I am a PhD. Food Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. My current position is Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) and I am part of the Food Preservation Processes and Risk Analysis group. I am member of the Spanish Food Safety Network (SICURA), the Institute of Food Technologies (IFT) and the Scientific Network for Harmonization of Risk Assessment Methodologies (EFSA).
Areas of interest
My professional interest is directed towards the study of the effect of different physical food processing technologies applied to food preservation, to increase the food chain sustainability and to improve the functionality of food. For this, the group has thermal processing equipment (pasteurizers, vertical canning autoclaves, microwaves), high hydrostatic pressure equipment, pulsed electric fields equipment and cold plasma.
Specifically, my main areas of interest are:
- Study the effect of processing technologies, thermal and non-thermal, as an instrument to guarantee the food safety of foods (shelf life extension, validation of preservation processes, predictive microbiology, microbiological risk assessment)
-Study the effect of processing technologies as a means to improve the food chain sustainability (valorization of by-products of the agri-food industry, improve extraction processes of bioactive components, etc.)
-Study the effect of processing technologies as an instrument to improve the techno/functionality of different food components with the aim of developing new food products.
Maria Ines Valdez Narvaez
