Associate Professor of Food Science & Principal Investigator of Food Processing and Engineering Laboratory, Virginia State University, USA

Biograph
Dr. Yixiang Xu is an Associate Professor of Food Science and Principal Investigator of Food Processing and Engineering Laboratory at Virginia State University (VSU). She earned her Ph.D. in Food Science & Technology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States of American. Her current research interest is in non-thermal processing for food quality, safety and nutrition with a focus on two specific areas: (1) antimicrobial and biodegradable nanocomposite films for food packaging, and (2) non-thermal technologies for salt reduction in processed meat products. She has published over 50 high impacted refereed papers and 4 invited book chapters in the areas of food, nutrition and bioprocess. Her papers have been cited over 1,900 times in the past 10 years. She has been the recipient of numerous research grants with total amount $ 2.0 million from federal and state agencies as well as industry.

Speech Title: Active biodegradable nanocomposites films for food packaging

Abstract: Consumer demand for safe, minimally processed, and ready-to-eat (RTE) food products and concerns about the impact of the use of nonrenewable petroleum-based food packaging on environment pose major challenges and opportunities for the food and packaging industries. Active packaging refers to the incorporation of active compounds such as antioxidants and antibacterial agents to provide the packaging materials specific functionalities which do not exist in conventional packaging system. Natural antimicrobial agents extracted from crop by-products will not only promote food safety but also increase values to the by-products. Recent advances in nanotechnology and nanocomposites offer new strategy to develop biodegradable nanocomposite-based food packaging. In my presentation, I am going to summarize my group's recent efforts on preparation and characterization of active biodegradable nanocomposite films and evaluation of their antioxidant and antimicrobial effectiveness on RTE meats.