Infant mortality in Kazakhstan is six times higher compared with the EU. There are several reasons for this, but a partial reason might be that less than 30% of Kazakhstan’s population has access to safe water and sanitation and more than 57% uses polluted groundwater from wells that do not comply with international standards. For example, nitrate pollution in surface and groundwater continues to increase due to intensified agriculture and the discharge of untreated wastewater, causing concerns regarding environmental and human health. For this reason, drinking water samples were collected from the water supply distribution network in eight districts of Almaty, Kazakhstan, and water quality constituents, including nitrate, were analyzed. In several districts, the nitrate concentration was above the WHO and Kazakhstan’s maximum permissible limits for drinking water. The spatial distribution of high nitrate concentration in drinking water was shown to be strongly correlated with areas that are supplied with groundwater, whereas areas with lower nitrate levels are supplied with surface water sources. Based on source identification, it was shown that groundwater is likely polluted by mainly domestic wastewater. The health risk for infants, children, teenagers, and adults was assessed based on chronic daily intake, and the hazard quotient (HQ) of nitrate intake from drinking water was determined. The non-carcinogenic risks increased in the following manner: adult < teenager < child < infant. For infants and children, the HQ was greater than the acceptable level and higher than that of other age groups, thus pointing to infants and children as the most vulnerable age group due to drinking water intake in the study area. Different water management options are suggested to improve the health situation of the population now drinking nitrate-polluted groundwater.

Kazakhstan is facing environmental problems with the large amounts of residual prohibited obsolete pesticides. More than 1500 tons of banned, obsolete pesticides and mixtures of unknown composition have been disclosed distributed throughout Kazakhstan in store houses that are abandoned, in partially or completely demolished states. However, these locations still contain significant amounts of these banned substances that have been (and presumably still are) widely used. The present study focusses on potential problems associated with former pesticide storehouses in the Almaty oblast (region) that due to significant agricultural activities is of particular concern. DDTs and HCHs are found in samples from storehouses in 9 districts of the Almaty oblast. Variations in concentrations are associated with different degradation pathways that have been studied applying ternary plots. The highest concentrations of p,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDD, and p,p′-DDE in soil samples exceed the Kazakh maximum allowable concentration (MAC) by factors of 65, 19, and 21, respectively, whereas for the HCHs isomers, α-HCH, β-HCH, and γ-HCH in soil samples the Kazakh MAC value was exceeded by factors of 12, 45, and 4.4, respectively. Analyses of the cancer risk showed that for both DDTs and HCHs the risk mainly occurs from ingestion of soil, whereas inhalation and dermal contact exposure contributes to a minor extent only. The implication to the local population is discussed.

The need to extend food products' shelf lives is growing as a result of efforts to cut expenses and minimize food waste. The food industry is interested in solutions that would make it easy to keep food fresh and safe for as long as the product is on sale. The purpose of the study is to develop a biopolymer-based colorimetric indicator for monitoring of meat and fish freshness. The significance of the research is to provide food safety via control of the freshness using green and cheap methods. The objects of the study are natural and artificial indicators. The paper presents natural indicators such as curcumin, pomegranate, beetroots, and carrot juice which were incorporated into the compositions of food freshness indicators. The obtained indicators were compared with an artificial indicator, bromothymol blue, and phenol red, concerning their volatile amine monitoring. Additionally, a model of volatile amine release based on the different ammonia solutions was applied in the research. The response of freshness indicators was estimated by the observation of color changes. Compared to the artificial indicators, the curcumin and pomegranate juices gave a similar response. Beetroot and carrot juices did not provide a desirable color change. Further research was made on the development of biopolymer containing freshness indicators based on bromothymol blue and phenol red. The indicators were evaluated for their response to the spoilage of fish and meat samples in the test tubes and in food packaging. Thus, two artificial indicators could be incorporated into effective food freshness indicators for smart packaging.

The annual increase in waste recycling by non-ferrous metal producers is steadily growing. These waste materials often contain various harmful heavy metal impurities, which pose significant environmental risks. This study examined the laboratory-scale extraction of zinc and copper, along with additional lead and cadmium, from the residue of zinc smelting using a hydrometallurgical method. The leaching technique was considered for extracting metals from the residue. Parameters such as the solution's concentration, temperature, and the solid/liquid ratio were examined to assess the efficiency of the leaching method. An aqueous solution of ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl) was used as the leaching agent. Optimal conditions identified for this process were a temperature of 80°C, a 5M NH₄Cl solution, a leaching duration of 2 hours, and a liquid/solid ratio of 1:25. These parameters confirmed the high selectivity of the leaching agent and demonstrated maximum efficiency. In practice, the obtained solution yielded maximum Zn and Cu recoveries of 93.2% and 67%, respectively. Additionally, the yields for Pb and Cd were 80% and 55%. These results underline the importance of optimizing the concentration of ammonium chloride and leaching parameters to improve the simultaneous extraction efficiency of different metals. The high selectivity and efficiency of ammonium chloride enhance its potential in metal recovery and reduce the environmental impact, opening new possibilities for developing waste recycling methods.

Free-ranging poultry ingest 4–30 g of soil per day, making soil a significant route of organochlorine pesticide (OCP) exposure in agricultural areas with legacy contamination. However, total soil concentrations overestimate actual exposure. Only the bioaccessible fraction, mobilized within the gastrointestinal tract, governs transfer to eggs and meat. Static physiologically based extraction test (PBET) models consistently underestimate this fraction for hydrophobic compounds due to re-equilibration of desorbed contaminants onto the soil matrix. This study applied and evaluated a sink-modified static in vitro gastrointestinal model incorporating Tenax resin as a sorption sink to assess OCP bioaccessibility in spiked aged soil under simulated poultry digestive conditions. The aqueous phase-only fraction (gastric plus intestinal liquid) ranged from 0.004 to 17.1%, while the aqueous phase plus sorption sink (Tenax) fraction, measured from the same intestinal phase incubation, ranged from 24.0 to 52.7%, with the largest relative changes observed for HCH isomers (from near-undetectable levels without Tenax) and 2.7- to 4.3-fold increases for DDT-related compounds, a difference confirmed as statistically significant (paired t-test) for six of the seven compounds. One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences among compounds (F(6,21) = 5.53, p = 0.0014). Tukey’s HSD showed that β-HCH (56.1 ± 10.6%) and 4,4′-DDT (55.6 ± 24.0%) had significantly higher bioaccessibility than γ-HCH (25.8 ± 0.9%), 2,4′-DDD (22.2 ± 18.0%), and 4,4′-DDE (22.0 ± 5.7%), while α-HCH (28.6 ± 3.9%) and 4,4′-DDD (33.9 ± 8.1%) occupied an intermediate position, not significantly different from either group. A substantial fraction of mobilized OCPs was associated with the Tenax sink (17–53%), confirming that aqueous phase measurements alone underestimate the bioaccessible pool. These results demonstrate the importance of including a sorption sink in poultry-informed gastrointestinal models for accurate assessment of OCP transfer from contaminated soil to food products.