for optimistic and optimal solutions. We argue that future studies could shift their focus to better account for societal and economic targets. Participatory approaches can help to ensure the feasibility of future solutions to reduce water pollution from food production.