New Advances in Chemical Analysis and Detection of Food Packaging, Food Contact Materials, and Food Contaminants

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 June 2026 | Viewed by 924

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: innovative food preservation and processing; active food packaging; alternative protein sources; valorization and sustainable development of agrifood by-products; informatization of food quality and safety control; food contaminant detection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715‎, China
Interests: biopolymers for food packaging; fruit and vegetable storage and preservation; active and intelligent food packaging materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: natural products; structure characterization; food composition; nutritional and digestion analysis; metabolic diseases; aptamer; optical sensors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The safety and quality of food are strongly influenced by its packaging and the materials that come into contact with the product throughout the supply chain. While essential for preservation and transport, food packaging and food contact materials (FCMs) can be a significant source of chemical contaminants through migration, including plasticizers, monomers, additives, and non-intentionally added substances (NIASs). Additionally, environmental and process-related contaminants persist as a global concern. For decades, conventional analytical methods have been the cornerstone of food safety control, but they often face challenges such as being time-consuming, requiring complex sample preparation, and having insufficient sensitivity for trace-level detection.

This Special Issue aims to showcase recent advances in the chemical analysis and detection of substances associated with food packaging, FCMs, and food contaminants. We seek to highlight novel methodologies that offer enhanced speed, sensitivity, specificity, and portability. We are particularly interested in the development and application of advanced analytical techniques, such as high-resolution mass spectrometry, novel chromatographic separations, spectroscopic methods, and innovative sensor and biosensor technologies (e.g., electrochemical, optical, and nano-based sensors).

We welcome submissions of original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and short communications that address these topics. This Special Issue will serve as a vital reference for researchers, regulators, and industry professionals dedicated to advancing food safety and ensuring consumer protection.

Prof. Dr. Yun Deng
Dr. Changqing Ruan
Dr. Jiangxiong Zhu
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.

Keywords

  • food safety
  • food packaging
  • food contact materials (FCMs)
  • chemical contaminants
  • migration analysis
  • analytical chemistry
  • sensors and biosensors
  • mass spectrometry
  • detection methods
  • non-intentionally added substances (NIASs)

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2501 KB  
Article
Evaluation of Migration, Bioaccessibility, and Dietary Risk of Organophosphate Flame Retardants in Polypropylene Packaging Using a Packaging–Food–Digestion Simulation System
by Fan Shen, Weili Li, Junjian Miao, Shu Liu and Keqiang Lai
Foods 2026, 15(4), 780; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15040780 - 21 Feb 2026
Viewed by 683
Abstract
This study systematically investigated the migration behavior, bioaccessibility, and dietary risk of five typical organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) in polypropylene (PP) packaging using migration experiments and in vitro simulated digestion. Migration was primarily influenced by molecular structural features, including polarity, volume, and flexibility, [...] Read more.
This study systematically investigated the migration behavior, bioaccessibility, and dietary risk of five typical organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) in polypropylene (PP) packaging using migration experiments and in vitro simulated digestion. Migration was primarily influenced by molecular structural features, including polarity, volume, and flexibility, and was further modulated by the food matrix composition. Diffusion and partition coefficients effectively characterized the migration patterns of OPFRs in different foods. In vitro digestion results indicated that molecular polarity was the main structural factor affecting bioaccessibility, while food matrix composition significantly influenced the bioaccessibility of all compounds except TnBP. Dietary risk assessment, incorporating bioaccessibility, improved the accuracy of exposure estimation. At a PP incorporation level of 0.1 g/kg, all five OPFRs showed hazard quotient (HQ) values below 1 across all dietary scenarios, indicating acceptable risk. TBOEP and TPPO exhibited relatively higher HQ values, warranting closer attention. The “packaging–food–digestion simulation” system established in this study integrated migration data and bioaccessibility results to represent the exposure process of OPFRs from packaging through food to human digestion and provided a practical basis for risk assessment of packaging additives. Full article
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