Food safety is not only essential in the development of the food industry, but also fundamental for ensuring public safety and health. Food safety must cover the entire food industry chain, from farm to dining table. The detection and control of pathogenic microorganisms and residues of agricultural and veterinary drugs and the regulation of dietary nutrition to support intestinal micro-ecology and human health have become the new frontier of food safety, in addition to other fields.

The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) held the International Top-Level Forum on Engineering Science and Technology Development Strategy: Food Safety and Health to exchange information on the latest progress in this field, discuss future developmental trends in food safety, and consider relevant focus issues. In order to further extend academic exchange in the field of food safety and health and to share the latest research results, the forum cooperated with Engineering, the journal of the CAE, to launch the publication of this special issue on Food Safety and Health. Professor Qingping Wu, an academician of the CAE, served as the Editor-in-Chief of this special issue, while Professor Wei Chen, an academician of the CAE, and Professor Christopher J. Smith from the University of Chester acted as the Executive Editors-in-Chief. Several prominent scholars in the field of food safety and health acted as members of the editorial committee for this special issue.

This issue focuses on hotspots and difficult issues in the field of food safety and health, and looks forward to the future of food science and technology. The special issue includes seven peerreviewed papers written by academicians of the CAE and other well-known scholars in this field from China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The papers published in this special issue focus on the latest progress and achievements in the field of food safety and health, and cover the hazard formation mechanism of food-borne pathogenic microorganisms; the detection and control of agricultural and veterinary drug residues in food; new technologies in food safety control; food processing and safety; and microecology and health.

With the publication of this special issue, we would like to express our gratitude to all the authors who contributed to this issue and to sincerely thank all the reviewers for their outstanding contributions based on their rigorous attitude and insightful and constructive opinions. We sincerely hope that this topic will be helpful to the research work in related fields.