Two hundred samples of foodstuffs and water were examined for the presence of Enterococcus sp., of which 105 were identified as positive. Sixty samples of foodstuffs and water were examined for the presence of Staphylococcus sp., of which 48 were identified as positive. The isolated strains were identified and, based on their generic attributes, they were ranked to genus Enterococcus and Staphylococcus. For sorting, a STAPHYtest 16, API Staph and EN-COCCUS tests were used. The isolates were further subjected to screening of susceptibility to antibiotics, a broth microdilution method was applied.

There are many options for enhancing food production from fish in managed aquatic systems.The most appropriate technology, however, will vary from place to place, and the conditions under which one technology is prefered over another are still not well defined.

peer reviewed

This document summarizes presentations and discussions of the workshop to launch the Challenge Program on Water and Food Project No. 1 for the Limpopo river basin in southern Africa. The project is funded through the CGIAR's Challenge Program for Water and Food. It aims to improve food security and farm incomes for smallholder farmers in the Limpopo basin, which covers parts of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

As befits a CGIAR Challenge Program , the CPWF has welcomed a wide range of stake holders and partners in accord with their ability to achieve program goals. Decision on research investments (project selection) have been based on a competitive grants in which proposal quality was evaluated by an interdependent external panel. The usual weakness of a competitive grants approach - lack of coherence in research agenda has been address by Basin Focal Projects and synthesis research.

To determine if Campylobacter jejuni grown at 37 and 42 °C have different abilities to survive on beef and chicken, and in water. Beef, chicken and water were separately inoculated with four Camp. jejuni (two poultry and two beef) strains grown at 37 or 42 °C. The matrices were stored at ~4 °C and Camp. jejuni numbers were monitored over time by plate counts. On beef there was a greater decrease in number for two strains (P < 0·05; ~0·7 and 1·3 log CFU cm⁻²) grown at 37 °C as compared with 42 °C. By contrast on chicken there was a decrease in numbers for two strains (P < 0·05; ~1·3 and 1 log CFU g⁻¹) grown at 42 °C as compared with 37 °C. In water there was a greater decrease in numbers for all strains (P < 0·05; ~3-5·3 log CFU ml⁻¹) grown at 42 °C as compared with 37 °C. Growth temperature influences the survival of Camp. jejuni on food and in water. Campylobacter jejuni survival studies need to consider growth temperature to avoid erroneous results. Campylobacter jejuni grown at 37 °C, the body temperature of humans and cattle, may represent a greater public health risk in water than those grown at 42 °C, the body temperature of poultry.

In winter 2004/2005, 1532 Water Pipits were recorded during 37 censuses carried out along an established route on a sewage farm flooded with wastewater (Wrocław, SW Poland). Single birds were seen in nearly 39% of all 299 encounters, while the largest concentrations, between 16–28 individuals, accounted for 9%. 78% of all birds were observed on meadows flooded with communal wastewater. The remaining ones stayed around irrigation ditches (n = 172, 11.5%), sedimentation basins (n = 88, 5.9%) and reedbeds (n = 72, 4.8%). The mean size of the Water Pipit concentration was largest on the meadows (mean ± SE = 6.54 ± 0.50 individuals) and smallest at the sedimentation basins (mean = 1.44 ± 0.14). In this winter season (December-first half of March), rainfall enlarged numbers of birds to forage on the meadows, and the thickness of the snow cover was positively correlated with bird abundance at the sedimentation basins. The dominant available prey items inhabiting the warm wastewater were Diptera larvae (96%), 88% of which belonged to the genus Eristalis. The mean (± SD) invertebrate biomass was highest in the basin sediments (1.03 ± 1.14 g/dm³ of deposits), and lowest on the flooded meadows (0.20 ± 0.37 g/dm³ of deposits). The results point to the significance of the artificial environmental conditions created by warm sewage water, which enable the birds to remain largely independent of the weather and thus to overwinter in a cold region of central Europe.

The work is intended to explore the suitability of underutilized coconut water (a byproduct of food industry) for the production of exopolysaccharides (EPS) by Agrobacterium sp. CFR 24. Besides checking the suitability of coconut water for the production of water-soluble (WS) and water-insoluble (WIS) EPS, certain fermentation parameters, such as initial pH, incubation period and kinetics of EPS production were investigated. The coconut water medium was found to support the production of both types of EPS. The optimal initial pH and temperature was found to be 6·0 and 30°C, respectively. In shake flask (150 rev min[superscript [-]1]) studies, high-cell density inoculum resulted in the production of 11·50 g l[superscript [-]1] of WIS-EPS and 4·01 g l[superscript [-]1] WS-EPS after 72 and 96 h of fermentation, respectively. Coconut water was found suitable for the production of microbial EPS by Agrobacterium sp. CFR 24 strain. Under optimum conditions, it produced a good amount of WIS-EPS, which is comparable with that of the sucrose medium (11 g l[superscript [-]1]). This is the first report on the use of coconut water as a fermentation medium for the production of any microbial EPS. Besides producing value-added products, use of this food industry byproduct, which is often being drained out, can significantly reduce the problem of environmental pollution.

Desert mammals often experience scarcity of drinking water and food for prolonged periods. In this study, the first long-term acclimation experiment in a non-domesticated desert-adapted ungulate, we investigated the mechanisms used by the Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx, to adjust its physiology to progressive food and water restriction over 5 months, an experimental regimen and time course chosen to mimic what it typically experiences between spring and late summer in the desert. At the end of the acclimation period, oryx consumed less than one and half of food and water of animals in the control group and lost 8.2±2.6% of their initial body mass. Experimental animals reduced their mass-specific resting metabolic rate (RMR) and total evaporative water loss (TEWL) by 16.2 and 25.7%, respectively, and maintained a digestive efficiency of about 70%. We found no support for the idea that reduced RMR in oryx correlated with a decreased thyroid hormone concentration in plasma. At the end of the 5 months acclimation, oryx continued to mobilize fatty acids to fuel metabolism, and did not use protein breakdown as a major source of gluconeogenesis. Oryx in the experimental group reduced their water intake by 70% and maintained constant plasma osmolality. They adjusted their water budget by reducing mass-specific TEWL, increasing urine osmolality and reducing urine volume by 40%, and excreting feces with <50% water content. Oryx have an unusually low TEWL compared with other arid-zone ungulates; both hydrated and water-deprived individuals have TEWL values, 51.7 and 39.3%, respectively, of allometric predictions for arid-zone ungulates.

To determine the efficacy of electrolysed oxidizing (EO) water in inactivating Vibrio parahaemolyticus on kitchen cutting boards and food contact surfaces. Cutting boards (bamboo, wood and plastic) and food contact surfaces (stainless steel and glazed ceramic tile) were inoculated with V. parahaemolyticus. Viable cells of V. parahaemolyticus were detected on all cutting boards and food contact surfaces after 10 and 30 min, respectively, at room temperatures. Soaking inoculated food contact surfaces and cutting boards in distilled water for 1 and 3 min, respectively, resulted in various reductions of V. parahaemolyticus, but failed to remove the organism completely from surfaces. However, the treatment of EO water [pH 2·7, chlorine 40 ppm, oxidation-reduction potential 1151 mV] for 30, 45, and 60 s, completely inactivated V. parahaemolyticus on stainless steel, ceramic tile, and plastic cutting boards, respectively. EO water could be used as a disinfecting agent for inactivating V. parahaemolyticus on plastic and wood cutting boards and food contact surfaces. Rinsing the food contact surfaces with EO water or soaking cutting boards in EO water for up to 5 min could be a simple strategy to reduce cross-contamination of V. parahaemolyticus during food preparation.