Food Hygiene and Safety: Risk Evaluation and Control Strategies of Foodborne Pathogens and Chemical Hazards

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Quality and Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2025) | Viewed by 458

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the implementation of food safety systems in the 1980s, the three phases of risk analysis have been Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Risk Communication. These areas of risk analysis have reached a very high level of effectiveness and implementation in developed countries. However, the need to increase crop and livestock production, together with the emergence of new foods, requires new legislation, new research on hazards, and technologies to transform raw materials into healthy food.

This Special Issue aims to bring together all the research that provides methodologies and results of studies on microbiological and chemical hazards with an impact on foodstuffs and especially on novel foods. An increase in the probability of a food item being unsafe would reduce its commercial interest, its research and the intervention of health authorities. Subsequently, with greater knowledge of food safety priority risks, elements of official food control systems will be updated and continually improved to address them.

Dr. Conrado Javier Carrascosa Iruzubieta
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 safety
  • food hygiene
  • foodborne pathogens
  • risk assessment

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

11 pages, 422 KiB  
Communication
Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Bacteria Isolated from Fresh Vegetables in Free State Province, South Africa
by Dineo Attela Mohapi, Tsepo Ramatla, Oriel Thekisoe, Zenzile Peter Khetsha and Jane Nkhebenyane
Foods 2025, 14(12), 2139; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14122139 - 19 Jun 2025
Viewed by 214
Abstract
The important role of antibiotics cannot be overestimated, as human health relies heavily on them for the treatment of infectious diseases. In this study, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of pathogens isolated from spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea) [...] Read more.
The important role of antibiotics cannot be overestimated, as human health relies heavily on them for the treatment of infectious diseases. In this study, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of pathogens isolated from spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea) collected from Free State Province were investigated. A total of 38 isolates representing 10 species, Enterobacter cloacae (5.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (13.2%), Micrococcus luteus (5.3%), Staphylococcus sciuri (5.3%), Acinetobacter haemolyticus (5.3%), Burkholderia cepacia (15.8%), Pseudomonas luteola (15.8%), Escherichia coli (18.4%), Citrobacter freundii (5.3%), and Serratia marcescens (10.5%), were confirmed by the Analytical Profile Index (API). We evaluated antibiotic resistance patterns of 38 unduplicated isolates using the disk diffusion method. As a result, E. coli (18.4%), B. cepacia (15.8%), P. luteola (15.8%), S. aureus (13.2%), and S. marcescens (10.5%), as well as 5.3% each for E. cloacae, M. luteus, S. sciuri, A. haemolyticus, and C. freundii, showed resistance to tested antibiotics. The majority (84%) of the isolates showed resistance to tetracycline, and penicillin had a value of 71%. A total of 79% of the antibiotic-resistant isolates demonstrated multidrug resistance (MDR) to several classes such as β-lactams, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, aminoglycosides, and macrolides. The results highlight the importance of monitoring the microbiological quality of leafy greens as they contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could affect human health when consumed. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop