This study aimed to determine the quality of drinking water supplied in different types of food stalls in Jashore Municipality, Bangladesh. A total of 35 water samples were collected from different tea stalls, street side fast food stalls, normal restaurants and well-furnished restaurants. The water quality was evaluated by determining the distinct physical, chemical and biological parameters. The results revealed that the water used in the food stalls and restaurants for drinking purpose was in desired quality in terms of turbidity, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, nitrate (NO₃⁻), sulfate (SO₄²⁻), phosphate (PO₄³⁻), chloride (Cl⁻), sodium (Na) and potassium (K) concentrations. The values were within the permissible limit proposed by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the World Health Organization. Concentrations of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) found in several samples were higher than the World Health Organization standard. Iron (Fe) concentrations were higher than the permissible limit of the World Health Organization. Only 46% exceeded the permissible limit of Bangladesh Bureau Statistics. The threatening result was that the samples were contaminated by fecal coliform, indicating that the people of Jashore Municipality may have a greater chance of being affected by pathogenic bacteria. The drinking water provided in the street side fast food stalls was biologically contaminated. The findings demonstrate that the drinking water used in food stalls and restaurants of Jashore Municipality did not meet up the potable drinking water quality standards and therefore was detrimental to public health.

Water use and agricultural practices in the Mediterranean area are unsustainable. The situation is worsened by the increased frequency of droughts and floods, as well as desertification and soil depletion, associated with climate change. The aim of Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) is to foster an integrated programme of sustainable food production and water provision in the framework of the water-energy-food nexus. A monitoring tool developed under PRIMA is based on the Sustainable Development Goals, two of which are specifically dedicated to food security (SDG 2) and sustainable management of water (SDG 6).The 12 indicators that have been chosen to be monitored in the Mediterranean area are: Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI); population overweight (%); land use (%); GHG emissions (total and AFOLU)(tCO₂ₑ); cereal yield (kg/ha); agriculture value added (US$/worker); fertilizer consumption (kg/haₐᵣₐbₗₑ ₗₐₙd); crop water productivity (kg/m³); annual freshwater withdrawal for agriculture (%); population served using with safely managed water service (rural, %); population served using with safely managed sanitation (rural, %); amount of agricultural residues used for energy purposes (t). Datasets for these indicators are collected by international bodies such as the World Bank, WHO, FAO and UNFCCC; recent series are available for almost all Mediterranean countries and are constantly updated. The aim of the proposed monitoring tool is to keep track of the impact generated in by PRIMA research and innovation projects Mediterranean countries.

Recently, reports have been published on the occurrence of chlorate mainly in fruits and vegetables. Chlorate is a by-product of chlorinating agents used to disinfect water, and can be expected to be found in varying concentrations in drinking water. Data on potable water taken at 39 sampling points across Europe showed chlorate to range from < 0.003 to 0.803 mg l –¹ with a mean of 0.145 mg l –¹. Chlorate, however, can also be used as a pesticide, but authorisation was withdrawn in the European Union (EU), resulting in a default maximum residue limit (MRL) for foods of 0.01 mg kg –¹. This default MRL has now led to significant problems in the EU, where routinely disinfected water, used in the preparation of food products such as vegetables or fruits, leaves chlorate residues in excess of the default MRL, and in strict legal terms renders the food unmarketable. Due to the paucity of data on the chlorate content of prepared foods in general, we collated chlorate data on more than 3400 samples of mainly prepared foods, including dairy products, meats, fruits, vegetables and different food ingredients/additives. In total, 50.5% of the food samples contained chlorate above 0.01 mg kg –¹, albeit not due to the use of chlorate as a pesticide but mainly due to the occurrence of chlorate as an unavoidable disinfectant by-product. A further entry point of chlorate into foods may be via additives/ingredients that may contain chlorate as a by-product of the manufacturing process (e.g. electrolysis). Of the positive samples in this study, 22.4% revealed chlorate above 0.1 mg kg –¹. In the absence of EU levels for chlorate in water, any future EU regulations must consider the already available WHO guideline value of 0.7 mg l –¹ in potable water, and the continued importance of the usage of oxyhalides for disinfection purposes.

There were few studies reported the temporal trend of radioactivity in water and food. Here, using Hangzhou (Zhejiang, China) as a case study, we determined the radioactivity (⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, gross alpha, and gross beta) levels and temporal variations in water and food samples during 2012–2019, and in the meanwhile the ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr activity ratios were calculated and a dose assessment was performed. Results showed that the ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs concentrations in water varied from (1.6–17.2) × 10⁻³ and (0.66–15.1) × 10⁻³ Bq/L, respectively. The temporal variations in gross alpha and gross beta radioactivity of water were small, except those for Qiantang River. Radioactivity levels of gross alpha (< 0.016–0.059 Bq/L) and gross beta (< 0.028–0.69 Bq/L) in water were lower than World Health Organization recommendations. In food samples, ⁹⁰Sr concentrations varied from 0.029–1.3 Bq/kg fresh weight while ¹³⁷Cs concentrations were mostly below the minimum detectable activity except for haritail (up to 0.13 Bq/kg); both were significantly below the limits recommended by Chinese national standard for radiation safety. ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs concentrations were relatively constant in water samples across the entire study period. Significant variations were observed in the ⁹⁰Sr concentrations of foods among different years and different food types. The available activity ratios of ¹³⁷Cs/⁹⁰Sr in food and water samples demonstrate notable increase in the period of 2015–2017, which further enlightens the potential existence of local radioactive release in the study region, though without causing any radiation safety concerns. This study indicated that all annual effective doses estimated for water and food ingestion were below the permissible limits and recommendations.

The recent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SAR-CoV-2) and the accompanied coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued ceaselessly despite the implementations of popular measures, which include social distancing and outdoor face masking as recommended by the World Health Organization. Due to the unstable nature of the virus, leading to the emergence of new variants that are claimed to be more and rapidly transmissible, there is a need for further consideration of the alternative potential pathways of the virus transmissions to provide the needed and effective control measures. This review aims to address this important issue by examining the transmission pathways of SARS-CoV-2 via indirect contacts such as fomites and aerosols, extending to water, food, and other environmental compartments. This is essentially required to shed more light regarding the speculation of the virus spread through these media as the available information regarding this is fragmented in the literature. The existing state of the information on the presence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in water-food-environmental compartments is essential for cause-and-effect relationships of human interactions and environmental samples to safeguard the possible transmission and associated risks through these media. Furthermore, the integration of effective remedial measures previously used to tackle the viral outbreaks and pandemics, and the development of new sustainable measures targeting at monitoring and curbing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 were emphasized. This study concluded that alternative transmission pathways via human interactions with environmental samples should not be ignored due to the evolving of more infectious and transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants.

COVID-19 is an active pandemic that likely poses an existential threat to humanity. Frequent handwashing, social distancing, and partial or total lockdowns are among the suite of measures prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and being implemented across the world to contain the pandemic. However, existing inequalities in access to certain basic necessities of life (water, sanitation facility, and food storage) create layered vulnerabilities to COVID-19 and can render the preventive measures ineffective or simply counterproductive. We hypothesized that individuals in households without any of the named basic necessities of life are more likely to violate the preventive (especially lockdown) measures and thereby increase the risk of infection or aid the spread of COVID-19. Based on nationally-representative data for 25 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, multivariate statistical and geospatial analyses were used to investigate whether, and to what extent, household family structure is associated with in-house access to basic needs which, in turn, could reflect on a higher risk of COVID-19 infection. The results indicate that approximately 46% of the sampled households in these countries (except South Africa) did not have in-house access to any of the three basic needs and about 8% had access to all the three basic needs. Five countries had less than 2% of their households with in-house access to all three basic needs. Ten countries had over 50% of their households with no in-house access to all the three basic needs. There is a social gradient in in-house access between the rich and the poor, urban and rural richest, male- and female-headed households, among others. We conclude that SSA governments would need to infuse innovative gender- and age-sensitive support services (such as water supply, portable sanitation) to augment the preventive measures prescribed by the WHO. Short-, medium- and long-term interventions within and across countries should necessarily address the upstream, midstream and downstream determinants of in-house access and the full spectrum of layers of inequalities including individual, interpersonal, institutional, and population levels.

The identification of CN– in water, seeds, and biological systems has, because of its high toxicity, attracted the increasing attention of many chemical industry researchers. In the work, a novel highly selective and reversible sensor, MMY, was shown to recognize CN– effectively. The color and fluorescent changes verified the interaction of MMY with CN–, and the fluorescence lifetime of MMY was also changed upon addition of CN–. A mode of interaction of MMY with CN– based on the results of various experiments was speculated. The LOD of MMY toward CN– was 9.4 × 10–¹⁰ M, lower than the concentration of CN– deemed acceptable by the WHO (World Health Organization) and the U.S. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). MMY showed good reversibility and reusability for detecting CN–. In addition, test slips and silica plates were both earned by ourselves, which were able to recognize CN– qualitatively. Additionally, MMY could recognize CN– in tap water quantitatively with the use of a smartphone APP. Interestingly, MMY was also used to detect CN– in seeds. It was valid to image CN– in Caenorhabditis elegans and mice with a vivid “turn-on” fluorescence. MMY thus can circulate in the bloodstream.

This paper provides a view of the major facts and figures related to infectious diseases with a focus on food-borne and water-borne diseases and their link with environmental factors and climate change. The global burden of food-borne diseases for 31 selected hazards was estimated by the World Health Organization at 33 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2010 with 40% of this burden concentrated among children under 5 years of age. The highest burden per population of food-borne diseases is found in Africa, followed by Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean sub-regions. Unsafe water used for the cleaning and processing of food is a key risk factors contributing to food-borne diseases. The role of quality and quantity of water to the general burden of infectious diseases deserves attention, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, as its effects go beyond the food chain. Water-related infectious diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, and climate change effects will exacerbate the challenges for the public health sector for both food-borne and water-borne diseases. Selected case studies from Africa and Asia show that (i) climate change extreme events, such as floods, may exacerbate the risks for infectious diseases spreading through water systems, and (ii) improvements related to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene could result in a significant reduction of intestinal parasitic infections among school-aged children. There is a need to better anticipate the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases and fostering multi-stakeholder engagement and multi-sectoral collaborations for integrated interventions at schools, community and household levels. The paper calls for giving priority to improving the environmental conditions affecting food-borne and water-borne infectious diseases under climate change.