Dr. Pedro Elez-Martínez is Food Engineer and he received a PhD on Food Science and Technology from University of Lleida, Spain, in 2005. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Technical University of Berlin, Germany. He was Assistant Scientist in the Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Since 2008, he is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Food Technology at University of Lleida. He has authored more than 45 research papers and several book chapters. In addition, he has been invited as speaker in some international meetings and courses. In 2005, he has been awarded the George F. Stewart Award. He acts as review editor of Frontiers in Nutrition, Nutrition and Food Science Technology section.
Dr. Elez-Martínez’s research interests are focused on the development of ready-to-eat, safe and healthy products by combining the already existing processing technologies with novel techniques as well as understanding the mechanisms and kinetics underpinning the impact of novel technologies on food safety, quality and health-related compounds as a basis for process and product development. Non-thermal technologies including pulsed electric fields, high-pressure processing, intense pulse light, ultrasounds and cold plasma are key technologies developed. The valorization of by-products from food industry throughout the knowledge of their composition and the obtaining of natural ingredients with technological and functional properties to assess the possibility of using them in the design of novel foods are also investigated.
