Food colorants are an important class of food additives that give the first impression to consumers about the quality of food. Ce(IV)-reducing antioxidant capacity assay originally developed in our laboratories was adapted to the determination of synthetic food colorants for the first time. This method allowing for total antioxidant capacity assay of dietary polyphenols, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid in plant extracts is based on the room temperature oxidation of antioxidant compounds with Ce(IV) sulfate in dilute H2SO4 solution and measurement of the absorbance of unreacted Ce(IV) at 320 nm. The results of the proposed method were correlated with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) findings. Individual standard solutions, synthetic mixtures of synthetic colorants, and colorant extracts were identified and quantified with HPLC on a C18 column equipped with a diode array detector, and slight modifications on the existing HPLC method were made to analyze synthetic colorant mixtures. This work proposes Ce(IV)-oxidative spectrophotometry as a complementary technique to HPLC in the analysis of food colorants.

Since the 1990s, children of the Gbagyi tribe in Northern Nigeria have been suffering severe rickets with an incidence of up to 40% in the children’s generation. The disease seems to be prevalent in an area of approximately 100 km2 south-east of Kaduna. According to broad medical studies in that area, there is no evidence for a genetic disposition but for a nutritional cause of the disease. A lack of calcium was found in blood and was calculated to originate from diet. We therefore checked parent material, soil, maize cobs (Zea mays) and drinking water for their specific Ca contents from a region with rickets problem (study area A) and compared the results to Ca amounts in similar samples from a region where rickets is unknown among the Gbagyi population (study area B). It thereby became apparent that there are no differences in mineralogical composition of the parent material between the study areas, but that Ca contents in soil, maize cobs and drinking water are 47.6%, 26.6%, respectively, 79.1% lower in study area A compared to study area B. This result suggests that there may indeed be a nutritionally and/or environmentally influence on rickets disease. Nevertheless, further research on this topic is required.

It is well known that immune defenses of bivalves against environmental and pathogenic stresses are primarily attributable to hemocytes. Hemocyte parameters are being used progressively as indicators to assess the host immune status. Moreover, there is increasing evidence that seasonal variations on the immune status have two origins: exogenous and endogenous. In this work, we investigated the effects of seasonal exogenous (water temperature and food availability) and endogenous (size and reproduction) factors on the hemocyte parameters in the scallop Chlamys farreri. Scallops were monthly collected from February to December 2009 at 2 sampling sites differing in culture mode: Qingdao for monoculture and Weihai for scallop—kelp polyculture. Six hemocyte parameters including total hemocyte count (THC), granulocyte percentage (GP), intrahemocytic phenoloxidase (PO), acid phosphatase (ACP), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) were analyzed. Results illustrated that all hemocyte parameters exhibited marked seasonal variations, following a similar pattern at both sites. High values of THC, GP, PO, and POD were observed in spring and early summer, a period of favorable water temperature and high food availability and gonad index, whereas low values were found in summer and early autumn, a period corresponding to reproduction completion and high water temperature. Moreover, SOD was lowest in February and highest in August, and correlated positively with water temperature. Hemocyte parameters in the scallop C. farreri varied greatly among seasons, and their values were generally low during summer and early autumn, suggesting that scallops had a depressed immune status during this period.

This article assesses the emergency stockpiling of food and drinking water at the household level and identifies the socioeconomic factors affecting households' decision making in this regard. The results show that only 30% of the respondents stock both food and drinking water as recommended. Further, around 65% of the respondents are projected to be food insecure when essential utilities become unavailable. Our probit regression results reject the moral hazard hypothesis in disaster preparedness and show that emergency food stockpiles are treated as luxury goods despite their importance. The policy implications of our results are discussed with the view of strengthening community-based disaster management.

A. Castro et al., 'Quesungual Slash & Mulch Agroforestry System (QSMAS): Improving crop water productivity food security and resource quality in the sub-humid tropics', 2012

Durante 40 días se cultivaron juveniles de camarón blanco Litopenaeus vannamei con un peso individual de 3,5 ± 0,3 g y biomasas iniciales de 25, 50, 75 y 100 g m-3 (equivalente a 8-32 ind m-2), sin cambios de agua y adición de alimento, para determinar la tasa de crecimiento usando como única fuente de alimentación el perifiton desarrollado en sustratos artificiales. Se utilizaron estanques cilíndricos de polietileno de 1 m³ con tres réplicas por tratamiento, con una superficie de 4,8 m² (paredes y fondo) y 7,1 m² de sustrato artificial (Aquamats™). No se encontraron diferencias significativas entre las concentraciones de amonio (0,17-0,19 mg L-1) y nitrito (0,10-0,11 mg L-1) determinadas en los cuatro tratamientos. La supervivencia fue similar, variando entre 91 y 97%. La ganancia en peso individual fue significativamente mayor en los tratamientos con menor biomasa inicial (25 y 50 g m-3), aunque por la mayor densidad inicial, el mejor rendimiento en biomasa se observó en los cultivos sembrados con 100 g m-3. Los contenidos de nitrógeno determinados al final del experimento, en el agua y sedimento, fueron inferiores a los valores iniciales, y entre el 36 y 60% de sus diferencias se recuperaron en biomasa de camarón. | Juveniles (3.5 ± 0.3 g) of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei were grown during 40 days with no water exchanges, no food addition and four initial densities (25, 50, 75 and 100 g m-3, corresponding to between 8 and 32 shrimp m-2), to determine growth rates, which could be achieved using the periphyton growing on artificial substrates as the only food source. The experimental culture units were 12 polyethylene 1 m³ cylindrical tanks with 4.8 m² of total submerged surface (bottom and walls), provided with 7.2 m² of artificial substrate (Aquamats™). There were no significant differences in the ammonia and nitrite concentrations determined in the four treatments (0.17-0.19 and 0.10-0.11 mg L-1, respectively), which remained below the respective levels of concern for shrimp cultures. Mean survival was similar, and ranged from close to 91 to 97%, whereas there were significant differences in mean individual weight, which ranged from 11.9-10.6 g shrimp-1 for the two low initial densities (25 y 50 g m-3), to 8.3-7.7 g shrimp-1 for the other treatments. However, because of the high survival and of the higher initial density, the best biomass yield was with 100 g m-3. The final nitrogen contents of sediment and water were lower than the initial values, and between 36 and 60% of the difference was converted into shrimp biomass.

En 45 ovinos machos Santa Inés (peso vivo medio de 27,50 ± 0, 48 kg) se evaluó el consumo de agua, al consumir raciones con niveles crecientes (0, 25, 50, 75, 100%) de nopal (Opuntia fícus indica Mill) en sustitución al maíz molido. El diseño fue en bloques al azar con nueve repeticiones. El consumo de materia seca respondió de modo cuadrático, perjudicando el peso final, que disminuyó, con el aumento del nopal en la dieta. Aumentó el consumo de materia natural disminuyendo el de agua, el consumo total de agua aumentó en el tratamiento con mayor cantidad de nopal. La relación de consumos: agua voluntaria/ materia seca, disminuyó al aumentar el nopal. El nopal constituye una reserva de agua para ovinos Santa Inés en condiciones semiáridas de Brasil. | The water intake in 45 male (27.50 ± 0.48 kg of mena body weight) Santa Ines sheep fed with increasing levels (0, 25, 50, 75, 100% DM basis) of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica Mill) to replace corn was studied. A completely randomized block design with nine replications per treatment was used. Quadratic behavior was observed for the intake of dry matter, hitting the final weight, which decreased with increasing the cactus in the diet. There was an increase in the intake of natural material and a decrease in voluntary water intake; total water intake increased, and the ratio of intakes: water/dry matter, decreased in the treatment with larger cactus proportion. The pryckly pear constitues a water reservoir for Santa Inês sheep in Brazilian semiarid conditions.

En 45 ovinos machos Santa Inés (peso vivo medio de 27,50 ± 0, 48 kg) se evaluó el consumo de agua, al consumir raciones con niveles crecientes (0, 25, 50, 75, 100%) de nopal (Opuntia fícus indica Mill) en sustitución al maíz molido. El diseño fue en bloques al azar con nueve repeticiones. El consumo de materia seca respondió de modo cuadrático, perjudicando el peso final, que disminuyó, con el aumento del nopal en la dieta. Aumentó el consumo de materia natural disminuyendo el de agua, el consumo total de agua aumentó en el tratamiento con mayor cantidad de nopal. La relación de consumos: agua voluntaria/ materia seca, disminuyó al aumentar el nopal. El nopal constituye una reserva de agua para ovinos Santa Inés en condiciones semiáridas de Brasil.

"For many people, particularly in developing countries, water scarcity will become a part of their livelihoods. The business-as-usual (BAU) scenario shows that in the year 2025, food insecurity and water scarcity will increase. If demand from industry and domestic sectors grows further, and if no more resources are made available for irrigated agriculture, agriculture, poorer economies, and particularly the poorest population in these economies, will be confronted with lower food production and reduced access to agricultural markets. In principle, supply constraints could be substituted by food imports, but only if adequate financial resources are made available. Since this is not likely, water policy changes and institutional reforms are needed such as the implementation of economic incentives to enhance the productivity of water." -- from online abstract | PR | EPTD | Journal article | IFPRI3; GRP22; Theme 3; Environment and Natural Resource Management; IMPACT