This article discusses the basic ways of water-preparation in food industry. Water-preparation plan with elements of disinfecting for production of drinking water and drinks is given. The analysis shows that water should meet definite microbiological requirements. In order to reduce its fatal influence on the health of people the clearing and preparation of water are necessary. Development of techniques and means of clearing without chemical technologies, including ozone treatment technologies, allows one to lower and to get rid of application of chemical compounds and reagents. At the moment the ozone treatment water technologies with consequent treatment on filling filters are the most rational. Ozone is the strong oxidant and disinfects water faster than chlorine in some times. With activated carbon use both the flavouring qualities and smell become better. Technology of mutual ozone processing with absorption is the most perspective for water purification and disinfection, possessives a high efficiency in comparison with attitude to pathogen microorganisms, does not lead to the formation of harmful collateral products. Therefore, the questions of development of safe technologies and means for water preparation and treatment are actual and well timed

As part of a survey conducted by the Central Agricultural Office of Hungary, 67 food samples including beverages were taken from 57 food industrial and catering companies, 75% of them being small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, 40% of the SMEs were micro entities. Water used for food processing was simultaneously sampled. The arsenic (As) content of solid food stuff was determined by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry after dry ashing. Food stuff with high water content and water samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The As concentration exceeded 10μg/L in 74% of the water samples taken from SMEs. The As concentrations of samples with high water content and water used were linearly correlated. Estimated As intake from combined exposure to drinking water and food of the population was on average 40% of the daily lower limit of WHO on the benchmark dose for a 0.5% increased incidence of lung cancer (BMDL0.5) for As. Five settlements had higher As intake than the BMDL0.5. Three of these settlements are situated in Csongrád county and the distance between them is less than 55km. The maximum As intake might be 3.8μg/kg body weight.

Arsenic is a toxic metalloid of global concern. It usually originates geogenically but can be intensified by human activities such as applications of pesticides and wood preservatives, mining and smelting operations, and coal combustion. Arsenic-contaminated food is a widespread problem worldwide. Data derived from population-based studies, clinical case series, and case reports relating to ingestion of inorganic arsenic in drinking water, medications, or contaminated food or beverages show the capacity of arsenate and arsenite to adversely affect multiple organ systems. Chronic arsenic poisoning can cause serious health effects including cancers, melanosis (hyperpigmentation or dark spots, and hypopigmentation or white spots), hyperkeratosis (hardened skin), restrictive lung disease, peripheral vascular disease (blackfoot disease), gangrene, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease.

To foster their competitive advantage, food firms pay an increasing attention to strategies that tend to distinguish their products from the ones supplied by their competitors, dedicating to this task most of their resources, knowledge and creativity. In such a framework, also the resource water, often seen as an homogenous product, is more and more utilized in the advertisement as an element that increases the quality of the final good. This paper aims at building a model that can explain the observed behaviour in the different food industries and that can give some insights about the future perspectives of the utilization of the water as a differentiation factor. To reach this goal, first we present a survey of the commercials of specific food industries (beverages, pasta, bread, fresh produce), in which the contribute of water to the product is shown. On the basis of empirical evidence, we argue that the propensity to use water as an element of differentiation is greater when greater are the degrees of technological knowledge, the consumers' perceptions, and the importance of the differentiation strategy in that specific industry. Since we expect that these three factors will increase over time, we also conclude that it is rational to experiment a generalized increase of the utilization of water in the commercials of food products. We also recommend to extend the analysis testing the results using a quantitative approach | Per effetto dell'aumento della competizione sui mercati nazionali e internazionali, l'industria alimentare è spinta a dedicare una crescente attenzione alle strategie di differenziazione. A tal fine, essa impiega gran parte delle risorse, delle conoscenze e della creatività a disposizione. In un tale contesto, anche l'acqua, una risorsa spesso interpretata come bene altamente omogeneo, risulta sempre più utilizzata nelle campagne promozionali dei prodotti alimentari per spiegare la maggiore qualità degli stessi. Il presente contributo ha l'intento di costruire un modello esplicativo di questi comportamenti tale da offrire, al contempo, indicazioni prospettiche circa il ruolo dell'acqua come elemento di differenziazione. Analizzando le pubblicità di alcuni specifici prodotti (bevande, pasta, pane, ortofrutta fresca), si argomenta che la propensione all'utilizzo dell'acqua come fattore di differenziazione in un determinato comparto alimentare è direttamente proporzionale al livello delle conoscenze tecnologiche, alla percezione del consumatore e alla rilevanza della strategia di differenziazione in quello stesso comparto. Considerando che, nel tempo, ciascuna delle tre determinanti è destinata a sperimentare un trend positivo, è lecito attendersi anche un crescente riferimento al contributo della risorsa acqua all'interno dei messaggi pubblicitari. L'impostazione prevalentemente teorica del presente contributo induce a considerare particolarmente interessante l'ipotesi di testare i risultati mediante un approccio prettamente quantitativo

Water is a major component of drinking water, beverages, and most foodstuffs. In this study, an effort has been made to employ selected properties of water for: (1) evaluation of interactions of water with other food components; (2) discussion on the effects of water properties on food and beverage products; (3) applications of water properties in food technology; and (4) comparison of water properties with corresponding properties of similar substances. This study provides the following major conclusions: (i) unusual properties of water are mostly due to its high permanent dipole moment, partial ionic character of O–H covalent bonds, and extensive hydrogen bonds; (ii) different properties of many foodstuffs are strongly related to various properties of water; (iii) the properties of food products change depending on water availability and temperature; (iv) preparation of drinking water is a prerequisite for production of any safe drinks and foodstuffs; (v) water contributes important roles in quality, flavor, and shelf-life of foods; and (vi) water is used in food industries as a fluid for heat transfer; as a medium for temperature moderation in food processing; as a solvent for sugars, salts, water-soluble vitamins, and acids; as a dispersing agent for hydrophilic food components; as a dispersed phase for emulsified products; or as a reactant for several reactions in food processing.

This study was conducted to investigate the growth of microorganisms, including pathogenic bacteria such as Cronobacter sakazakii and Bacillus cereus, in Sunsik beverages made of water, milk, soymilk, or honey-water during storage at room temperature. Prepared Sunsik beverages were stored at room temperature and the growth of total aerobic counts, Escherichia coli/coliforms, and yeast and mold were measured. Also, samples inoculated with a cocktail of C. sakazakii or B. cereus spores were stored at room temperature and their growths were determined during storage. Populations of total aerobic counts and coliforms significantly increased with increasing storage time at room temperature, which resulted in higher than 8 log and 7 log after 24 h in all samples except for the honey-water sample, respectively. Levels of total aerobic counts and coliforms were significantly lower in the honey-water sample than in the other samples after 6 and 9 h of storage, respectively. Initial populations of C. sakazakii and B. cereus ranged from 0 to 1 log CFU/mL, respectively, and these populations significantly increased with increasing storage time at room temperature. Therefore, populations of C. sakazakii and B. cereus were approximately 7 to 8 log CFU/mL after 24 h of storage. However, after 12 and 9 h of storage, there were significant differences in levels of C. sakazakii and B. cereus between the honey-water sample and the other samples, respectively. Based on these results, the addition of honey can inhibit microbial growth in Sunsik beverages; however, the best way to avoid pathogen infection would be to consume Sunsik beverages as soon as possible after preparation.

The purpose of the study is to assess whether Corporate Social Responsibility regarding water is considered relevant for sustainability in companies related to agriculture in South Africa, considering that their impact directly influences public access to water. To accomplish this purpose, a qualitative approach was developed through the study of the 22 existing companies from the agriculture sector, food and beverages, forest and paper production, and Tobacco, which published their last integrated report within the Global Reporting Initiative framework. A thematic content analysis was carried out, involving the analysis of the written sustainability reports. For data analyses, ATLAS.ti 7.1 software was used to match the main aspects related to water management. Pragmatic advice for practitioners derives from the research results, considering that Corporate Social Responsibility in general—and sustainable water management in particular—represents an opportunity for companies to get competitive advantages in the market. The study also determines the best practices in the field in South Africa with benchmarking purposes.

In recent years, the presence of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) has been assessed in several environmental matrices, including the marine environment and agricultural soil, suggesting those pollutants are likely to enter the food web. However, there is still a severe lack of information about the occurrence of plastic particles in our food, partially due to the multidimensionality of the data necessary to fully describe MP contamination and the consequent difficulty in validating analytical methods. In this review, consisting of two parts, preliminary results about the presence of MPs in food, water, and beverages are summarized (Part I) and several approaches for the characterization of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles are reported and discussed (Part II). The information gathered in this manuscript highlights the need for a more comprehensive knowledge of MP/NP occurrence along the food chain in order to assess the food safety risk related to those contaminants and implement strategies for their monitoring in products intended for human consumption. Therefore, an outlook of the field towards a coherent, consistent, and policy-relevant data collection and standardization is included in this review.

Over the last years, there has been an increasing demand for fast, highly sensitive and selective methods of analysis to meet new challenges in environmental monitoring, food safety and public health. In response to this demand, biosensors have arisen as a promising tool, which offers accurate chemical data in a timely and cost-effective manner. However, the difficulty to obtain sensors with appropriate selectivity and sensitivity for a given analyte, and to solve analytical problems which do not require the quantification of a certain analyte, but an overall effect on a biological system (e.g. toxicity, quality indices, provenance, freshness, etc.), led to the concept of electronic tongues as a new strategy to tackle these problems.In this direction, to improve the performance of electronic tongues, and thus to spawn new application fields, biosensors have recently been incorporated to electronic tongue arrays, leading to what is known as bioelectronic tongues. Bioelectronic tongues provide superior performance by combining the capabilities of electronic tongues to derive meaning from complex or imprecise data, and the high selectivity and specificity of biosensors. The result is postulated as a tool that exploits chemometrics to solve biosensors’ interference problems, and biosensors to solve electronic tongues’ selectivity problems.The review presented herein aims to illustrate the capabilities of bioelectronic tongues as analytical tools, especially suited for screening analysis, with particular emphasis in water analysis and the characterization of food and beverages. After briefly reviewing the key concepts related to the design and principles of electronic tongues, we provide an overview of significant contributions to the field of bioelectronic tongues and their future perspectives.