Applications of Foodomics Strategies in Advancing Food Quality, Safety and Authenticity

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2026 | Viewed by 1921

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Chemistry Interdisciplinary Project (CHIP), University of Camerino, Via Madonna delle Carceri, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Interests: food chemistry; food analysis; foodomics; proteomics; HPLC-MS

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Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Chemistry Interdisciplinary Project (CHIP), University of Camerino, Via Madonna delle Carceri, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Interests: polyphenols; food analysis; HPLC; HPLC-MS; GC-MS; food chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, food safety, quality, and authenticity have been crucial topics, especially among researchers. The omics approaches have garnered significant attention in food and nutrition research since the term foodomics was coined fifteen years ago. The omics sciences, including proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, transcriptomics, and genomics, are powerful tools for studying food constituents and characteristics at the molecular level. The examination of foods as intricate biological systems is made possible by the integration with biostatistics, chemometrics, and bioinformatics platforms. These methods contribute to the interpretation of the relationship between composition, farming, production methods, treatments, packaging technologies, cooking processes, and food. The detection of foreign harmful compounds, research on the unique molecular markers to confirm the authenticity of supply chains, the possibility of ensuring and, in some cases, predicting the quality of food products, and the study of several food treatments impact at molecular level are just some of the possible foodomics applications.

Dr. Laura Alessandroni
Dr. Simone Angeloni
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • foodomics
  • proteomics
  • metabolomics
  • lipidomics
  • food genomics
  • food analytical methods
  • food quality
  • food authenticity
  • food safety
  • LC-MS

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1719 KB  
Article
Rediscovering Olive Mill Wastewater: New Chemical Insights Through Untargeted UHPLC-QTOF-MS Data-Dependent Analysis Approach
by Laura Alessandroni, Massimo Ricciutelli, Simone Angeloni, Giovanni Caprioli and Gianni Sagratini
Foods 2025, 14(23), 4128; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14234128 - 2 Dec 2025
Viewed by 599
Abstract
With the advent of new analytical technologies and the urgent environmental problem, reopening investigations into polluting waste matrices becomes a priority. Olive mill wastewater is a pollutant and phytotoxic by-product of olive oil production. An untargeted UHPLC-QTOF analysis of three olive mill wastewaters [...] Read more.
With the advent of new analytical technologies and the urgent environmental problem, reopening investigations into polluting waste matrices becomes a priority. Olive mill wastewater is a pollutant and phytotoxic by-product of olive oil production. An untargeted UHPLC-QTOF analysis of three olive mill wastewaters from three different olive cultivars was performed, and modern informatic platforms were involved to characterize the chemical components in-depth. Data elaboration and statistical analysis confirmed the differences between samples and revealed a total of 364 annotated compounds, including iridoids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, lignans, cinnamic acid derivatives, and pyrrolidine derivatives. Many of these metabolites, including compounds with known antioxidant and bioactive potential, are scarcely reported in olive products and by-products. The outcomes of this work could be useful for rethinking olive mill wastewater as a source of bioactive compounds to develop and optimize new detoxification strategies. Full article
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Review

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41 pages, 4049 KB  
Review
Innovative Systems Biology in Baijiu Fermentation: Unveiling Omics Landscapes and Microbial Synergy
by Dandan Song, Lulu Song, Yangli Luo, Juan Chen, Chunlin Zhang and Liang Yang
Foods 2026, 15(5), 871; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15050871 - 4 Mar 2026
Viewed by 567
Abstract
The production of Chinese Baijiu relies on the synergistic metabolism of multi-species microbial communities in an open environment. Its intricate microbial succession and flavor formation mechanisms have long been considered complex systems that are difficult to fully deconstruct. Traditional culture-dependent techniques inherently fail [...] Read more.
The production of Chinese Baijiu relies on the synergistic metabolism of multi-species microbial communities in an open environment. Its intricate microbial succession and flavor formation mechanisms have long been considered complex systems that are difficult to fully deconstruct. Traditional culture-dependent techniques inherently fail to comprehensively capture the actual functional roles and dynamic regulation of “viable but non-culturable” (VBNC) microorganisms within this complex system. In recent years, the rapid advancement of multi-omics technologies has offered a novel perspective for elucidating the underlying fermentation mechanisms of Baijiu. This paper systematically reviews the recent progress in the application of metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, and metabolomics in Baijiu research. Specific focus is placed on the unique contributions of these tools to resolving microbial community structural diversity, mining key functional genes and enzymes, uncovering microbial stress response mechanisms under environmental fluctuations, identifying phages and spoilage microorganisms, and tracing the metabolic pathways of flavor substances. Furthermore, the pivotal role of multi-omics integration strategies in constructing “microbe–metabolite” regulatory networks is highlighted. Finally, current challenges regarding standardization and data integration are discussed, with an outlook on leveraging omics big data to promote digital monitoring and intelligent brewing in the Baijiu industry. Full article
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