Technologies in Agricultural Product Quality Control and Traceability
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Quality and Safety".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2025 | Viewed by 853
Special Issue Editors
Interests: thermophysics of non-electrolytic solvent systems; material chemistry: the improvement of the chemical and physical properties of plastic disposable products and the characterization of new biomaterials used for medical and food porpoises; food analytical chemistry: chemical characterization of food matrices for human and animal feed; geographic traceability of foods: the development of analytical methodologies for the geographic traceability of food matrices based on primary indicators such as radiogenic stable isotope ratios, isotope ratios of light elements and metals profile and secondary indicators obtained from spectroscopic and spctrometric analytical techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: food analytical chemistry; the chemical charazterization of food matrices for human and animal feed; the valorization of agri-food waste byproducts for sustainable applications; the development of functional food ingredients from agri-food byproducts; nutraceutical and bioactive compound extraction from natural sources; the geographic traceability and authentication of food products; material chemistry with a focus on bio-based materials; the valorization of agricultural waste for construction materials; the integration of waste-derived fillers and binders in green building technologies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Ensuring the quality and authenticity of agricultural products has become a growing concern due to increasing cases of food fraud, mislabelling, and contamination. The certification of the authenticity of a product is of great relevance both for farmers, who may benefit from an economic point of view by applying an over price, and for the consumers, who ask for even more detailed information about a type of food. Consumers today are more conscious about the provenance of their food and demand transparency regarding its production, processing, and distribution. For these reasons, to assess the authenticity of a food and determine its geographical origin is a challenging issue, especially if the authenticity is evaluated based on objective parameters that overcome subjectivity and paper-based certifications. Consequently, the technical approaches used are becoming more and more complex. Geographical traceability is particularly essential, as it allows for the verification of the origin of agricultural products, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and protecting products with Geographical Indications. Advanced analytical techniques, such as isotopic analysis, spectroscopic and spectrometric methods, and metabolomic profiling, are being widely explored to authenticate food products and detect fraudulent substitutions. Additionally, the integration of blockchain technology, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, and smart labelling enhances supply chain transparency and strengthens consumer trust. Although significant progress has been made in the field of agricultural product traceability, several challenges remain. The development of rapid, cost-effective, and scalable technologies is crucial to enable real-time monitoring and improve the efficiency of food authentication systems. This Special Issue welcomes original research and review articles focused on innovative technologies for agricultural product quality control and traceability. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Analytical techniques for food authentication and geographical traceability;
- Isotopic methods for authenticity and origin identification;
- Spectroscopic and spectrometric methods for authenticity and origin identification;
- Authentication of food products with geographical indications labels;
- Metabolomic profiling for authentication of food origin and quality assessment;
- Integration of digital technologies to improve food safety and fraud detection;
- Machine learning and AI-based approaches for traceability data analysis.
We look forward to receiving your contribution to this Special Issue, which will advance research and innovation on agricultural products quality and authenticity.
Dr. Andrea Marchetti
Guest Editor
Dr. Veronica D’Eusanio
Guest Editor Assistant
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 traceability
- geographical origin
- food quality
- targeted and untargeted approaches
- metabolomics in food authentication
- NMR profiling approaches
- isotopic analysis
- spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques
- analytical chemistry in food quality
- food fraud detection
- digital traceability technologies
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