Food and Beverages Packaging

Biography

Paula Espitia has a B.Sc. in Food Engineering, from the University of Cordoba, Colombia. She obtained her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology at Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil. She has been working as a volunteer in the Healthy Processed Foods Research at USDA, USA. She has worked mainly with the development of novel food packaging material based on natural sources and incorporated with biocompounds and nanoparticles with antimicrobial properties for extending food shelf life and improving food preservation. Moreover, she has worked as a researcher in the Food Research Division, at the Caribbean Colombian Observatory in the area of food security in collaboration with the World Food Program. Currently, she is a full time professor in the Associate professorship category. She has published 15 articles, 5 book chapters and 2 books resulted from research activities in association with recognized scientific publishers as well as in high impact factor scientific journals in the food science field.

Research Interest

Biopolymers; biocompounds; nanoparticles; development of food packaging materials and their characterizartion; antimicrobial activity; foodborne pathogens; spoilage microorganisms; food shelf life.