Pulsed Electric Fields to Obtain Healthier and Sustainable Food for Tomorrow

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 Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC), Département de Génie des Procédés Industriels, Laboratoire Transformations Intégrées de la Matière 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. Dr. Oleksii Parniakov is the Principal Scientist in the R&D Department at Elea GmbH, Germany. He received his PhD in Food Process Engineering at the Technological University of Compiegne, France. His research interests mainly focus on non-conventional methods for enhancement of different food related processes. He worked mostly on pulsed electric field assisted extraction of bioactive compounds and drying, freezing of solid food products. He has 18 published peer reviewed research or reviews articles in international journals of which first author (14) or co-author (4) in high impact factor journals, 3 book chapters, 20 presentations in conferences (most of them as proceedings and oral communications). Dr. Artur Wiktor (PhD) is the Assistant Professor (adiunkt) at Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW (WULS-SGGW), Poland. In 2010-2011 he studied at Ghent University. He did a 3 months internship at Technological University of Berlin working on pulsed electric field application in freezing process. Currently, he is the leader of research team which works on nonthermal technologies utilization in food industry, especially pulsed electric field in drying applications. He has got more than 24 publications in high impact factor journals and more than 18 articles in national journals and book chapters.

• Section I: Introduction1. How does PEF work?2. An overview of the potential applications to produce healthy food products based on PEF mechanismSection II. Impact of PEF on bioaccessibility/bioavailability and development of nutraceuticals/food additives2. Impact of PEF on nutrient and bioactive compound bioaccessibility/bioavailability as a key factor for food processing development3. PEF as an efficient technology for food additive and nutraceutical developmentSection III. Reduction of toxic/contaminants assisted by PEF4. PEF as a tool for the production of healthy snacks 5. Effect of PEF on reduction of HMF production6. Potential of PEF to reduce pesticides and toxinsSection IV. Improvement of the efficiency of industrial processes 7. PEF as an alternative tool to prevent thermolabile compound degradation during drying processes8. Modification of food structure and improvement of freezing processes by PEF treatment9. Maintenance of bioactive compounds in premium products by PEF preservation on industrial scale10. PEF applications for the extraction of compounds and fractions (fruit juices, winery, oils, by-products, etc.)11. PEF treated insects as a future food ingredientSection V. Patents, commercial applications and limitations of pulsed electric field treatment (or maybe safety aspects of PEF utilization)12. Industrial scale equipment, patents and commercial applications. 13. Limitations of pulsed electric field utilization in food industry14. Consumer attitudes regarding the use of PEF