Methodological Note 7. What Is (and What Is Not) a Food Technology Article in the RENHyD

Édgar Pérez-Esteve¹, Amparo Gamero², María Victoria Avilés³

¹ FoodUPV Institute of Food Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain.

² Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Sciences, Toxicology and Legal Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.

³ Institute of Food Science and Technology of Entre Ríos (ICTAER), CONICET–UNER, Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos, Argentina.

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The Food Technology section of the Spanish Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (RENHyD) has one of the highest manuscript rejection rates, often because submissions do not meet the journal's methodological standards or fall outside its editorial scope. This issue is particularly relevant in applied research, where disciplines such as nutrition, food science, and food engineering converge. Can every study involving processed foods be considered a food technology paper suitable for a journal of human nutrition and dietetics? The answer is no.

Food technology is the discipline concerned with the transformation, preservation, development, and improvement of foods, with a particular focus on their quality, safety, stability, and functionality. However, to be considered for publication in RENHyD, a manuscript must go beyond merely describing recipes or formulations by incorporating a technical, reproducible analysis based on measurable parameters.

What requirements should studies meet, and what types of articles can be considered food technology papers suitable for publication in RENHyD?

A study in this field should explicitly include at least one of the following elements:

• Characterization of the nutritional, functional, physicochemical, or structural properties of novel foods and their evolution during processing, storage, or consumption, including analyses such as proximate composition, bioactive compound profiles (e.g., polyphenols, dietary fiber, bioactive peptides), rheological properties, oxidative stability, among others.
• Development or modification of a technological process to produce foods that are healthier, tailored to specific population groups, safer, or more sustainable, including optimization of processing conditions (temperature, pH, etc.), application of emerging technologies (high-pressure processing, ultrasound, precision fermentation, etc.), or reformulation with demonstrated effects on nutritional, functional, sensory, or food safety parameters. When the objective is to improve food safety or sustainability, the impact on nutritional, functional, and sensory properties should also be demonstrated.
• Studies evaluating the effects of food reformulation and/or processing on the composition, bioaccessibility, bioavailability, and bioactivity of nutrients and/or bioactive compounds, including preclinical models such as in vitro digestion systems, cell cultures, or animal studies demonstrating that consumption of a given food may provide nutritional and/or functional benefits for the general population or for specific population groups.

In this context, the analytical component is essential. Simply formulating a "potentially healthy" food is not sufficient; its claimed benefits must be demonstrated using validated methodologies.

Types of studies potentially suitable for publication in RENHyD

Within the scope of RENHyD, the following approaches may be considered appropriate:

• Food reformulation studies accompanied by compositional analyses and sensory evaluation.
• Development of functional foods with instrumental quantification of the relevant bioactive compounds.
• Evaluation of the effects of technological processes on nutritional and/or functional quality (e.g., vitamin losses or improved protein digestibility through fermentation).

What does not constitute a Food Technology article in RENHyD?

Certain types of studies, although related to foods, do not meet the minimum criteria to be considered Food Technology research by RENHyD:

• Descriptions of food preparations without an analytical basis: studies presenting one or more recipes or formulations accompanied only by sensory evaluation, without objective physicochemical or nutritional characterization.
• Claims of health benefits based solely on the literature: studies describing a product (e.g., "rich in antioxidants") without experimentally determining the presence, concentration, or activity of the claimed compounds in the final product.
• Lack of a process–product relationship: studies that do not evaluate how processing conditions influence the properties of the food.
• Purely culinary or gastronomic studies: studies focused exclusively on acceptability or consumer preference without a robust technological or nutritional component.

Minimum methodological criteria recommended by RENHyD

To ensure the quality and relevance of a Food Technology manuscript, studies should include:

• A clear and reproducible experimental design.
• Validated analytical methods described in sufficient detail.
• An explicit relationship between the study objectives and the parameters evaluated.
• A critical discussion of the results, avoiding unsupported extrapolations.
• Consistency between the claimed benefits and the evidence obtained.

Final remarks

Food technology, as an applied discipline within human nutrition and dietetics, requires a balance between innovation, methodological rigor, and nutritional relevance. Not every food development constitutes technological research, and not every potentially healthy food represents a scientific advance. The key lies in providing objective, measurable, and reproducible evidence of the effects of the processing technology or formulation on the final product.

In an increasingly demanding editorial environment, it is essential that authors align their manuscripts with these principles, ensuring that their contributions are not only relevant but also methodologically robust.

Note. This material is intended for guidance only. Its application should be adapted to the RENHyD Instructions for Authors.