Introduction to the Toxins Special Issue on Improved Analytical Technologies for the Detection of Natural Toxins and Their Metabolites in Food

Food, by nature, is a biological substrate and is therefore capable of supporting the growth of microbials that are potential producers of toxic compounds. Natural toxins include mycotoxins, marine biotoxins, plant toxins, cyanogenic glycosides, and toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms. Natural toxins pose not only a risk to both human and animal health, but also impact food security and nutrition by reducing people’s access to healthy food. The tracking and detection of natural toxins in foods back to their source is a primary responsibility of food producers, distributors, handlers, and vendors. National authorities should conduct monitoring and ensure that levels of the most relevant natural toxins in food commodities comply with both national and international maximum levels or relevant toxicological thresholds. This Special Issue of Toxins includes some recent advances in analytical methodologies for the detection of natural toxins in food commodities and biological fluids. The collected contributions are relevant to two main analytical approaches, namely advanced liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) applications for the high sensitive and selective detection of emerging contaminants, and approaches for rapid and cost effective toxin detection based on immunoassays and cell-based assays.