Chemical food safety is a fundamental pillar of public health, regulatory governance, and economic stability, with far-reaching implications for human, animal, and environmental well-being. In the matter of chemicals in the food chain, the European Union (EU) has established one of the most sophisticated and robust regulatory frameworks to ensure food safety and balance consumer protection with scientific advancements and industry needs. This review provides a holistic analysis of the EU chemical food safety scenario, examining its regulatory framework, key risk assessment methodologies, and the roles of critical institutions involved in monitoring, enforcement, and policymaking. The new and evolving challenges of chemical food safety, including transparency, cumulative risk assessment, and emerging contaminants, were discussed. Special attention is given to major classes of chemical substances in food, their regulatory oversight, and the scientific principles guiding their assessment, as well as to the role of key actors, including regulatory agencies, official laboratories, and competent authorities. This work offers an updated and integrated analysis of chemical food safety in the EU, uniquely combining regulatory, scientific, and enforcement perspectives and providing a structured roadmap for future directions.

Sulfites are a class of chemical compounds, SO 2 releasers, widely used as additives in food industry, due to their antimicrobial, color stabilizing, antibrowning, and antioxidant properties. As the results of these pleiotropic functions they can be added to a broad range of products including dried fruits and vegetables, seafood, juices, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage, and in few meat products. Sulfites ingestion has been correlated with several adverse and toxic reactions, such as hypersensitivity, allergic diseases, vitamin deficiency, and may lead to dysbiotic events of gut and oral microbiota. In many countries, these additives are closely regulated and in meat products the legislation restricts their usage. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the sulfites contents in meat and meat products, and many of them have revealed that some meat preparations represent one of the main sources of SO 2 exposure, especially in adults and young people. This review discusses properties, technological functions, regulation, and health implications of sulfites in meat-based foods, and lays a special emphasis on the chemical mechanisms involved in their interactions with organic and inorganic meat components.

Global crop and food contamination with mycotoxins are one of the primary worldwide concerns, while there are several restrictions regarding approaching conventional physical and chemical mycotoxins decontamination methods due to nutrition loss, sensory attribute reduction in foods, chemical residual, inconvenient operation, high cost of equipment, and high energy consumption of some methods. In this regard, the overarching challenges of mycotoxin contamination in food and food crops require the development of biological decontamination strategies. Using certain lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as generally recognized safe (GRAS) compounds is one of the most effective alternatives due to their potential to release antifungal metabolites against various fungal factors species. This review highlights the potential applications of LAB as biodetoxificant agents and summarizes their decontamination activities against Fusarium growth and Fusarium mycotoxins released into food/feed. Firstly, the occurrence of Fusarium and the instrumental and bioanalytical methods for the analysis of mycotoxins were in-depth discussed. Upgraded knowledge on the biosynthesis pathway of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium offers new insightful ideas clarifying the function of these secondary metabolites. Moreover, the characterization of LAB metabolites and their impact on the decontamination of the mycotoxin from Fusarium, besides the main mechanisms of mycotoxin decontamination, are covered. While the thematic growth inhibition of Fusarium and decontamination of their mycotoxin by LAB is very complex, approaching certain lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is worth deeper investigations.

Given the significant quantity of betalain pigments, beetroot represents a potential source of natural colorants that can be employed in the food industry. The present investigation explored the impact of ethanolic beetroot peel (EBP) extract in beef meat preservation. EBP displayed a 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging effect with an IC50 value of 0.96 mg/mL. The anti-S. aureus, anti-L. monocytogenes, anti-E. coli, and anti-Salmonella enterica activity was assessed, and the minimum inhibitory concentration was ≤1.5 mg/mL. EBP extracts at three concentrations of 0.075%, 0.15%, and 0.3%, and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) concentration of 0.01%, employed at its recommended limit, were incorporated in refrigerated raw minced beef meat. The impact of these treatments on chemical stability, instrumental color, microbiological and sensory attributes of meat was monitored for 14 days at 4°C. At different levels, EBP extract led to a decrease in lipid/protein oxidation parameters and delayed microbial load throughout storage, with improved instrumental color and sensory traits. Interestingly, EBP extract at 0.3% has the strongest preservative effect until the end of storage. Using principal component analysis, effective discrimination was elucidated by linking sensory traits with chemical oxidation behavior, microbial alterations, and instrumental color. This investigation proved that EBP could be an encouraging natural additive in the meat industry.