Major water issues in the Mekong River Basin concern not total water availability, but the impact of changed flows on ecology, fish production, access to water and food security.

Electrolyzed water (EW) is gaining popularity as a sanitizer in the food industries of many countries. By electrolysis, a dilute sodium chloride solution dissociates into acidic electrolyzed water (AEW), which has a pH of 2 to 3, an oxidationreduction potential of >1,100 mV, and an active chlorine content of 10 to 90 ppm, and basic electrolyzed water (BEW), which has a pH of 10 to 13 and an oxidation-reduction potential of -800 to -900 mV. Vegetative cells of various bacteria in suspension were generally reduced by >6.0 log CFU/ml when AEW was used. However, AEW is a less effective bactericide on utensils, surfaces, and food products because of factors such as surface type and the presence of organic matter. Reductions of bacteria on surfaces and utensils or vegetables and fruits mainly ranged from about 2.0 to 6.0 or 1.0 to 3.5 orders of magnitude, respectively. Higher reductions were obtained for tomatoes. For chicken carcasses, pork, and fish, reductions ranged from about 0.8 to 3.0, 1.0 to 1.8, and 0.4 to 2.8 orders of magnitude, respectively. Considerable reductions were achieved with AEW on eggs. On some food commodities, treatment with BEW followed by AEW produced higher reductions than did treatment with AEW only. EW technology deserves consideration when discussing industrial sanitization of equipment and decontamination of food products. Nevertheless, decontamination treatments for food products always should be considered part of an integral food safety system. Such treatments cannot replace strict adherence to good manufacturing and hygiene practices.

The ozone has the oxidizing power which is powerful the fluorine and the antimicrobial spectrum of wide scope. Researches were carried out to use the merits that ozone has in various fields including the food industry, and many studies are also conducted nowadays for more efficient use of ozone. The ozone was permitted legally as a food additive and was practically used in the United States, Australia, Japanese etc. In November 2007, ozone water was permitted as a food additive in Korea and the interest in the use of ozone water has been on the rise in the Korea's food industry. As a olisinfectant method, ozone has many advantages. The maintenance and management expenses of ozone are lower than the installation cost at early stages and no by-products are generated after use it compared to others. Recently the demand of ozone as a olisinfectant method is increasing drastically. Although ozone water is popularly used to sterilize raw foods like fruits, vegetables and meats, the cases are still limited and were verified by the survey results. However, the use of ozone water is gradually being increased and is focused on food services. Ozone water refers to a state where ozone is dissolved into water to more conveniently use ozone. Accordingly, ozone water should be managed in regards with the amount and time of water-dissolved ozone, and the control of discharged ozone concentration is required for safe use of ozone water. The items to control mentioned above are directly related to the performance of the devices, and therefore, it is required to newly establish the performance criteria of ozone water manufacturing devices.

Efforts to exclude disease organisms from farms growing irrigated lettuce and leafy vegetables on California's central coast are conflicting with traditionally accepted strategies to protect surface water quality. To begin resolving this dilemma, over 100 officials, researchers, and industry representatives gathered in April 2007 to set research priorities that could lead to effective co-management of both food safety and water quality. Following the meeting, research priorities were refined and ordered by way of a Delphi process completed by 35 meeting participants. Although water quality and food safety experts conceptualized the issues differently, there were no deep disagreements with respect to research needs. Top priority was given to investigating the fate of pathogens potentially present on farms. Intermediate priorities included characterizing the influence of specific farm management practices on food safety and improving our understanding of vector processes. A scientific subdiscipline focusing on competing risks is needed to characterize and resolve conflicts between human and environmental health.

Differences in recognition of physical properties of food in food science and engineering and the influence of water on them were discussed. The physical properties, 'Bussei' in Japanese, can be usually defined in food engineering and physics as 'the physical quantities that characterize a substance and do not depend on the shape and size of the material'. There seem, however, to be other interpretations of the physical properties among food researchers and technologists. For example, some researchers such as food chemists and cooking scientists refer to the dynamic properties and the texture of foods as the 'Bussei', whereas others such as technologists in food companies refer to it as the physical characteristics of foods reflecting some physical phenomena in food manufacturing and preservation processes. Most of the latter two types of 'Bussei' are influenced by the size and shape of materials and are not, therefore, the true physical properties. The type of 'Bussei' useful for food researchers and engineers would, however, vary depending on the situation or problem to be solved. Physical properties of foods are used for several purposes: first, they are indispensable parameters in the engineering models for predicting the optimal conditions for food manufacturing; second, the inner structure or state of food materials can be estimated from the behaviors of some of their physical properties. For example, water interacts with many food components; and thus the amount and/or state of water considerably influences the physical properties of foods, for example, by causing a change in the dynamic properties during sol-gel transition and the glass-rubber transition by the plasticizing effect of water.