Applications of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Food Authentication and Quality Assurance

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Analytical Methods".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 41

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Catalunya, Spain
Interests: analytical chemistry; chemometrics; spectroscopy; food analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: analytical chemistry; chemometrics; spectroscopy; food composition analysis

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Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
Interests: infrared spectroscopy; chemometrics; alcoholic fermentation; grape/wine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool which can be used to meet two key demands of the food sector: quality assurance and reliable authentication. In an era of complex supply chains, there is a strong need for rapid, non-destructive, cost-effective, and sustainable methods to control composition, safety, freshness, sensory attributes, and process consistency in both raw materials and processed foods. Coupled with chemometrics and modern machine-learning approaches, NIR spectroscopy supports real-time quality grading, process control, and early detection of deviations, while also contributing to the fight against food fraud.

This Special Issue, “Applications of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Food Authentication and Quality Assurance”, invites original research and reviews on advances and practical implementations of NIR spectroscopy, including:

  • NIR-based strategies for food quality evaluation, grading, and shelf-life monitoring;
  • Process and supply chain monitoring using on-line, at-line, in-field, and portable NIR systems;
  • Authentication applications (adulteration, mislabelling, origin, production system).

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Ricard Boqué
Guest Editor

Dr. Jokin Ezenarro
Dr. Daniel Schorn-García
Guest Editor Assistants

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

  • chemometrics
  • food quality
  • food authentication
  • shelf-life
  • food fraud

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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