Dr. Eva Almenar - Newest Faculty Member - School of Packaging Michigan State University

She received her Ph.D in Food Science and Technology from the Instituteof Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) and the University of Valencia in Spain working on prolonging the shelf life of wild strawberries by using active packaging. Then she moved on to be a postdoctoral research associate with the School of Packaging and to expand her education while working on the development and characterization of bio-based antimicrobial films. Since August of 2008 she is now assistant professor at the School of Packaging in the field of Global Fresh Produce Packaging.

Dr. Almenar has over 8 years of experience in prolonging the shelf life of fresh produce using packaging technologies based on plastic materials. In the course of her career, she has worked with different packaging technologies (equilibrium modified atmosphere packaging, controlled atmosphere packaging, active packaging and coatings) and packaging materials (bio-based and petroleum-based) as well as with different fresh products (whole and fresh cut) (lettuce, garlic, cultivated and wild strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries). Utilizing her background in food science, she has studied the physicochemical, microbiological and sensorial changes of these fresh produces during storage as a function of the packaging technology applied. These studies have been carried out in close collaboration with researchers specialized in microbiology, postharvest physiology, packaging, and sensory analysis, as well as with fresh product growers, commodity groups, plastic suppliers, and packaging equipment suppliers in different countries. She is currently starting to work in the area of handling and packaging fresh produce in the global market. In her research group Dr. Almenar is currently supervising one Ph.D. student, two master students, and four undergraduate students (several of them participating at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resource’s Undergraduate Research Program).

Dr. Almenar has authored and coauthored a variety of publications, including peer review articles (17) and chapter books (2). Also, she is the author of several intellectual properties (3). She is member of the committee of the Multi-State Project on Postharvest Quality and safety in Fresh Cut Vegetables and Fruit and of the Multi-State Project on Postharvest Physiology of Fruits, and she is an active member in the polymer, packaging, and food science fields.

Dr. Almenar currently teaches the undergraduate course “Packaging with Plastics” (PKG 323) and is a course contributor to “Packaging for Food Safety” (VM/PKG 814). She is also involved in developing two new courses in the food packaging area at the graduate level.