Design and Optimization of Innovative Food Processing Techniques Assisted by Ultrasound

Dr. Francisco J. Barba is an associate professor in Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia, Spain. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Valencia and degrees in Pharmacy, Food and Technology. He performed postdoctoral stays in the Universite de Technologie de Compiegne (UTC), Departement de Genie des Procedes Industriels, Laboratoire Transformations Integrees de la Matiere Renouvelable (Compiegne, France) and Marie Curie IEF in the Department of Food Chemistry (University of Copenhagen) to explore different non-thermal applications for preserving and extracting bioactive compounds from plant food materials and by products. Prior to his current appointment, he was also engaged as a visiting researcher in the Department of Food Biotechnology and Food Process Engineering in Technological University of Berlin, Germany. His research focus is on non-thermal processing for preservation and/or extraction of bioactive compounds from liquid and solid foods. He has authored approximately 200 peer reviewed papers in international food science and technology journals. Giancarlo Cravotto is a researcher in the Department of Drug Science and Technology at the University of Turin. His research activity is documented in more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers and approximately 20 international and national patents. His research activity has been centered on natural products extraction, purification, synthesis and chemical modification. These studies have paved the road to new synthetic procedures by means of non-conventional energy sources (microwaves, acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation, mechanochemistry, flow chemistry etc.). These studies also prompted the development of innovative hybrid reactors and green protocols, and these techniques and equipment have been applied in organic synthesis, in plants extraction, in food processing, in the degradation of persistent organic pollutants, sample preparation and several applications of industrial interest. Farid CHEMAT is a full Professor of Chemistry at Avignon University, Director of GREEN Extraction Team (innovative techniques, alternative solvents, and original procedures for green extraction of natural products), co-director of ORTESA LabCom research unit Naturex-UAPV, and scientific coordinator of "France Eco-Extraction? dealing with dissemination of research and education on green extraction technologies. He received his engineer diploma from University of Blida-Algeria (1990) and his PhD degree (1994) in process engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse-France. After periods of postdoctoral research work with Prolabo-Merck, Rhone-Poulenc and Unilever (1995-1997), he spent two years (1997-1999) as senior researcher at University of Wageningen-The Netherlands. In 1999, he moved to the University of La Reunion-France DOM as assistant professor and since 2006 holds the position of Professor of Food Chemistry at the University of Avignon-France. His research activity is documented by more than 200 scientific peer-reviewed papers, and about the same number of conferences and communications to scientific and industrial meetings, 10 books, 40 book chapters and 10 patents. His main research interests have focused on innovative and sustainable extraction and processing techniques (especially microwave, ultrasound and green solvents) for food, pharmaceutical, bio-energy and cosmetic applications. Jose Manuel Lorenzo is Head of Research at the Meat Technology Centre of Galicia (CTC), Ourense, Spain and Associate Professor at the University of Vigo, Spain. He received his M.S. in Food Science and Technology (University of Vigo). He obtained his Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology (University of Vigo) in 2006. He has started his scientific career in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Vigo, first as researcher scholarship, then, since April 2006, as academic Researcher. In 2006-2005 from October to March, he completed a stage period for his research project at the Stazione Sperimentale per L?Industria delle Conserve Alimentaria, (Parma, Italy). He has been PI of several projects of R&D and innovation related to meat science and food technology.

He has developed numerous projects, many related to agro-industry and meat companies, and acquired extensive experience in the field of food technology. During this period, he completed my analytic training in LC and GC, developing methods to quantify levels of lipid/protein oxidation, lipid fractionation by SPE and vitamins with HPLC/FD/DAD and volatiles by GC/MS. These have focused on 1) Characterization of the products from different species under different rearing conditions, such as pigs, poultry or horsemeat; 2) Extension of food shelf life using natural extracts with antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities from agro-products; 3) Understanding physicochemical, biochemical and microbial changes during the technological processes applied to meat products; and 4) Development of new, healthier meat foods based on fat and salt reduction or improving lipid profile modification, replacement of fat, or incorporating functional compounds. Currently, he is involved in identifying proteomic and biomarkers associated with pastiness in dry-cured ham and their consequences for meat quality, using proteomic 2-DE techniques for protein separation and subsequent identification and quantification applying HPLC/MS/MS.

Dr. Paulo Eduardo Sichetti Munekata is a Post-Doctoral researcher in the Meat Technology Centre of Galicia, Ourense, Spain. He obtained his BS in Food Engineering and his PhD in Science of Food Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). His main scientific interests are Food quality, Innovative processes, Bioactive compounds, and Development of healthier food products. He has more than 80 publications (SCOPUS; h-index: 19) in peer-reviewed journals and several communications to international scientific meetings.