Chemical Fingerprinting for Food Integrity: Safety, Quality, and the Circular Bioeconomy

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2026 | Viewed by 1146

Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Horticulture, “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” Iasi University of Life Sciences, 3 M. Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Interests: food chemical fingerprinting; agri-food by-product valorization; wine and horticultural science; volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis; food safety and contaminants; heavy metals; sensory and organoleptic analysis; chemometrics and multivariate data analysis; circular economy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The modern agri-food sector is undergoing a strategic shift toward a circular bioeconomy, requiring robust analytical frameworks that simultaneously address food safety, sensory quality, and waste valorisation. This Special Issue focuses on chemical fingerprinting as an integrated approach to ensure food integrity throughout the entire supply chain, from raw materials to processed products and their by-products. The objective is to move beyond isolated analyses by exploring the synergy between advanced analytical platforms (GC-MS, LC-MS, ICP-MS) and chemometrics. We invite original research and reviews that utilize chemical profiling to address three interconnected pillars:

  • Food Safety and Toxicology: Monitoring contaminants, heavy metals, and trace elements to ensure rigorous risk assessment.
  • Sensory Identity and Bioactivity: Characterizing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and phenolic profiles that define food quality and authenticity.
  • Sustainability: Facilitating the valorisation of agri-food residues and biomass into high-value resources through detailed chemical characterization.

By bridging the gap between analytical chemistry, food toxicology, and environmental sustainability, this Special Issue provides a unified perspective on the challenges and innovations in modern food science.

Dr. Georgiana-Diana Gabur
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • chemical fingerprinting
  • food safety and toxicology
  • circular bioeconomy
  • agri-food by-products
  • volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
  • heavy metals
  • bioactive compounds
  • waste valorization
  • chemometrics
  • mass spectrometry

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2142 KB  
Article
Preliminary Study of the Impact of Zwitterionic Ion-Exchange Resins on the Phenolic and Volatile Profiles of Fetească Neagră and Cabernet Sauvignon Wines
by Georgiana-Diana Gabur, Marcela Mihai, Marius-Mihai Zaharia, Fernando Sánchez-Suárez, Raquel Muñoz-Castells, Rafael A. Peinado, Carmen Teodosiu, Ionel-Bogdan Cioroiu and Iulian Gabur
Foods 2026, 15(10), 1621; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15101621 - 7 May 2026
Viewed by 594
Abstract
Zwitterionic ion-exchange polymers, known for advanced sorption properties, were used in this study to investigate their impact on the phenolic and volatile aroma compounds of Fetească neagră (FN) and Cabernet Sauvignon (CS) wines. Treatments with these compounds showed decreases in total phenolic content [...] Read more.
Zwitterionic ion-exchange polymers, known for advanced sorption properties, were used in this study to investigate their impact on the phenolic and volatile aroma compounds of Fetească neagră (FN) and Cabernet Sauvignon (CS) wines. Treatments with these compounds showed decreases in total phenolic content from 7.08 to 5.79 g/L gallic acid equivalents (GAE) in CS and from 5.96 to 4.76 g/L GAE in FN, reducing tannins and reactive phenolics and enhancing colloidal stability. Analysis of volatile compounds revealed selective increases in key esters and higher alcohols, contributing to enhanced fruity notes reaching 22.9% in CS and 26.8% in FN, and floral notes reaching 14.9% in CS and 20.4% in FN. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed clear separation by variety (PC1: 54.8%) and treatment (PC2: 30.1%), while heatmap clustering highlighted variety-specific volatile profiles. These results demonstrate that zwitterionic resin treatment represents a novel approach for controlled modulation of wine composition and aroma, enhancing stability and aromatic complexity while preserving varietal typicity. Full article
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