Special Issue 'Impact of climate change on food safety'

Climate change is often studied in relation to agricultural production, crop yield, food security, etc but increasingly it is being recognized that climate change may also impact on food safety. Some of the potential impacts of climate change on food safety might include microbial evolution as a result of abiotic stress; emerging pathogens, enhanced ability of fungi to develop and produce mycotoxins; increased use of pesticides; challenges to keep the cold chain and decreased water availability influencing the safety and quality of foods. In particular the relationships between climate change and food safety are difficult to quantify due to a lack of good models, observational data and available scenarios. For this special issue we welcome papers related to the impact of climate change on food safety. These may include conceptual frameworks, field observations, modelling approaches for impact assessment, scenario analyses and adaptation studies to deal with these projected changes. Topics may be related to both microbial and chemical hazards and be linked to any type of food or production or supply chain. This special issue will present the state-of-the-art in the field of climate change and food safety.

Submission guidelines:

Please refer to the journal's Guide for Authors for specific advice on how to prepare a paper. Papers must be submitted electronically via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) site for the Journal - beginning in December 1st, 2013 (select Special Issue: Impact of Climate Change on Food Safety). Closing date for submissions is April 1st, 2014. Any inquiries regarding the content of papers should be submitted to either Dr. Mieke Uyttendaele (Mieke.Uyttendaele@UGent.be) or Nynke Hofstra (Nynke.Hofstra@WUR.nl).

Timelines:

December 1st, 2013: Beginning of paper submission
April 1st, 2014: Deadline for paper submission
October 1st, 2014: Final acceptance deadline

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