Seeking Journal Authors to Participate in a Special Edition

The Journal of AOAC INTERNATIONAL is issuing a call for authors for a special edition on “Sustainable Analytical Methodologies for Authenticating Agri-Food Products: Innovations in Green Analytical Chemistry.”

Guest Editors: Yaxi Hu and Zhuohong (Kenny) Xie

Food fraud is estimated to cause $65B in damage to the global food industry every year, and this number is believed to be largely underestimated particularly in the post-pandemic era. As the last barrier to preventing fraudulent products from entering the market, reliable analytical methods for the authentication of agri-food products are indispensable. They are expected to be applied more frequently. Although conventional standard analytical methods can prevent consumers, the government, and the genuine food industry from some food fraud incidents, these methods tend to generate a large volume of waste hazardous to the environment, such as toxic solvents and reagents, and plastics. Some of these methods are also energy-consuming, making the overall analysis unsustainable. With the increase in demand for more frequent and routine authentication of agri-food products, advancement in analytical techniques better aligned with the global movement towards sustainability and greenness becomes essential. This special issue aims to provide a venue for researchers to foster awareness, share their findings, and drive forward the adoption of eco-friendly practices in food analysis.

For this special issue, we are calling for submissions of original research articles, short communications and review articles that focus on the development, validation, or application of analytical methods for agri-food authentication. These analytical methods should align well with the principles of sustainable and green analytical chemistry and authors are expected to evaluate the greenness of their methods using metrics such as the Analytical Greenness Calculator (AGREE), National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI), and Green Analytical Procedure Index (GAPI). Topics covered by this special issue include, but are not limited to:

• Sustainable sample preparation methods that use automated protocols;
• Green chromatography and separation techniques that reduce the use of hazardous solvents;
• Non-/less-destructive methods for the authentication of agri-food products;
• Miniaturized and integrated analytical devices for the authentication of agri-food products based on microfluidic “lab-on-a-chip” platform;
• Eco-friendly and point-of-use sensors for rapid screening of authenticity of agri-food products;
• Application of green analytical methods for the authentication of novel food products.

This call for papers is open until Tuesday, December 31, 2024. Interested parties can contact the Guest Editors Yaxi Hu and Zhuohong (Kenny) Xie for more information.

Photo by Kateryna Kordubailo  – stock.adobe.com.