A geographical and seasonal assessment of indigenous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in Maltese cow milk was conducted in this study. To investigate this, milk was collected from different regions of Malta during winter and summer seasons. Total viable counts (TVC) and LAB population were enumerated. Afterwards, LAB were isolated and identified by molecular methods. According to the results, similar TVC were enumerated on winter and summer samples, while highest LAB population was detected on summer samples. LAB isolates were grouped in seven different clusters which were assigned to Lactobacillus casei, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Weissella paramesenteroides, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactococcus lactis, and Lactococcus garvieae. In addition, Enterococcus and Streptococcus species were also isolated. Season seemed to affect the genus/species of LAB since Lactobacillus were mainly isolated from winter samples, while Lactococcus and Enterococcus species were the main genera identified in summer samples. Regarding the geographical distribution, the majority of the Lactobacillus spp. were isolated from the South-eastern region in both seasons. In conclusion, through this study the diversity of indigenous LAB in the Maltese cow milk was monitored for the first time and highlighted that the microbial communities are affected by seasonality and geographical distribution of the farms.

Many water utilities are at least occasionally affected by unpleasant taste and odour (T&O) in drinking water. For decades, aesthetic water quality has been of secondary concern to water producers, with water safety being the primary focus. However, there has been a recent shift towards prioritising consumer satisfaction, encompassing not only services, but also water quality, including T&O issues, which can negatively impact the supplier's reputation. Starting to address a T&O problem until consumers' complaints become massive is too late and puts water producers under great stress to take effective action in a timely manner. Rather, a preventive approach is necessary. The most effective approach is to include T&O as a hazard to assess and manage in the context of developing a water safety plan (WSP) for the supply system. The development of a WSP provides an excellent platform for including the stakeholders needed to control the source of T&O events, as this often requires multistakeholder cooperation. Our review provides a comprehensive guide to addressing T&O occurrences and shows how this can be included in the framework of WSP development. It identifies supporting tools and illustrates the information given with a number of examples from water suppliers' practice.

For years, gas chlorination has been the adopted disinfection technology in the treatment of Maltese potable water. Despite its strong bacterial inactivation potential, traditional chlorination generates high free chlorine residual and disinfection by-products that compromise the sensory attributes of drinking water and deter the population from consuming it. We have identified plausible alternative-to-gas-chlorination technologies for its treatment, with the aim of (a) reducing the disinfectant and/or chlorination dose used for microbial inactivation, and (b) attenuating the negative impact of putative disinfection by-products on the water’s organolepsis, while safeguarding its safe-for-consumption characteristics. We have subjected ultraviolet C (UVC) irradiation, hydrodynamic cavitation (HC), ClO₂ generation, and electrochlorination (NaClO) to bacteriological and physicochemical bench-scale studies to assess their bacterial inactivation efficacy and by-product generation propensity, respectively. All the tested technologies except HC achieved a minimum of 3 Log₁₀ microbial inactivation, with NaClO and ClO₂ appearing more effective over neutral and alkaline pH conditions, respectively. In addition, we have identified synergistic effects of cavitation on UVC for Enterococcus faecalis inactivation, stemming from enhancement in oxidative stress. Moderate reductions in the total dissolved solid content and Ca²⁺ hardness of the tested water also emerged following prolonged cavitation. For feasibility studies, the performance of the technologies was further evaluated on the following areas: (a) implementation, (b) practicality, (c) adaptability, (d) integration, (e) environment and sustainability, and (f) cost and effect. Electrochemical generation of NaClO emerged as the most promising technology for further on-site work, followed by ClO₂ and UVC.