CSIC-IATA

(Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient?ficas (Spain). Instituto de Agroqu?mica y Tecnolog?a de Alimentos :: Spain :: Research Partner)

Web site: www.csic.es

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Description

CSIC is the Spanish State research organisation with outstanding reputation in research and technology within the area of food science. The research group currently comprises 5 senior scientists, 2 Ph.D. students and two technicians, conducting pure and applied research work in the area of food packaging and postharvest, and packaging materials development, and a postdoctoral student will be hired with this project.

Presently, there are several ongoing projects in: i) food/packaging interactions with especial emphasis on food aroma, ii) packaging development for fresh produce to reduce microbial spoilage, iii) development of superbarrier materials based on polymer blends and polymer-based nanocomposites, iv) development of active packaging systems based on the release or sorption of organic compounds with beneficial effects on foods (antimicrobial packaging), and v) development and characterisation of films obtained from natural resources.

The group has considerable experience in food packaging science and technology and their labs are well equipped for the analysis of food/package interactions, material development and characterisation. They also have access to pilot food packaging machinery. In recent years, the group has been studying permeation, sorption (scalping), partition and migration of different substances through several packaging materials. The development of new polymeric materials, biofilms and polymer-clay nanocomposites, and their characterization is also a main subject of study. The team has equipment for thermal, optical, and mechanical analysis and access to extrusion, injection and other processing labs. The group has expertise with the following instruments and equipment: DSC, TGA, DMA, Universal Testing Machine, Colour, UV-Vis, FTIR, FT-Raman, WAXS, SAXS, Mass Transmission Testers, Heatsealing testers, Blenders, Extruders, Autoclave, MAP, Vacuum packaging, Migration, GC-MS, HPLC.

In this proposal, the team is involved in the preparation and characterisation of nanocomposites based on clays, fibers and polymers of natural origin. The CSIC team is also engaged in studies about the suitability of the developed materials to food packaging applications are also tasks All tasks are comprised in Subproject 3.

Research personnel