Foodborne Chemicals and Nutrients at the Crossroads of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Quality and Safety".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 32
Special Issue Editors
Interests: mass spectrometry; chromatography; risk assessment; chemical food safety; toxins; pesticides; trace elements; food additives and contaminants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: chemical food safety; chemical hazards in food products; risk assessment; food additives and contaminants
Interests: regulatory and monitoring activity; trace elements analysis; chemical speciation; chromatographic techniques; mass spectrometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Safe and nutritionally adequate food is a key public health priority and a central component of the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, the global food system is facing multiple challenges that influence both the presence of chemical contaminants and the integrity of nutrients. At the same time, foodborne diseases remain a major global public health burden. According to the World Health Organization, nearly one in ten people falls ill each year after consuming contaminated food, leading to more than 420,000 deaths. These illnesses range from gastrointestinal disorders to long-term effects such as neurological damage, cancer and chronic organ dysfunction and disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.
In this context, the interplay among foodborne chemicals, nutrients and consumer health requires integrated, multidisciplinary approaches. Robust monitoring and surveillance systems, strengthened risk assessment strategies and improved exposure evaluation are essential to identify emerging threats and guide evidence-based decision-making.
This Special Issue aims to gather cutting-edge research addressing these complex interactions through toxicological, nutritional, analytical, epidemiological and mechanistic perspectives. We particularly welcome submissions that support improved monitoring strategies, risk–benefit assessment, molecular and mechanistic insights and public health interventions designed to enhance consumer protection and promote sustainable food innovation.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Interactions among chemical contaminants, nutrients and bioactive compounds in food
- Monitoring and surveillance strategies for foodborne chemicals
- Occurrence, exposure and toxicological evaluation of pollutants, residues and naturally occurring contaminants
- Risk–benefit assessment integrating nutritional value and chemical safety
- Impact of processing, storage and food reformulation on nutrient stability and contaminant formation
- Consumer risk perception, communication strategies and drivers of food choice
- Molecular, mechanistic and epidemiological analyses supporting food safety risk assessment
- Analytical advancements for detecting contaminants, nutrients, adulterants and food fraud
- Innovative strategies for preventing chemical risks in foods while preserving nutritional quality
- Contributions to Sustainable Development Goals-linked food system transformation and public health initiatives
Adopting this multidisciplinary and forward-looking approach, this Issue aims to promote scientific progress and policy innovations that support a sustainable, modern, health-conscious food system.
Dr. Teresa D’Amore
Dr. Paolo Stacchini
Dr. Angela Sorbo
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
- foodborne chemicals
- nutrients
- chemical food safety
- risk–benefit assessment
- monitoring and surveillance
- chemical exposure
- clean label
- consumer risk perception
- analytical methods
- sustainable food systems
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