Dr. José Juan Rodríguez Jerez is a professor in the Departament of Animal and Food Sciences at the UAB. Since 1996, he works on techniques based on immunology (ELFA), ATP analysis, microscopy (light, electron, fluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy, and image analysis) and molecular biology (real-time PCR, sequencing, and production of proteins with biological activity). There are eight scientists in his research group, which is specialised in development of rapid methods for foodborne disease prevention, by controlling cross-contamination between surfaces and foods, and has more than 350 publications, 112 of which are research papers, 12 of which are book chapters and more than 250 of which are popular science papers. From 2000 to 2008, he was in charge of the scientific coordination of the website www.consumaseguridad.com, and currently, he carries out the same task at http://mapaperills.uab.cat.
Dr. Armand Sánchez Bonastre, head of the Molecular Genetics Veterinary Service (SVGM) of the UAB, is an emeritus professor in the Departament of Animal and Food Sciences at the UAB. Head of the research group “Molecular animal breeding in veterinary sciences”, whose activities focus on the application of molecular techniques to animal production. He has been in charge of many projects funded by Spanish or international public institutions, or private companies. Currently, he takes part in animal genomics projects on genetic characterization of characteristics interesting for animal production, and in the development of analytical methods for molecular diagnosis. He has published about 200 papers in international journals on molecular genetics applied to livestock production.
Dr. Montse Vila Brugalla works in the Food Safety Management (DISAL) at the Barcelona Public Health Agency, by doing official inspections in food establishments of Barcelona city. She was a head, for 12 years, of the Quality control Department of a ready-to-eat meal industry. Her interest in thermobacteriology and the way of establishing food shelf-life leads her to the knowledge of microbial growth and inactivation models, and predictive microbiology. In 2002, she defended her research work entitled “Study on the application of Gompertz equation and Baranyi model for establishment of pasteurized sauce shelf-life”, in the Food nutrition, technology and hygiene postgraduate programme. In 2012, she participated in writing the “Guideline on good hygiene practices specific for sous-vide cooking”. Her Ph.D. thesis analysed the inclusion, in primary models, of the experimental variability observed after sous-vide treatments of a food at mild temperatures. From 2013, she has been an assistant professor in the Departament of Animal and Food Sciences at the UAB for several periods of time.
Mr. Jon Basagoiti Azpitarte, after doing microbiological control in a beer industry (from 1986 to 1992), works on different aspects of food quality and safety management systems. Regarding quality systems, he audits at several fields of industrial activity and services, with more than 1,500 audits, focused on food industries. He is involved in HACCP system since 1993, when he heard about it as an ISO 9001 quality system consultant and auditor. Since 1996, he teaches many courses on audits and HACCP to food industries and inspectors from different Spanish autonomous regions. From a practical application point of view, he tries to make sure the developed or evaluated HACCP systems recognize the behaviour of food hazards in industrial processes, so that they can be effectively controled. He is one of the promoters and the scientific editor of the The Enemy in your Kitchen project (https://elenemigoentucocina.com).
Dr. Oscar J. Esteban Cabornero defines himself as “a tireless knowledge seeker”. After doing research in microbiology for several years, he worked on technical equipment development in food industries. With a 27-year professional career, he has worked in dairy sector; fruit juice and soft drink sector; and cheese sector for 16 years up to now, as a head of quality at Grupo Entrepinares, in Valladolid. In those years, his wide range of tasks includes: quality, environmental coordination, laboratory professionalisation, product development, establishment of corporate strategies for safety and management models in complex environments. Currently, he mainly focuses on responsible leadership and sustainability. He is a member of the Sociedad Española de Microbiología, and juggles his professional activity with participation in more than 30 projects together with technological centres and several publications in scientific and sectorial journals. He collaborates in teaching and research activities with the Universidades de Burgos, Valladolid, Pontificia Comillas, Autònoma de Barcelona and Complutense de Madrid. Further information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscarjesteban.
Dr. Nathalie Gnanou Besse, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Ph.D. in Microbiology, is, since 1997, a research scientist at the Food safety Laboratory of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), in Maisons-Alfort, France, where she was responsible for the Listeria/Cronobacter team-Ecophysiology and Bacterial detection Unit (until 2013), the National Reference Laboratory for Listeria monocytogenes (2014), and the National Reference Laboratory for Milk-Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Clostridium and Milk Unit (2015-2018). Her research activities focus on food microbiology, quantitative and predictive microbiology, microbiological analytical methods improvement, Listeria monocytogenes, Cronobacter spp., and microbiology of milk and dairy products. She participated in national and international research projects, in particular the co-direction of a doctoral thesis on Cronobacter spp. (2007-2010), in activities linked to the European Union Reference Laboratory for Listeria monocytogenes and in standardization activities, such as project manager for the Review and validation of Listeria standards: CEN mandate M381, TAG 17 Listeria spp., ISO TC34 SC9 WG32 Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria spp.; member of the Committee V08B and V45C of the French Standardization Association (AFNOR); CEN TAG Cronobacter spp. 14; CEN TAG 09 and CEN/TC 463/WG 5 Pre-enrichment; ISO TC34 SC9 AHG4 Validation of methods; and ISO WG 22-23 Enumeration and detection of sulfite-reducing bacteria and Clostridium perfringens. She is also a competent personality in the frame of the specialised experts committees of ANSES, and participated in internal working groups for risk evaluation tasks and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) working group on Analysis of the baseline survey on the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in certain ready-to-eat foods in the EU (2012-2013). She takes part in training of students, specifically the direction of two doctoral theses on veterinary practice, is referee for several international scientific journals, and participates in the Joint FAO/WHO Expert meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) for Listeria risk analysis.
Mr. David Tomás Fornés is the coordinator of the Working Group on Standardisation in food chain microbiology, at the Spanish Association for Standardisation (UNE), and an expert in International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and European Committee for Standardization (CEN) technical committees. He is a global scientific affairs associate director at bioMérieux, and collaborates with the Research Institute of Food Engineering (FoodUPV) at the Universitat Politècnica de València. He worked as a technical auditor in the Spanish Accreditation Body (ENAC), as a microbiological methods specialist at Merck Life Science, as a senior scientist at Nestlé Research Center, in Lausanne (Switzerland), and as a head of the Microbiology and Molecular biology Laboratory at AINIA.