Cereals are still one of the most important food and feed sources, thus determining cereal’s safety, i.e., compliance with legislation, is extremely important. As systematic investigations of nowadays unavoidable secondary fungal metabolites and other common legally regulated contaminants occurrence in Croatian cereals are still lacking, this research aims to monitor the contamination levels of nation-wide crops by mycotoxins, pesticide residues, and heavy metals by employing UHPLC-MS/MS, GC-MS/MS, and atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) validated analytical methods. The most common secondary fungal metabolites were found to be Fusarium mycotoxins, with DON being the most occurring present in 73.7% of the samples. At least one pesticide residue was found in 331.8% of the samples, and Hg and Cd were the most occurring heavy metals. A total of 8.5% of the samples was non-compliant to the European Union (EU) legislation for food regarding the found mycotoxins concentrations, 4.5% regarding pesticide residues and none regarding heavy metals. The unusual presence of certain pesticide residue and heavy metal indicates the importance of systematic control of the contaminant presence, in order to gather enough occurrence data for proper risk assessment that these contaminants represent for the consumer’s health.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of microscopic moulds with pronounced toxic properties. Moulds infect products of plant and animal origin at any stage of their receipt, transportation and storage, in industrial and home conditions. Mycotoxins are more commonly found in plant foods. Their biosynthesis by fungi occurs during the ripening and harvesting period under unfavourable meteorological conditions and improper grain storage. Untimely harvesting or insufficient drying of the crop before storage, storage and transportation of products with insufficient protection against moisture leads to the multiplication of microorganisms and the formation of toxic substances in food products.

Nutritional status is a series of related parameters collected using different available methods. In order to determine the nutritional status of elderly populations and ensure nutritional support based on an individual approach, the implementation of the increasingly used foodomics approach is available; this approach plays a key role in personalized diets and in the optimization of diets for a population group, such as an elderly population. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) method and the Nottingham Screening Tool (NST) form were used on 50 users in a home for the elderly in northwest Croatia. A loss of body mass (BM) was statistically significantly higher for those who had the following: decreased food intake in the last week and users who had complete and partial feeding autonomy. Additionally, the obtained data on drug intake, fluid, individual nutrients, and physical activity are based on an individual approach. The available documentation provides insight into nutritional values and food preparation in an attempt to satisfy a holistic approach in the evaluation of exposure while trying to achieve as many elements of foodomics as possible.

Potrošači pomnije biraju proizvode koje kupuju i sve više pažnje posvećuju autohtonim poljoprivrednim i prehrambenim proizvodima zaštićenim oznakama na nacionalnoj i europskoj razini. Svojim zakonodavnim okvirom EU nastoji zaštiti vrijednost tih proizvoda odgovarajućim oznakama izvornosti (ZOI), zemljopisnoga podrijetla (ZOZP) i zajamčeno tradicionalnog specijaliteta (ZTS). Svi proizvodi zaštićeni oznakama ZOI, ZOZP i ZTS na razini EU nalaze se u bazi podataka eAmbrosia – the EU geographical indications register. Republika Hrvatska je do sada zaštitila 31 proizvod od čega 14 proizvoda oznakom ZOI i 17 proizvoda oznakom ZOZP. Ostale zakonski regulirane sheme certificiranja u EU i/ili dobrovoljni sustavi certificiranja na nacionalnoj razini kao i oni kojima upravljaju privatni subjekti također imaju svrhu pomoći potrošačima u odabiru proizvoda koji kupuju. U cilju veće prepoznatljivosti i promidžbe domaćih poljoprivrednih i prehrambenih proizvoda Republika Hrvatska je uspostavila nacionalni sustav kvalitete poljoprivrednih i prehrambenih proizvoda putem jedinstvene prepoznatljive oznake - "Dokazana kvaliteta". Kako bi privukli još veću pažnju potrošača za takve proizvode potrebna su dodatna ulaganja u promoviranje i edukaciju potrošača na nacionalnom i međunarodnom tržištu.