Assessment, Control, and Reduction Strategies for Food Hazardous Substances: Safety, Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Quality and Safety".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2026 | Viewed by 150
Special Issue Editors
Interests: food analysis; food toxicology; detection of pesticides and veterinary drugs residues; food safety risk assessment; food quality control; rapid determination by spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: food microbiology and synthetic biology; preparation, safety evaluation, and food application of functional lipids
Interests: food safety and quality control; delivery, safety evaluation, and nutrition of functional lipids
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The persistent presence of hazardous substances in the food supply chain, ranging from pesticide and veterinary drug residues to microbial contaminants, allergens, microplastics/nanoplastics, and inherent plant-derived toxins, continues to challenge global food safety systems. While detection methods have advanced considerably, the active mitigation of these risks through targeted control, reduction and degradation strategies remain at the forefront, demanding deeper mechanistic insight and scalable innovation. This Special Issue seeks to consolidate cutting-edge research addressing the deliberate attenuation of such hazards without compromising nutritional or sensory integrity.
We invite contributions that explore enzymatic, chemical, physical, or biological approaches for degrading residual agrochemicals and microplastics/nanoplastics, suppressing mycotoxigenic fungi and bacterial virulence, reducing the allergenicity of allergens, or neutralizing endogenous toxicants like glycoalkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides. Of particular interest are investigations on the intervention capacity of functional bioactive components (polyphenols, phenolamides, peptides, or microbial metabolites) that orchestrate detoxification pathways or modulate host–microbe interactions. Submissions should critically evaluate efficacy, process feasibility, and the emerging analytical and regulatory hurdles. By bridging fundamental intervention strategies with applied food processing, this collection aims to chart a practical course toward intrinsically safer food matrices.
Guest Editors encourage original research and comprehensive reviews that illuminate both incremental advancements and disruptive technologies in this vital area.
Dr. Fangwei Yang
Dr. Dong-Sheng Guo
Dr. Minjie Cao
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- food toxicology and risk assessment
- food safety and quality control
- food microbiology and synthetic biology
- food allergens and allergenicity
- food analysis and detection
- pesticide and veterinary drug residues
- bacterial, fungal, and viral contamination and their toxins
- microplastics, plasticizers, and other endocrine disruptors
- antimicrobial, antioxidant, food preservation, and metabolic detoxification
- natural products and dietary intervention
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