The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has named Marleny D.A. Saldaña, professor of bio-engineering processing on the University of Alberta, an IFT Fellow alongside 5 different researchers. The fellowship honours excellent contributions to meals science by way of service, profession excellence, and management.
Saldaña began out with a background in chemical engineering, heading to do her Master’s diploma in Brazil. After discovering an incredible quantity of merchandise, she felt impressed to discover meals manufacturing and bioactive compounds. Sensitive to caffeine, she gravitated towards decaffeinating espresso beans with supercritical carbon dioxide, a technique that heats and pressurizes the fuel. Various industries, from cosmetics to agriculture, additionally depend on supercritical carbon dioxide to extract many different compounds, and its byproducts discover vast use in prescription drugs and past.
Her analysis exploring the appliance of supercritical carbon dioxide was acknowledged worldwide, inspiring and motivating her additional. She is at the moment an editor of the Food Engineering Reviews Journal, and has served as visitor editor of The Journal of Supercritical Fluids and the LWT Food Science and Technology Journal. Saldaña has additionally been invited as a keynote speaker in a number of international locations worldwide to talk about rising processing applied sciences.
Breakthroughs in supercritical processing
Throughout her profession, Saldaña has targeted on advancing new strategies to make meals manufacturing extra environment friendly, sustainable, and safer. “My work has dedicated a lot of time to [implementing] new processes,” Saldaña mentioned. “One is the supercritical carbon dioxide, the supercritical water processing, the high pressure processing, and the ultrasound processing.”
The functions of her analysis embody extending the life of meals merchandise, the inactivation of enzymes, and general, avoiding waste by upcycling and stopping well being points for shoppers.
Saldaña highlighted the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration within the area of meals science and expertise. From experience in agriculture, to processing engineering, to microbiology, social science, and past, every self-discipline brings the group nearer to their objective.
“Go with your passion, be committed, keep reading, [and] network a lot,” Saldaña mentioned. “Don’t feel that you do not contribute, because even with your questions, you can contribute.”
Saldaña locations her hope within the youth. “Continue to be the person that will make the next changes and contribute [to] the advancement of the field of science and technology.”
Becoming an IFT Fellow, she added, is a recognition from friends that displays years of dedication to advancing the sphere. “It’s really the highest honour in food science and technology,” she mentioned. “That designation encourages me to continue my work and to inspire the next generation, as I was inspired by those before me.”
Driving sustainability by way of upcycling waste
At the U of A, her tasks have targeted on tackling sustainability challenges by discovering methods to upcycle meals waste. Her analysis transforms potato peels wealthy in lycopene and cereal straws that yield cellulose into bioactive compounds, movies, packaging, and even pharmaceutical or beauty components.
“Upcycling is really urgent right now,” Saldaña mentioned. “We cannot keep relying on landfilling. With the right technologies, we can extend shelf life, inactivate harmful microbes, and provide healthier food while reducing waste.”
Looking forward, she sees meals science enjoying a important position in responding to local weather change and world meals insecurity. “Millions of people need to eat safe, healthy, and high-quality food,” she mentioned.
International mentorships and a love of meals has formed Saldaña’s private journey into meals science. From her early work decaffeinating espresso to her later analysis on rising processing applied sciences, she continues to attract inspiration from the probabilities that meals affords.
“Food is really essential,” Saldana mentioned. “I think when you share with your family, it’s passion, it’s something that [makes] you feel happy.”