The 12th Wartburg Symposium on Flavor Chemistry & Biology was held at the hotel "Auf der Wartburg" in Eisenach, Germany, from May 21 to 24, 2019. It offered a unique venue for global exchange on cutting-edge research progress in chemistry and biology of odor and taste. The focus areas were (1) chemosensory perception and signal processing, (2) flavor systems: molecular decoding, interactions, and perception, (3) new computational approaches in flavor chemistry, (4) functional flavor genomics and biotechnology, (5) food-borne bioactives: molecular decoding, interactions, and perception, and (6) next-generation technologies in flavor molecule and precursor discovery. Selected from more than 250 applicants, 160 distinguished scientists and early career researches from industry and academia from 24 countries and 4 continents participated in this inspiring and multidisciplinary event. This special issue comprises a selection of 20 papers from oral presentations and poster contributions and is prefaced by this introduction paper.