In order to guarantee the final quality of food products, it is of upmost importance to analyze their organoleptic properties and to detect potential chemical and/or microbiological contamination that can threaten the consumer health. Nowadays, it is feasible to carry out such analyses only for a small sample of food products, since it has to be performed by trained personnel in laboratories, and the analysis usually requires a significant amount of time.

On the other hand, the continuous advances of semiconductor industry have enabled the availability of low-cost solid state sensors and embedded sensor systems based on different transduction techniques (e.g., electrical impedance spectroscopy, visible and near-infrared optical spectroscopy, fluorescent spectroscopy, and image processing), which allow performing in-the-field and quick analysis of a wide range of food products. By using these sensor systems for food analysis, it would be possible to assess the quality of food products in situ at very low cost (no skilled personnel required), with more frequent screening and reduced response time. This results in a better quality for the food products available in the market. Besides the continuous increase in the number of mobile phones with integrated sensors represents an opportunity for the development of portable low-cost sensing systems that, in conjunction with the pervasive computing and integrated wireless communication technology, may allow the deployment of sensor networks distributed on the territory.

The goal of this special issue is the publication of high quality articles discussing recent advancements in the development of sensors and sensor systems for the quality assessment of food products. The editors welcome papers reporting original research articles that have not been submitted or published in other journals, as well as review articles discussing the state of the art of sensors and diagnostic technologies for food products.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Electrochemical sensors for food analysis
• Sensors exploiting visible and near-infrared spectroscopy for food analysis
• Sensors exploiting fluorescence spectroscopy for food analysis
• Metal oxide gas sensors for freshness and/or adulteration detection in foods
• Electronic noses and electronic tongues for food analysis
• Computer Vision for quality monitoring of food products
• Sensors for soil analysis in agriculture
• Embedded sensor systems for quality assessment of food products
• Embedded sensor systems for water management in agriculture
• Sensor technology for food processing control (or sensor technology in food industry)
• Personal portable and wearable sensors and devices for nutritional analysis
• Energy harvesting systems for in-the-field continuous monitoring in agriculture
• Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications in agriculture and farming
• Smartphone based sensor systems in agriculture and food analysis