Food Chemistry

The Aims and Scope of Food Chemistry are assessed and modified on an annual basis to reflect developments in the field. This means that research topics that have been deemed in scope previously may now fall outside of the scope of the journal as our scientific and technical understanding of the fields evolve and topics become less novel, original or relevant to Food Chemistry.

Food Chemistry publishes papers dealing with the advancement of the chemistry and biochemistry of foods or the analytical methods/approach used. All papers should focus on the novelty of the research carried out. The assessment of the manuscripts considers a number of elements including novelty, scientific rigour, scientific advancement of a particular field and the overall interest to the readership.

Research advancing the theory and practice of molecular sciences of foods or cure/prevention of human diseases will not be considered for inclusion in Food Chemistry.

Topics featured in Food Chemistry include:

Chemistry relating to major and minor components of food, their nutritional, physiological, sensory, flavour and microbiological aspects;

Bioactive constituents of foods, including antioxidants, phytochemicals, and botanicals. Data must accompany sufficient discussion to demonstrate their relevance to food and/or food chemistry;

Chemical and biochemical composition and structure changes in molecules induced by processing, storage, distribution and domestic conditions;

Effects of processing including novel ones and different extraction methods on the composition, quality and safety of foods, co-products, bio-based materials, , and processing wastes;

Chemistry of food additives, contaminants, processing aids, and agro-chemicals, together with their metabolism, toxicology and food fate.

We also accept Analytical Papers related to the microbiological, sensory, nutritional, physiological, authenticity and origin aspects of food. Papers should be primarily concerned with new or novel methods (especially instrumental or rapid) provided adequate validation is described including sufficient data from real samples to demonstrate robustness. Papers dealing with significant improvements to existing methods, or data from application of existing methods to new foods, or commodities produced in unreported geographical areas, will also be considered.

For Analytical Papers, especially those dedicated to the development and validation of methods, authors are encouraged to follow internationally recognized guidelines, such as EURACHEM - for chemical compounds (https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/publications/guides/mv ) or FDA - for microbiological data (https://www.fda.gov/downloads/ScienceResearch/FieldScience/UCM298730.pdf) and proper statistical methods should be applied. Special attention should be given to linearity, selectivity, determination of LOD/LOQ, repeatability and reproducibility of the analysis. Authors should also pay attention to trueness and, when possible (quantitative methods), determine the uncertainty of measurement. Overall, real samples should be analyzed by the state-of-the-art and the newly developed method for validation purposes. The results from new and novel methods (including sensors) should be compared with an acceptable reference method as part of the validation procedure (e.g. AOAC, CEN etc).

Methods for the determination of both major and minor components of food especially nutrients and non-nutrient bioactive compounds (with putative health benefits) with proper validation in real samples will be considered.

Results of method inter-comparison studies and development of food reference materials for use in the assay of food components;

Methods concerned with the chemical forms in food, nutrient bioavailability and nutritional status;

General authentication and origin [e.g. Country of Origin Labelling (COOL), Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), Certificate of Specific Character (CSC)] determination of foods (both geographical and production including commodity substitution, and verification of organic, biological and ecological labelling) using chemical markers, providing sufficient data from authentic samples should be included to ensure that interpretations are meaningful.

The following topics/manuscripts will not be considered for publication in Food Chemistry, unless otherwise stated.

Clinical or engineering papers without contribution to chemistry

Pharmaceutical or non-food herbal remedies;

Traditional or folk medicines;

Food supplements, botanicals and herbal extract including Royal Jelly and Propolis, bee pollen and pollen, unless they are added to food as part of functional food development;

Survey/surveillance data;

In silico studies and/or network pharmacology, or computational simulations without proper validation in vitro/in vivo;

Papers containing a high proportion of molecular based content (these papers will be offered a transfer to our companion journal Food Chemistry: Molecular Sciences);

Work that is incremental and does not present significant advances in current scientific knowledge.