Dear Colleagues

As the social situation due to the recent global pandemic has confirmed, food represents a safe-haven asset for people. This is well depicted by the images of empty shelves in points of sale caused by uncontrolled supplying by consumers. Since in common thinking food must be safe, safety is considered a fundamental prerequisite by authorities, researchers and manufacturers. However, data on foodborne diseases in Europe and in the world suggest that safety guidelines are not  always duly respected in the agri-food chain (production, transport, storage, or home preparation).

Foodborne toxins include bacterial toxins, toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms, marine biotoxins, plant toxins, etc. According to The European Union One Health 2018 Zoonoses Report, bacterial toxins are responsible for 24.2% of foodborne outbreaks with a known causative agent, among which, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum, and Clostridium perfringens are the most common.

This Special Issue of Toxins aims to collect the latest investigations on toxins responsible for food poisoning by addressing the topic from multiple points of view and by considering the various stakeholders involved in food safety and in the ongoing FBO investigations.

We are particularly interested in contributions describing:

- Laboratory methods for the detection, identification, and quantification of toxins responsible for food poisoning that can be applied to official controls, HACCP plans, or ongoing FBO investigations

- Studies of the factors favoring the synthesis of toxins and reliable methodologies suitable for implementation in industries for HACCP plans and process management to reduce the risk of toxin production

-Data collection and processing regarding control and monitoring plans for food safety referred as FBO toxins criteria

- Investigation tools and epidemiological models to be applied in case of foodborne toxin-related outbreaks

- Safe food production strategies with reference to the control of toxins responsible for foodborne diseases

Dr. Daniela Manila Bianchi
Dr. Lucia Decastelli
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 double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2700 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.

• foodborne toxins
• food safety
• toxins production
• method validation
• quality control/quality assurance
• foodborne outbreak investigation