Emerging Food Contaminants

Identify, detect, and control novel contaminants across food systems

Microplastics, endocrine disruptors, antimicrobial-resistant organisms, and packaging residues represent a new generation of food safety hazards demanding updated analytical and regulatory responses. Emerging Food Contaminants: Toxicology, Analysis, and Control assembles a team of global experts to deliver an evidence-based review of these contaminants, clarifying exposure routes, toxicological risks, and mitigation strategies across the food chain.

Organised into three sections, the book covers pollutant characterisation—including nanoplastics, mycotoxins, heavy metals, and pesticides—then presents detection technologies such as next-generation mass spectrometry, non-target screening, micro-FTIR and Raman mapping, CRISPR-Cas systems, and AI-driven monitoring tools. The final section addresses international standards, surveillance systems, smart packaging, bioplastics, and industrial quality control.

Readers will also find:

• Strategies for safer food packaging, including bioplastics and smart packaging approaches designed to minimise contaminant migration into food products
• Analysis of how industrial food processing and equipment-related residues introduce novel contaminants with distinct toxicological profiles
• Coverage of rapid detection kits for mycotoxins and molecular techniques for tracking antimicrobial-resistant bacteria through food supply chains
• Discussion of how endocrine-disrupting chemicals bioaccumulate through trophic levels and affect reproductive, metabolic, and neurodevelopmental health outcomes
• Examination of global regulatory frameworks and quality assurance protocols that support compliance and embed sustainability across resilient food supply chains

Emerging Food Contaminants serves researchers in food toxicology, analytical chemistry, and environmental science, as well as policymakers and practitioners at regulatory bodies seeking evidence-based frameworks for food safety. Graduate students in biotechnology, nutrition, and public health will find it a rigorous reference for contaminant dynamics and control.