Risk Assessment in Food Safety

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2025 | Viewed by 4589

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Cidade Universitária, 13083-000 Campinas, SP, Brasil
Interests: food safety; food toxicology; additives; contaminants; food processing; risk assessment
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Risk assessment in food safety is a scientific process aimed at identifying, evaluating and prioritizing potential hazards in food production, processing and consumption. It involves assessing the likelihood and severity of harm caused by biological, chemical or physical contaminants present in food. The key steps include hazard identification, where potential risks are identified, followed by hazard characterization to understand the nature and extent of the risk. Exposure assessment estimates the level of exposure to hazards, while risk characterization combines all previous steps to determine the overall risk level. Factors such as population susceptibility, food consumption patterns and the effectiveness of control measures are considered. Risk assessment informs regulatory agencies, food manufacturers and consumers about the potential risks associated with specific foods, guiding the development of preventive measures and policies to ensure food safety and protect public health. This Special Issue is focused on risk assessment in food safety, including current and future challenges related to biological, chemical or physical hazards. Interdisciplinary and innovative research involving fields such as microbiology, toxicology, epidemiology, nutrition and food science are welcome in the form of original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Adriana Pavesi Arisseto Bragotto
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • foodborne pathogens
  • chemical contaminants
  • food additives
  • chemical residues
  • foreign matter
  • nutrients
  • allergens
  • intake
  • toxicity

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 700 KiB  
Article
Assessing Dietary Exposure Risk to Food Preservatives Among the Eating-Out Population in Taiwan Using the Total Diet Study Method
by Hao-Hsiang Ku, Shih-Cheng Yang, Huai-An Hsiao, Jui-Sheng Chen and Min-Pei Ling
Foods 2025, 14(3), 365; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14030365 - 23 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1192
Abstract
In recent years, due to the rapid pace of urbanization and increasingly hectic modern lifestyles that leave little time for home cooking, more and more people prefer to dine at food stands, restaurants, or supermarkets due to convenience. This type of people are [...] Read more.
In recent years, due to the rapid pace of urbanization and increasingly hectic modern lifestyles that leave little time for home cooking, more and more people prefer to dine at food stands, restaurants, or supermarkets due to convenience. This type of people are often called the eating-out population. The general public may have a concept that most of the food items consumed by people eating out are first prepared for storage by vendors and are likely to contain more food preservatives. Excessive exposure to benzoic acid (BA), sorbic acid (SA), and dehydroacetic acid (DHA), which account for the highest number of violations of the amount of preservatives permitted in food, may cause potential human health risk. The purpose of this study was to investigate the human health risks of consuming preservatives used in food among for Taiwanese people who eat out. We applied the total diet study (TDS) method to analyze the concentrations of BA, SA, and DHA in the food items frequently consumed when people dine outside. The hazard index in percent acceptable daily intake (%ADI) of BA and SA for four exposure groups classified by age were calculated. In high-intake consumers, the highest hazard index of BA was 2.5%ADI for the 6–9 years old age group of the eating-out population, which still fell within the acceptable risk range. In addition, the risk appeared to be decreasing year-on-year, which may be related to year-on-year improvements of the way food products are processed in the food industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment in Food Safety)
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14 pages, 291 KiB  
Article
Food Colors’ Dietary Exposure in the Brazilian Population Using the 2008–2009 and 2017–2018 POF Food Consumption Databases
by Larissa Bertollo Gomes Pôrto and Adriana Pavesi Arisseto Bragotto
Foods 2024, 13(24), 4006; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13244006 - 11 Dec 2024
Viewed by 863
Abstract
Two out of the four steps of risk assessment for chemical substances in food, i.e., exposure assessment and risk characterization, merit regional evaluation based on current legislation and local food consumption data. Therefore, mean and high exposures to food colors were estimated in [...] Read more.
Two out of the four steps of risk assessment for chemical substances in food, i.e., exposure assessment and risk characterization, merit regional evaluation based on current legislation and local food consumption data. Therefore, mean and high exposures to food colors were estimated in Brazil using a conservative approach to screen substances with a higher risk of the exceedance of safety parameters. Brazilian National Consumption Surveys from the Household Budget Surveys (POF—Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares) from 2008–2009 and 2017–2018 were combined with the maximum permitted levels of 33 food colors. Higher exposure estimates were obtained for the oldest POF database. High priority for a refined exposure assessment was identified for six food colors for which the mean and high exposures were higher than the safety parameters, while medium priority was observed for eleven food colors for which the mean exposures were below but the high exposures were above the safety parameters. Low priority was noted for 16 substances for which no exceedance was obtained despite the conservativeness of the methodology applied. The prioritization of food colors for future risk assessments was achieved to identify substances for which more refined exposure methodologies are necessary to characterize the risk to health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment in Food Safety)
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16 pages, 1643 KiB  
Article
Study of Factors Influencing the Oral Bioaccessibility of Commonly Used and Detected Pesticides in Bananas and Mangoes Based on in vitro Methods
by Chen Ma, Qun Zhang, Dai-Zhu Lv, Jia Song, Qiong Fan, Hai Tian and Ming-Yue Wang
Foods 2024, 13(13), 2019; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13132019 - 26 Jun 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1509
Abstract
Estimating the impact of pesticide residue bioaccessibility in fruits on dietary exposure is a complex task in human health risk assessment. This research investigated the bioaccessibility of ten commonly used and detected pesticides in bananas and mangoes, as well as the factors influencing [...] Read more.
Estimating the impact of pesticide residue bioaccessibility in fruits on dietary exposure is a complex task in human health risk assessment. This research investigated the bioaccessibility of ten commonly used and detected pesticides in bananas and mangoes, as well as the factors influencing it, using an in vitro model. The highest bioaccessibility was observed at pH levels of 2.5 and 6.5 in the gastric and intestinal stages, respectively. Bioaccessibility decreased significantly with increasing solid/liquid ratios for most pesticides. The consumption of protein and four dietary components (carbohydrates, protein, lipids, and dietary fiber) could significantly reduce pesticide bioaccessibility by 9.89–48.32% (p < 0.05). Bioaccessibility in oral and gastric stages among four populations followed the order of adults/the elderly > children > infants, due to decreasing concentrations of α-amylase and pepsin. Pesticides in bananas generally exhibited a higher bioaccessibility (18.65–82.97%) compared to that in mangoes (11.68–87.57%). Bioaccessibility showed a negative correlation with the Log P values of the target pesticide, while no clear relationship was found between bioaccessibility and initial pesticide concentrations. Incorporating bioaccessible pesticide concentrations into risk assessments could lower dietary risk estimates by 11.85–79.57%. Assessing human exposure to pesticides based on bioaccessibility would greatly improve the accuracy of the risk assessment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment in Food Safety)
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