**Preface to "Food, Health and Safety in Cross Cultural Consumer Contexts"**

The global food and food technology markets are rapidly growing, and food investment is central in many governments'growth plans. A core focus is on the food industry's ability to maintain and strengthen its position and to exploit the unique opportunities for export-driven growth, especially in the exportation of high-quality food with relevant sensory, health, and safety properties as key elements. Thus, the concept of cross cultural perspectives in research in food is critically important particularly in relation to human perception in food and health. Food concepts are very different across different jurisdictions. Different markets and cultures have varying perspectives on what is considered a palatable, acceptable, or useful food or food product; in simple terms, one size does not fit all in the majority of cases. Specific markets thus need targeted food design from a myriad of perspectives. In this Special Issue anthology, "Food, Health and Safety in Cross-Cultural Consumer Contexts", we bring together articles that show the wide range of studies from fundamental to market applicability currently in focus in sensory and consumer science in food, health, and safety contexts. The studies included highlight the importance of considering the human senses, consumer preference, and perception across the food stakeholder chain in several cross-cultural contexts. Overall, it is clear that there is a need for much knowledge in specific spaces and that this leads to better positioned food and food products when looking at world markets. In conclusion, the human senses, consumer acceptance, and preferences are core to future food design via integrating human perception and this will continue to be critical to the success of food transfer in modern cross-cultural contexts.

> **Derek V. Byrne** *Editor*
