Detection of Organic Contaminants in Foods—Analytical Advances, Sources of Exposure, and Health Risk Assessment

Dear Colleagues,

Aims and Scope

The continuous detection of organic contaminants in foods poses major challenges to food safety, environmental sustainability, and human health. These contaminants, such as pesticides, mycotoxins, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and other emerging compounds, originate from agricultural practices, industrial emissions, food processing, and packaging.

Recent developments in advanced mass spectrometry, hyphenated chromatographic systems, and innovative sample preparation techniques have revolutionized the detection of these contaminants, enabling trace-level quantification and structural elucidation of both known and unknown compounds. Coupled with bioaccessibility studies, exposure modeling, and risk assessment frameworks, these advances support more accurate evaluations of food safety and public health risks.

This Special Issue of Foods invites submissions that highlight state-of-the-art analytical developments, method validation for real food samples, and integrative approaches linking analytical results to human exposure and risk evaluation. Studies that combine innovation in analytical chemistry with toxicological and regulatory perspectives are especially encouraged.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

• Advanced mass spectrometry techniques (HRMS, Orbitrap, QTOF, ion mobility, hybrid MS platforms);
• Innovations in sample preparation (miniaturization, automation, solvent-free and green extraction methods);
• Multi-residue and multi-class determination of organic contaminants in food matrices;
• Identification and quantification of emerging contaminants and transformation products;
• Non-targeted and suspect screening workflows in food analysis;
• Application of analytical methods to real-world food samples and food-chain monitoring;
• Exposure and dietary intake modeling of organic contaminants;
• Health risk assessment and cumulative exposure analysis;
• Chemometric, machine learning, and big data tools for contaminant profiling and prediction;
• Food processing, packaging, and storage effects on contaminant formation and degradation;
• Advances in quality assurance, standardization, and regulatory frameworks.

This Special Issue seeks to bridge analytical innovation with toxicological and exposure sciences, fostering an integrated view of contaminant detection, source attribution, and health risk characterization.

Prof. Dr. Fernando Barbosa Júnior
Prof. Dr. Marília Cristina Oliveira Souza
Dr. Bruno Alves Rocha
Prof. Dr. Jose L. Domingo
Guest Editors

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.

• organic contaminant detection
• HRMS & hyphenated platforms
• multi-residue & non-target screening
• exposure & dietary intake modeling
• health risk assessment & regulatory frameworks