In the present study, production and using possibilities of powder of macaroni boiling water (PMBW) were investigated. After cooking process of macaroni, firstly pre-drying was carried out at 50 °C in a drying oven and then lyophilization process was conducted to obtain final powder product. Physicochemical characterizations like total dry matter, ash, fat, protein, pH, aw and color properties were carried out and also technological properties of sample were determined. Both macaroni boiling water and the final powder product were examined in terms of microbiological analyses. It was found that macaroni boiling water had to be processed in 6 h after cooking if the cooking water was stored at room temperature. Also, the duration of 12 h after cooking was found to be limit level for microbiological safety of cooking water if it was stored at +4 °C. Besides, scanning electron micrographs of particles and fatty acid and mineral profile of the final powder product were determined. Macaroni boiling water is a by-product having a lot of nutrients and in this study it was proved that utilization of this by-product may be feasible. The macaroni boiling water can be used as a food ingredient and also as an enrichment agent.

International agri-food trade has expanded rapidly during the past decades and changed considerably in structure with important implications, especially for developing economies. One of the main environmental concerns regarding international trade is the exploitation and redistribution of water resources. In this paper, we use the virtual water approach for analyzing the relationship between global agri-food trade, its structure and virtual water flows in the period of 1986–2011. Specifically, for five regions and the world, we calculate growth rates of interregional trade values and virtual water volumes, the contribution of different product groups to trade and the economic water efficiency of imports and exports. Our findings show that, over time, trade values have generally increased more rapidly than virtual water volumes. In Africa and Southern America, virtual water outflows have roughly quadrupled since 1986. In all regions, staples and industrial products account for the largest share in virtual water trade. The recent shift towards high-value exports is beneficial for low-income countries from a regional economic water efficiency perspective due to high trade values and low associated virtual water volumes. Economic water efficiency of trade has increased in all regions since 2000 and the return to virtual water outflows is especially high in Europe.

Since cyclones Sidr (2007) and Aila (2009), communities in southern Bangladesh have increasingly needed to protect their homes and livelihoods from destructive natural disasters. WorldFish embarked on a climate-resilient housing project in 2013, building a prototype climate-smart house that is resilient to cyclones and is also water, food, energy and space efficient. This brief describes how the climate-smart house provides protection against cyclones and flooding and supports efficient use of water and energy. Many features of the house are aimed at increasing food production and helping families become more self-sufficient and better able to cope with extreme weather events | Hossain, E., Nurun Nabi, S.M., Kaminski, A. (2015) Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish. Program Brief: 2015-27

South Asia's water crisis is a worldwide concern. The region's population is soon expected to reach two billion; the greater Ganges Basin alone is home to 700 million people, many of whom are among the poorest in the world. Managing water resources in this region to alleviate poverty has historically been an intractable problem, and solutions will require a multidisciplinary approach. This publication documents the proceedings of the South Asia Regional Fulbright Alumni Workshop on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus convened in Kathmandu from 10â€"12 February 2015. The workshop aimed to foster an interdisciplinary and transboundary discussion of the interrelationships among water, energy, and food (WEF). The workshop assembled 60 South Asian alumni of the Fulbright, Humphrey, and International Visitors Leadership programmes, along with 40 regional and international experts, to promote a shared understanding of water, energy, and food issues in the region. Experts in water resources, as well as those specializing in food and energy security, brought to the workshop many years of experience in their own fields and countries. Participants and speakers included government officials, academics, researchers from think tanks, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and activists. The goal of the three-day workshop was to promote a shared understanding of the complex interrelationships among water, energy, and food issues in South Asia and beyond.

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are not commonly monitored in the environment, but they can enter the environment from a variety of sources. The most worrying consequence of their wide use and environmental diffusion is the increase in the possible exposure pathways for humans. Moreover, knowledge of their behavior in the environment, toxicity, and biological effects is limited or not available for most CECs. The aim of this work is to edit the state of the art on few selected CECs having the potential to enter the soil and aquatic systems and cause adverse effects in humans, wildlife, and the environment: bisphenol A (BPA), nonylphenol (NP), benzophenones (BPs), and benzotriazole (BT). Some reviews are already available on BPA and NP, reporting about their behavior in surface water and sediments, but scarce and scattered information is available about their presence in soil and groundwater. Only a few studies are available about BPs and BT in the environment, in particular in soil and groundwater. This work summarizes the information available in the literature about the incidence and behavior of these compounds in the different environmental matrices and food. In particular, the review focuses on the physical-chemical properties, the environmental fate, the major degradation byproducts, and the environmental evidence of the selected CECs.

This introduction sets the scene for the special issue compiled by Martin Keulertz, Eckart Woertz and Tony Allan.

Chlorinated flame retardants, particularly dechlorane plus (DP), were widely used in commercial applications and are ubiquitous in the environment. A total of seven species of aquatic organisms were collected concurrently from the region of a chemical production facility in Huai’an, China. DP and structurally related compounds including mirex, dechloranes 602, 603, 604, chlordene plus (CP), DP monoadduct (DPMA), and two dechlorinated breakdown products of DP, decachloropentacyclooctadecadiene (anti-Cl10-DP) and undecachloropentacyclooctadecadiene (anti-Cl11-DP), were detected in these aquatic organisms. Nitrogen stable isotope ratios were also measured to determine the trophic levels of the organisms. Trophic magnification factors (TMFs) for these chemicals were calculated with values ranging from 1.0 to 3.1. TMFs for CP, mirex, anti-DP, and ∑DP were statistically greater than 1, showing evidence of biomagnification in the food web. Concentration ratios of anti-Cl11-DP to anti-DP showed a significant relationship with trophic level, implying that anti-Cl11-DP had a higher food-web magnification potential than its precursor. The biota-sediment accumulation factors and TMFs for DP demonstrated stereoselectivity, with syn-DP having a greater bioaccumulation potential than anti-DP in the aquatic environment.

A burgeoning population, pressing development needs and increasing household consumption are rapidly accelerating water use in direct and indirect ways. Increasingly, regions around the world face growing pressure on sustainable use of their water resources especially in arid and semi-arid regions, such as Northern China. The aim of this research is to obtain an overview of the cumulative water requirement for direct (domestic) water use and indirect water use for the basic food consumption of the households in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), in order to reduce the pressure on grassland of Western China by encouraging sustainable water consumption. For indirect water use, we use VWC (virtual water content) analysis theory to analyze the total consumption package of 15 basic food types that were identified and quantified based on the household survey in 2011. In this survey, domestic water consumption data and food consumption data were collected from 209 representative households with spatial variation across three sub-regions (including meadow steppe in Hulun Buir, typical steppe in Xilin Gol, and semi-desert steppe in Ordos) and temporal variation from 1995 to 2010. The results show that the total amounts of food consumption per capita in three sub-regions all show an increasing trend, especially in Hulun Buir and Ordos. Compared to the direct water consumption, the indirect water consumption behind food production made up a major portion of total water consumption, which is affected (1) geographic locations (grassland types): (2) economic development levels and (3) grassland use policy measures. From 1995 to 2010, indirect water consumption displays a decreasing trend in Xilin Gol and Ordos due to the decrease of meat consumption and increase of fruit and vegetable consumption. When considering the amount of land per household, the grassland in Ordos still faces the great threat of high water consumption pressure. Such water consumption may affect water conservation services and productivity of grassland. Therefore, changing diet behavior and reducing the population can be considered options for sustainable use of water.