Advances in Rapid Contaminant Detection for the Future of Food Safety Systems
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Analytical Methods".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 7
Special Issue Editor
Interests: pesticide residue; veterinary drug residue; chemical residues in food and agricultural products; monoclonal antibody; polyclonal antibody; ic-ELISA; colloidal gold; immunochromatographic strip; immunochemical detection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Meeting the soaring global demand for agricultural and livestock products has led to excessive chemical inputs, resulting in growing risks from pesticide and veterinary drug residues. These contaminants jeopardize ecosystem stability and human health, while environmental pollutants from consumer goods further compound the hazards. Consequently, there is an urgent and rapidly increasing global demand for innovative, on-site rapid detection technologies to ensure the safety of food and agricultural commodities.
This Special Issue seeks to capture the cutting-edge innovations that will define the future of food safety monitoring systems and address the latest scientific and technological breakthroughs in rapid contaminant detection. We welcome submissions that not only present novel detection methods but also explore their integration, scalability, and practical application within holistic food safety frameworks. The goal is to foster a discussion on translating laboratory advances into real-world solutions that enhance surveillance efficiency, reduce time-to-result, and ultimately protect public health.
We invite original research and review articles covering, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Novel Sensing Principles and Materials: Development of new biosensors, nanobodies, synthetic binders, and nano-materials for enhanced sensitivity and specificity.
- Portable and Field-Deployable Platforms: Innovations in lateral flow assays (e.g., colloidal gold immunochromatography), paper-based analytical devices, handheld spectroscopic tools (NIR, Raman), and electrochemical sensors for on-site analysis.
- Rapid Microbiological and Molecular Diagnostics: Advances in isothermal amplification (e.g., RPA, LAMP), CRISPR-based assays, and microfluidic systems for rapid pathogen and GMO detection.
- High-Throughput and Intelligent Analysis: Integration of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and multimodal data fusion for automated result interpretation, risk prediction, and high-throughput screening.
- System Integration and Future Systems: Studies on embedding rapid detection technologies into IoT-enabled supply chain monitoring, blockchain for traceability, and decision-support systems for proactive food safety management.
Dr. Xinghua Zhou
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 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
- rapid detection
- food safety
- contaminants
- biosensors
- on-site analysis
- artificial intelligence
- point-of-care testing
- future systems
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