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The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of adding Aloe vera powder (AVP) in the production of mahewu with the aim of determining its shelf-life and sensory qualities.

Mahewu was produced at home (Sample B) and in the laboratory (Sample C) using a standard home-made procedure with the addition of AVP. A control mahewu (Sample A) was produced without AVP. Shelf-life was determined by following the chemical, microbiological, physical properties at 36 ± 2 °C for 60 days and the sensory properties of the products were also evaluated.

Physicochemical analysis revealed decreases in pH ranging between 3.3 and 2.4 from day 15–60 days of storage in all three samples. There was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in titratable acidity (0.2–1.8%) of all mahewu samples during storage. Total soluble solids were different amongst the samples from day 15 to day 60. The colour of the products was significantly different (p = 0.05) with respect to L*, a* and b* throughout the storage period. Microbiological results revealed an increase in coliforms bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and yeast during storage. Sensory analysis showed that the control mahewu was more preferred than AVP added mahewu.

The study may help small-scale brewers to increase the shelf-life of mahewu.

Results of this study showed that the addition of AVP extended shelf-life of mahewu up to 15 days at 36 ± 2 °C.

Fresh vegetables contain advantageous phytochemical components, making them one of the most significant sources of nutrition. The threat of harmful bacteria still exists because these vegetables are not heated in restaurants before being consumed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the microbial quality of fresh vegetables in restaurants of different levels.

A total of 499 fresh vegetable samples (from sandwiches and fresh-cut vegetable salads) were collected from 3 different types of food service establishment: 201 from international restaurants (IRs), 210 from national restaurants (NRs), and 88 from cafeterias (CAs). The samples were prepared and inoculated on specific growth media. The aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) Campylobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and yeast and molds were counted, and Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli O157 were detected using specialized medium.

High counts of S. aureus, above 3 log cfu/g, suggested that 71.5% of samples collected from NRs and 77.3% from CA were not accepted, whereas 81.6% of samples collected from IRs were accepted. The low population of E. coli, less than 2 log cfu/g, suggested that 99.0, 97 and 92.0 % of samples collected from IRs, NRs and CA, respectively, were accepted. Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157 were absent from every sample. One sample was positive for Salmonella spp. in each of the NR and CA sample groups.

RIs adhere to health and hygiene standards better than NRs and CAs, according to the findings of vegetable contamination tests.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a comprehensive categorisation of food scares.

Following an initial desktop study, the categorisation was developed collaboratively with industry experts through a workshop and series of semi-structured interviews.

The new categorisation developed is in Venn diagram format allowing overlapping categories. It is organised around the two major types of contamination (biological, and chemical/physical contaminants) and the two major causes of contamination (wilful deception, and transparency and awareness issues).

The long and complex supply chains characteristic of current food production systems have resulted in a rising number of food scares. There is thus an increased emphasis on developing strategies to reduce both the number of incidents of food scares, and their associated economic, social and environmental impacts. The new categorisation developed in this study enables experts to address categories of food scares. Inclusion of the cause of contamination is particularly important as the method through which contamination occurs is key in devising food scare prevention strategies.

The new categorisation, unlike previous categorisations, enables food scares to fall into multiple categories, as appropriate. Also, again in contrast to previous categorisations, it takes into account not only the physical problem of a food scare but also the mechanism through which it arises.

This study used the literature review and the modified Delphi method to evaluate the importance of the catering quality indices of university canteens in China. In order to compile the catering quality indices of university canteens in China as reference for the subsequent improvement of Chinese canteens.

This study first analysed literature data to establish the preliminary quality indices and used the modified Delphi method for measurement. After three rounds of Delphi analysis by 35 experts, the results of the catering quality indices of university canteens in China are summarised.

The research results show that university canteen catering quality issues are divided into six dimensions, including catering safety management, employee hygiene management, catering service, food quality, environmental atmosphere and corporate social responsibility. Catering safety management is the most important index, followed by employee hygiene management.

The research results can be used as suggestions for follow-up improvements in the quality of university canteens in China and a basis of reference for amendments to relevant national or local laws and regulations. The food prices, food quality and whether food hygiene and safety standards are met by university canteens are all related to the health and vital interests of the teachers and students, as well as the stability of the university. Therefore, the government should increase supervision in these aspects to avoid decline in the quality of meals due to low profits and enforce strict requirements for food safety.

Several factors may play critical roles in alterations to product quality during storage of hog plum juice. This study aims to evaluate variations to physicochemical, antioxidant, anti-nutritional properties and microbial stability of hog plum juice during storage.

Juice was produced from hog plum fruits and stored for eight weeks at refrigerated and ambient conditions. Physicochemical, antioxidant properties, antinutritional factors and microbial properties of juices were determined using standard procedures

Degradation of ascorbic acid was higher in juices stored at ambient conditions (64.4%) compared to those stored by refrigeration (44.4%). Trends were similar for total phenolic, total flavonoid and total carotenoid contents. Total phenolic, total carotenoid and lycopene contents of fresh juice were 3.9 mg GAE/mL, 4.0 mg/mL and 1.3 mg/mL, which were not significantly different (at p = 0.08, 0.07 and 0.08, respectively) from the values at two weeks of storage at refrigerated conditions (3.9 mg GAE/mL, 3.9 mg/mL and 1.3 mg/mL). A sharp decrease of more than 40% (p = 0.02) in lycopene was recorded after four weeks, irrespective of storage temperature. Pasteurized hog plum juice showed no microbial growth until after four weeks of refrigerated storage when 1 CFU/mL each of bacterial and fungal growth were recorded. The juices, however, showed higher susceptibility to fungal growth as storage period increased.

Other variables not considered in this study such as nature of packaging materials may have significantly contributed to the observed data set. Further studies may, therefore, widen the scope of discussion to evaluate the associated relationship of these variables. Hog plum juice retained a considerable amount of bioactive components during refrigerated storage, which makes it a viable nutraceutical drink with industrial potentials and possible positive health implications for consumers.

This study provides new information that support the possible classification and use of hog plum juice as a safe functional beverage for human consumption.

Although the effect of storage temperature was significant in most of the properties studied, storage duration seems to have a greater influence on the stability of quality parameters during the storage of hog plum juice.

This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the compliance of hygienic and technical standards of street food vendors in Slovenia with the requirements of the general hygienic food principals set in the Codex Alimentarius and Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs.

Food vendors were observed directly and discretely using a semi-structured observation sheet that allowed fast evaluation. The employee's behaviour was not affected during the observations because they were not aware of being observed. Each observation lasted approximately 30 min. Food vendors were divided into groups according to their location, type of facility, number of employees and type of food sold.

Depending on the type of street vendor, more inconsistencies were found amongst food stands compared to food trucks and kiosks. Most food trucks and kiosks scored very high in both personal and hygienic-technical standards. Some of the major inconsistencies were lack of suitably located washbasins, improper hand-washing technique, improper waste management, working surfaces that were inadequately separated from consumers, and inconsistent maintenance of the cold chain. Food handlers have been confirmed as a critical risk factor.

Despite methodology validation, the data was collected by a single observer, limiting the ability to obtain a more reliable estimate of the observations. The sample was disproportionate according to the type of street food facilities.

The results provide a basis for (1) national professional guidelines of good hygiene practices for food business operators, which should cover street food vendors more extensively in future updates, and (2) the development of food safety training programmes tailored for street vendors.

The study provides valuable insights into current hygienic-technical conditions of the street food vending sector.

All those effluent streams having compromised characteristics pose negative effects on the environment either directly or indirectly. Health care facilities and hospitals also generate a large amount of effluent like other industries containing harmful and toxic pharmaceutical residual compounds due to uncontrolled use of drugs, besides others. The occurrence of antibiotic in the environment is of utmost concern due to development of resistant genes. These get mixed up with ground and surface water due to lack of proper treatment of hospital wastewater. The effect of pharmaceutical compounds on human society and ecosystem as a whole is quite obvious. There are no strict laws regarding discharge of hospital effluent in many countries. Contrary to this, the authors do not have appropriate treatment facilities and solution to solve day by day increasing complexity of this problem. Moreover, water discharged from different health facilities having variable concentration often gets mixed with municipal sewage, thus remains partially untreated even after passing from conventional treatment plants. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the occurrences and fate of such harmful compounds, need of proper effluent management system as well as conventionally adopted treatment technologies nowadays all around the globe. This mini-review would introduce the subject, the need of the study, the motivation for the study, aim, objectives of the research and methodology to be adopted for such a study.

Hospital effluents consisting of pathogens, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, etc, including phenols, detergents, toxic elements like cyanide and heavy metals such as copper (Cu), iron (Fe), gadolinium (Gd), nickel (Ni), platinum (Pt), among others are commonly detected nowadays. These unwanted compounds along with emerging pollutants are generally not being regulated before getting discharged caused and spread of diseases. Various chemical and biological characteristics of hospital effluents are assessed keeping in the view the threat posed to ecosystem. Several research studies have been done and few are ongoing to explore the different characteristics and compositions of these effluent streams in comparison so as to suggest the suitable conventional treatment techniques and ways to manage the problem. Several antibiotic groups such as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfa pyridine, trimethoprim, metronidazole and their metabolites are reported in higher concentration in hospital effluent. The aquatic system also receives a high concentration of pharmaceutical residues more than 14,000 μg/L from treatment plants also and other surface water or even drinking water in Indian cities. Many rivers in southern parts of India receives treated water have detected high concentration drugs and its metabolites. As far as global constraints that need to be discussed, there are only selected pharmaceuticals compounds generally analyzed, issue regarding management and detection based on method of sampling, frequency of analysis and observation, spatial as well as temporal concentration of these concerned micropollutants, accuracy in detecting these compounds, reliability of results and predictions, prioritization and the method of treatment in use for such type of wastewater stream. The complexity of management and treatment as well need to be addressed with following issues at priority: composition and characterization of effluent, compatible and efficient treatment technology that needs to be adopted and the environment risk posed by them. The problem of drugs and its residues was not seen to be reported in latter part of 20th century, but it might be reported locally in some part of globe. This paper covers some aspect about the disposal and regulatory standard around the world toward hospital effluent discharge, its managements and treatment technologies that are adopted and best suitable nowadays various industries and monitoring the efficiencies of existing treatment systems. This mini-review would introduce the subject, the need, the motivation and objectives of the study and methodology can be adopted for such a study.

The compiled review gives a complete view about the types of antibiotics used in different health care facilities, their residue formation, occurrences in different ecosystems, types of regulations or laws available in different counties related to disposal, different type of treatment technologies, innovative combined treatment schemes and future action needed to tackle such type of effluent after its generation. The thesis also highlights the use of certain innovative materials use for the treatment like nanoparticles. It also discusses about the residues impact on the human health as well as their bioaccumulative nature. If the authors relate the past to the current scenario of pharmaceutical compounds (PhACs) in the environment, the authors will certainly notice that many diseases are nowadays not curable by simple previously prescribed Ab. Many research projects have been done in European countries that have shown the risk of such residues like Pills, Sibell, Poseidon, No pills, Neptune, Knappe, Endetech, etc. In the previous section, it was mentioned that there are no stringent laws for hospital wastewater and in many countries, they are mixed with domestic wastewater. Many difficulties are there with this research due to complex analysis, detection of targeted Ab, affecting waterbodies rate of flow, nature of treatment varies with season to season. The way nature is being degraded and harmful effect are being imposed, it is important to take immediate and decisive steps in this area. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) serves as a nursery for antibiotic-resistant systems, hence monitoring with great attention is also needed. Many trials with different treatment process, in combination, were considered. Many countries are paying great attention to this topic by considering the severity of the risk involved in it.

Previous studies by several scientists show that the pharmaceutical residues in the discharged effluent displayed direct toxic effects, and sometimes, detrimental effects in the mixture were also observed. The discharge of untreated effluent from hospitals and pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the natural ecosystem poses a significant threat to human beings. The pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, in the aquatic environment, accelerate the development of the antibiotic-resistant genes in bacteria, which causes fatal health risks to animals and human beings. Others, like analgesics, are known to affect development in fishes. They also degrade the water quality and may lead to DNA damage, toxicity in lower organisms like daphnia and have the potential to bioaccumulate. A few commonly used nanoadsorbents for water and wastewater treatment along with their specific properties can also be used. The main advantages of them are high adsorption capacity and superior efficiency, their high reusability, synthesis at room temperatures, super magnetism, quantum confinement effect as well as eco-toxicity. This review will focus on the applicability of different nanoscale materials and their uses in treating wastewater polluted by organic and inorganic compounds, heavy metals, bacteria and viruses. Moreover, the use of various nanoadsorbents and nano-based filtration membranes is also examined.

A number of different pharmaceutical residues derived from various activities like production facilities, domestic use and hospitals have been reported earlier to be present in groundwater, effluents and rivers, they include antibiotics, psycho-actives, analgesics, illicit drugs, antihistamine, etc. In past few years environmental scientists are more concerned toward the effluents generated from medical care facilities, community health centers and hospitals. Various chemical and biological characteristics of hospital effluents have been assessed keeping in the view the common threats pose by them to the entire ecosystem. In this study, seven multispecialty hospitals with nonidentical pretreatment were selected for three aspects i.e. conventional wastewater characteristics, high priority pharmaceuticals and microbial analyses. The present work is to evaluate efficacy of advanced wastewater treatment methods with regard to removal of these three aspects from hospital effluents before discharge into a sewage treatment plant (STP). Based on test results, two out of seven treatment technologies, i.e. MBR and CW effectively reducing conventional parameters and pharmaceuticals from secondary and tertiary treatments except regeneration of microbes were observed in tertiary level by these two treatments.

This review has aimed to identify the emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical residues, highly consumed chemicals that are present in the hospital effluent, along with their physicochemical and biological characteristics. In this, the main objective was to review the occurrences and fate of common drugs and antibiotics present in effluents from hospital wastewaters. As far as global constraints that need to be discussed, there are only selected pharmaceuticals compounds generally analyzed, issue regarding management and detection based on method of sampling, frequency of analysis and observation, spatial as well as temporal concentration of these concerned micropollutants, accuracy in detecting these compounds, reliability of results and predictions, prioritization and the method of treatment in use for such type of wastewater stream are among the major issues (Akter et al., 2012; Ashfaq et al., 2016; García-Mateos et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2014; Mubedi et al., 2013; Prabhasankar et al., 2016; Sun et al., 2016; Suriyanon et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2016; Wen et al., 2004). This paper covers some aspect about the disposal and regulatory standard around the world toward hospital effluent discharge, its managements and treatment technologies that are adopted and best suitable nowadays.

This study many multispecialty hospitals with nonidentical pretreatment were selected for three aspects i.e. conventional wastewater characteristics high priority pharmaceuticals and microbial analyses. The present work is to evaluate efficacy of advanced wastewater treatment methods with regard to removal of these three aspects from hospital effluents before discharge into an STP. Based on test results, two out of different treatment effectively reducing conventional parameters and pharmaceuticals from secondary and tertiary treatments except regeneration of microbes were observed in the tertiary level by these two treatments were studies followed by ozonation and ultraviolet-ray treatment.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have a great responsibility to put education for sustainable development at the centre of their work. Curricula should therefore start to incorporate the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and key competencies in sustainability, and research should be carried out to determine effective learning methods for this. This study aims to explore the usefulness of problem-based learning (PBL) approaches to train biomedical students in sustainability and to provide some recommendations for the design and implementation of new PBL-SDG scenarios.

Two PBL-SDG scenarios were designed, implemented and evaluated for 110 students of human biology degree. Learning outcomes and student perceptions of this approach were analysed through questionnaires, student productions, non-participant observation and focus groups.

The results show that the PBL-SDG scenarios effectively addressed several SDGs and sustainability competencies in a transversal, collaborative and innovative manner. According to student perceptions, the elements that contributed most to the development of these competencies were emotional involvement with the scenario, reflection on their own actions, freedom to approach the problem and tutors who empowered them with their proposals.

The PBL-SDG approach presented in this study is an example of a pedagogical strategy that can help HEIs educate their learners as key change agents. The findings of this study provide evidence for this important aspect and give guidelines and strategies to successfully designing and implementing such methodologies in biomedical education.