Forty seven percent of the population of Pakistan is food insecure, access to food is uneven and malnutrition is widespread. In addition, food production depends greatly on irrigation, including the use of substantial volumes of water from already stressed aquifers. Our aim in this paper is to examine the implications of continued population growth on the required production of food and the implied water demand.We examine the historical trends of crop production, water use, food availability and population growth in Pakistan, and project them forward to 2050. Food availability has improved over recent decades, mostly as a result of increasing the area and water use of crops and fodder, and partly as a result of importing more pulses and cooking oils. We show that a continuation of current trends leads to nearly a doubling of the (already unsustainable) groundwater use. There is uncertainty in the magnitude of climate change impacts, but climate change may further exacerbate matters. To avoid further increases of groundwater use, some combination would be required of: more dams and other irrigation infrastructure; increasing crop yields (particularly yields per unit volume of water) at a greater rate than in the past; a change in crop mix away from high water use crops like rice and sugarcane, to crops that use less water; and, exporting less and importing more food. The alternatives appear difficult to implement quickly, so it appears likely that in the short to medium term more groundwater will be consumed, with attendant problems of water quality and sustainability. Our analysis provides new perspectives on past trends and future food and water (including groundwater) challenges.

Coral gardens are considered to be hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, due to the important structural and biogeochemical role of cold-water coral (CWC) species. Despite the importance of CWCs as habitat forming and mediating species in bentho-pelagic coupling processes, our understanding on their biology and ecophysiology is still very limited. Moreover, despite an increase in studies on deep reef-forming species, information on cold-water octocoral and antipatharian species is still very scarce. The present study aims at determining aspects of the feeding biology of two common indicators of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Azores Archipelago: the gorgonian Dentomuricea aff. meteor and the antipatharian Antipathella wollastoni. By using controlled experiments in aquaria, we aim at determining the feeding preferences and assimilation efficiencies of the target species upon availability of live phytoplankton, live zooplankton and dissolved organic matter. Study methods will include measurements of capture rates, incorporation of stable isotopes and analysis of fatty acids. The study will provide new insights to the feeding biology and organic carbon requirements of the target species while the produced data will contribute to the development of innovative spatial models predicting distribution and habitat suitability of cold-water corals

Although calculating the water footprint of a product, organization or a sector contributes to assessing and understanding the pressure on water resources, it does not provide any information on how to reduce the water use or its impact on the environment.The objective of this paper is to present a methodology for feasibility studies on water neutrality for the food processing industry in Flanders (Belgium). In 2010 a total amount of ca. 46 106 m3 water was used in the Flemish food processing industry of which 68% consisted of ground water. Based on a mass balance of water, scientific data, the Flemish Input Output model and a participative process with stakeholders, an overall concept of water neutrality in the Flemish food processing industry was developed. The method consists of three steps.-defining the concept of water neutrality in the context of the Flemish food processing industry;-defining measures for reducing the impact of the Flemish food processing industry on their water use and determine the reduction potential for those measures, taking into account the implementing risks;-translating the measures into a roadmap for the next twenty years and verifying if the measures are sufficient to turn over the actual Flemish food industry into a water neutral one.By defining and applying the water neutrality concept in this feasibility study for the Flemish food processing industry, it can be concluded that it will be hard for the industry to become water neutral by 2030, but the developed roadmap shows how the industry can become more sustainable by 2030 and take significant steps.

Pakistan is currently facing severe shortage of irrigation water. Current study is based on comprehensive cross sectional data set collected from 950 farmers from all the four majorprovinces of Pakistan. The paper analyzes the determinants of water scarcity and its impact oncereal crops yield (wheat, maize and rice), household income, food security and poverty levelsby employing the propensity score matching approach. The empirical analysis indicated thatfarmers with water scarcity problem have lower yield (wheat, maize and rice) and householdincome and are food insecure. Poverty levels were higher in the range of 7-12% for thehousehold facing water scarcity problem. Policy implications of the study is that public andprivate sector in Pakistan needs to invest in irrigation water management to maintain theproductivity of cereal crops which is important for household food security and povertyreduction.

PR | IFPRI3; ISI; E Building Resilience | EPTD | CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

Two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were evaluated for their effectiveness in detecting and differentiating between Shiga toxin 1 and 2 (Stx1 and Stx2) produced by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) inoculated into food and water samples. Each kit incorporated monoclonal antibodies previously determined to bind all known Stx1 or Stx2 subtypes with the exception of Stx2b. Four different sample types, including ground beef, Romaine lettuce, pond water, and pasteurized milk were inoculated with Stx1a-, Stx2a-, or Stx1a- and Stx2a-producing STEC strains, enriched using modified tryptic soy broth (containing mitomycin C) for 6, 16, and 22 h, and tested using the ELISA kits in the presence of a bacterial protein extraction reagent (B-PER™). The two Shiga toxin types were readily detected and distinguished for all tested sample types. There was good overall sensitivity, specificity, variance, and reproducibility for the two ELISA kits and they should prove useful for application in food testing.

Aim: To improve the efficacy of intercalating dyes to distinguishing between infectious and inactivated hepatitis A virus (HAV) in food. Methods and Results: Different intercalating dyes were evaluated for the discrimination between infectious and thermally inactivated HAV suspensions combining with the RT‐qPCR proposed in the ISO 15216. Among them, PMAxx was the best dye in removing the RT‐qPCR signal from inactivated HAV. Applied to lettuce and spinach, PMAxx–Triton pretreatment resulted in complete removal of the RT‐qPCR signal from inactivated HAV. Likewise, this study demonstrates that this pretreatment is suitable for the discrimination of inactivated HAV in shellfish without further sample dilution. In mussels and oysters, the developed viability RT‐qPCR method reduced the signal of inactivated HAV between 1·7 and 2·2 logs at high inoculation level, and signal was completely removed at low inoculation level. Conclusions: This study showed that the use of PMAxx is an important improvement to assess HAV infectivity by RT‐qPCR. It was shown that PMAxx–Triton pretreatment is suitable for the analysis of infectious HAV in complex food samples such as vegetables and shellfish. Significance and Impact of the Study: The PMAxx–Triton pretreatment can be easily incorporated to the ISO norm for infectious virus detection. | This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) (RYC‐2012‐09950) and the Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA) co‐financed by the European Social Fund (Project RTA2014‐00024‐C03). Financial support has been co‐sponsored by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). G.S. and J.R.D. were supported by the ‘Ramón y Cajal’ Young Investigator. | Peer reviewed

This research paper presents the results of tests on the colligative properties of konjac gum chains in water solutions. For this purpose, the measurements of osmotic pressure and intrinsic viscosity of aqueous solutions, in the function of konjac gum concentration and temperature were carried out. The applied methods allowed for the determination of the second osmotic virial coefficients B2, which raised with the increase of temperature. It indicate that increase of temperature causes higher affinity of polysaccharide’s chains to water. It was determined, that the osmotic average molecular mass of the konjac gum in non-purified solutions increases with temperature (1.07×105–3.80×105g×mol−1). Values of the reduced viscosity linearly increased in range 18–29dL×g for all temperatures. Received values of the Huggins constant (0.81–1.72) lead that water is poor solvent for konjac gum. The theta (θ) conditions were extrapolated for non-purified solutions − 325K (52°C), and interpolated for purified solutions − 307K (34°C). Based on the results of tests using the dynamic light scattering, the values of two main relaxation times (fast − 0.4–1.8ms and slow components − 4300–5500ms) were determined (the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts). The obtained autocorrelation functions were characteristic for sol type systems or these which indicate a gel-like structure.

Alan J. Duncan, 'The Nile Basin Development Challenge: A component of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food', ILRI, 2017