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Toward human-relevant toxicology: a decision-oriented roadmap integrating modern tools for the safety evaluation of novel foods, functional ingredients, and nutraceuticals

delete2026-07-06
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OA
AI
A
Amanda dos Santos Lima
T
Thiago Mendanha Cruz
Z
Zhihao Liu
D
Daniel Granato *
L
Luciana Azevedo *
J
J Z Chen *
DOI:10.1080/10408398.2026.2696414delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Ensuring the safety of novel foods, functional ingredients, and nutraceuticals is increasingly challenging as global food systems shift toward sustainable, health-aligned innovations. This review synthesizes conventional and next-generation approaches in food toxicology to outline a mechanistic, human-relevant, and decision-oriented framework for evaluating novel foods, nutraceuticals, and ingredients. Emphasis is placed on integrating multidisciplinary tools, including regulatory benchmarks, state-of-the-art analytical protocols, and in vitro and in silico systems, which are reshaping safety assessment pipelines. The dynamic regulatory context is examined, with a focus on the European Food Safety Authority’s updated requirements for novel foods and its tiered toxicological strategy for assessing genotoxicity, toxicity, allergenicity, and chemical risk. Emerging scientific and technological trends are highlighted as the main drivers of a more predictive and ethically aligned toxicological paradigm. These include high-throughput cellular assays, omics-enabled molecular profiling, physiologically relevant in vitro models, computational prediction tools, and technologies for chemical and bioactivity characterization. Together, these advances support a modern, mechanism-based approach to safety evaluation. The review demonstrates how integrating these tools can strengthen science-based decision-making, enhance regulatory confidence, and promote responsible innovation in the advancement of next-generation foods and functional ingredients.
Keywords:
Computational toxicology
mechanism-based risk evaluation
next-generation in vitro models
novel foods safety assessment

Journal

Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition cover
Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
IF:
8.8
Papers:
5.0K
Citations:
4.9W

Organization

T
the chinese university of hong kong
Scholars:
3.4K
Papers: 1.6K
Citations: 0
F
Federal University of Alfenas
Scholars:
193
Papers: 72
Citations: 0
S
State University of Ponta Grossa
Scholars:
154
Papers: 63
Citations: 0
A
auckland university of technology
Scholars:
555
Papers: 309
Citations: 0
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