This issue of Affidia Journal combines 2021’s third and fourth issue because we began producing virtual events this year. We have adopted this hybrid model because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received from the community of food safety and food analytics professionals. The audience we have had has been far beyond our expect [...]

The legalization of cannabis has opened the door both to new markets and new concerns about quality and safety. While analytical methods to detect fungal infection and mycotoxin occurrence in cannabis have been developed, questions still remain.       Cannabis products for medicinal and recreational use   Cannabis as an agricult [...]

Microplastics are found not only in the oceans, but also in our food. The scientific community is turning its focus to this potential health threat.   Introduction   Concerns about the potential impact of microplastics (MPs) on the natural environment have gathered momentum during recent decades. The number of scientific investigations h [...]

How the EU regulatory context for food contact materials and articles (FCMs) may change on the way to a toxin-free environment: Part 1   The European Green Deal, Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, and Farm to Fork Strategy set the stage The European Union’s October 2020 Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) paves the path towar [...]

A key initiative to disseminate information and a platform to test food, train food business operators, and spread awareness to all stakeholders in the food supply chain.   Introduction   The World Food Safety Day theme of “Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow” highlights the importance of producing and consuming safe food f [...]

Increasing Russian grain production could push the country to look more closely at mycotoxins to take advantage of new export opportunities     Russia is set to ramp up agricultural production and exports in the next few years, but mycotoxin contamination remains an open challenge hindering the export of more products to foreign markets. [...]

The historical lack of reference materials for food allergens limited the possibility to evaluate the performances of detection methods. Generon makes available a new range of reference materials suitable for any downstream detection method.     Food allergies are a growing health burden worldwide. Although the true prevalence of food al [...]

This article provides the non-specialized reader with an overview of the major techniques employed by food testing laboratories for the analysis of mycotoxins, including a brief description of the complex analytical tools required.       Introduction   Most consumers think the word natural is synonymous with safe, healthy, or, m [...]

How tech developments have made possible the detection of large numbers of targets in a single run. What we are still missing for quantitative detection by multi-class methods. The introduction of ion mobility in high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The need for shared databases.   The (r)evolution of analytical methods over the last two [...]

With support from the EITFood program, researchers from ISPA-CNR developed the NUTRIBOX e-commerce platform based on safe and nutritionally balanced virtual shelves to increase consumer protection and to guide vulnerable people in making safe and mindful food choices.         After the pandemic: changes in eating habits and new [...]

Primary outcomes from the industry perspective.   The FoodIntegrity “Ensuring the Integrity of the European Food Chain” program was a successful €12 million European Commission 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development (FP7) research project that ran from 2014 to 2018, spanning both the FP7 and the Horizon [...]

Some analytical scientists report an analytical result and others report a result and its interpretation. There are good reasons for doing the former. The complexity of modern analytical science requires specialisation; it is often safer for the specialist to report just a result. It must be properly described with unambiguous units, a brief inform [...]

The safety and regulatory procedures of plant-based meat alternatives have recently been questioned. Many food safety experts advise against regularly consuming plant-based meat due to the possible presence of allergens, anti-nutrients, and thermally generated carcinogens.    Consumer’s increased desire for meat substitutes may be t [...]

Affidia’s editorial policy is to provide insights into topics that are often neglected by other journals. Every article in this issue is relevant and interesting, but I first want to direct your attention to the article by Francois Bourdichon and Anett Winkler, “Analytical laboratories in the food industry: in-house or third-party? (Or [...]

In the last 20 years, aflatoxin M1 has been found in milk in southern Europe at unprecedented levels on several occasions. Is it the result of climate change? What do experts think about the risk for consumers, both now and in the future? Is the best approach to move from an M1 limit in milk to a “total aflatoxin metabolites” limit in m [...]