Microbiological Safety of Foods of Animal Origin for Older Adults—Is the Current Safety System Suitable for New Vulnerabilities?

Dear colleagues,

Food products from animal origin are particularly important for older adults (60+), and their consumption is recommended as they provide both high biological value proteins and important micronutrients. The safety of these products, which is certainly important for people of any age, is more so for older people, who are at higher risk for hospitalization and death from foodborne illness. Susceptibility to foodborne disease arises because of immune suppression and results in a reduction in the number of foodborne pathogens needed to cause illness as well as an increase in disease severity. This could make some types of food, particularly those of animal origin, at higher risk for their intrinsic characteristics and for how they are produced and stored. Therefore, additional risk management strategies to ensure food safety for the elderly are needed to be adopted through the animal origin product chain, from production to consumers. Furthermore, specific recommendations to the group of older consumers for safe food storage, handling and cooking need to be provided. The design of food safety education programs specifically targeted to elderly people could also be of relevance in maintaining the health and well-being of these consumers of animal origin food products.

Prof. Dr. Tiziana Civera
Prof. Dr. Mara Lucia Stecchini
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

• food products of animal origin
• foodborne pathogens
• elderly
• vulnerability
• risk reduction measures
• specific strategies for prioritized consumers
• performance standards
• safety criteria
• recommendations
• education programs