"Food Science and New Product Development: Quality, Functionality and Consumer Acceptance — CEFood 2026"

Successful food innovation depends on understanding how ingredients, structure and processing influence product quality, nutritional value and consumer experience. New formulations require integrated evaluation to establish their technological suitability, storage stability and relevance to the needs of intended consumers. Dedicated to the 13th Central European Congress on Food, this Special Issue will connect advances in food chemistry, food analysis, nutrition and sensory science with the development of new foods and beverages. It will cover both the scientific foundations of product performance and their application to functional foods, alternative formulations and the modernization of traditional products.
We welcome original research articles, reviews and applied studies that explain relationships between composition, structure and product properties. Particular interest will be given to research combining analytical characterization with nutritional, sensory or storage assessments, and to product development supported by clear scientific novelty and evidence of consumer relevance.

Topics of Interest
We invite original research papers, review articles, and case studies addressing the following (but not limited to) topics:
- Food composition, ingredient interactions and structure–function relationships
- Formulation and characterization of new foods and beverages
- Functional ingredients, delivery systems and stability of bioactive compounds
- Plant-based foods, alternative proteins and hybrid products
- Nutritional reformulation and foods for specific dietary needs
- Bioaccessibility, digestibility and evidence supporting food functionality
- Sensory profiling, consumer acceptance and drivers of food choice
- Product quality, authenticity, safety and shelf-life assessment
- Incorporation of recovered ingredients into new food formulations
- Traditional foods and gastronomy as foundations for product innovation

Important Dates
Manuscript Submission Deadline: December 15, 2026
Publication Date (Online): 2027

Instructions for authors
Please select the "CEFood 2026 - Food Science and New Product Development" section when submitting articles.
Online Submisions
Author Guidelines

Issue Editor

Prof. Stefan Dragoev, DSc
University of Food Technologies, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
e-mail: s_dragoev@uft-plovdiv.bg

Co-Editor:

Prof. Diego Garcia Gonzalo, PhD
Agrifood Institute of Aragon (Universidad de Zaragoza-CITA). Zaragoza (Spain)
e-mail: diego.garcia@unizar.es