Dr George Katsaros is Senior Researcher at Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products and his research work covers a wide range of Food Science and Technology and includes new and conventional fruit and vegetable processing technologies such as Ultra High Pressure, Pulsed Electric Fields, Osmotic Pretreatment, Ozonation, Cold Atmospheric Plasma, etc. More specifically, he has been involved in the study of the kinetics of reactions of food spoilage factors, as well as the loss of their quality and nutritional value. These reactions are controlled by factors such as temperature, water activity of the food and the type of packaging, pH and the partial pressure of gases in controlled atmosphere packaging, while the mathematical integration of these into kinetic models allows the prediction and optimization of food shelf life depending on storage and handling conditions.
The most important and largest part of his research covers the application of the new non-thermal technology of Ultra-High Hydrostatic Pressure (UHP) in the production of long-life and high-quality foods. This includes microbiological, physicochemical and organoleptic analyses of conventional foods and foods processed with UHP, as well as the development of novel foods (fruits and vegetables and fruit preparations, dairy products, meat products) using UHP technology. Enzyme technology and biotechnology concern another part of Dr. Giorgos Katsarou’s research. He has studied and developed appropriate methodologies for the isolation, characterization and measurement of the activity of plant enzymes that find applications in foods. In addition, he has studied the effect of various factors such as temperature, UHP and pH on the change in the activity of these enzymes. In all cases, appropriate equations have been developed that allow the mathematization of these factors in the change in enzyme activity.
He has participated in studies concerning the change in the structure of enzymes after application of UHP. All aim to predict and optimize the application of processing technologies in combination with packaging, with a direct impact on the safety and quality of the final products. An important part of his activity concerns the effect of the new technology of Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) on foods and food ingredients, on the efficiency of the extraction of juices or ingredients from fruits and vegetables, as well as the application of Cold Plasma technology at atmospheric pressure for the microbial sanitization of sensitive foods. Research results in the above areas have been published in 88 studies in reputable scientific journals, in 2 popular journals and in 6 Book-Monograph Chapters, while they have been presented in 277 oral presentations or posters at international or national Scientific Conferences during the period 2003 to date. His research has been funded by Competitive Greek and European projects in most of which he had the role of Coordinator and Scientific Director. His research team consists of young scientists and more specifically 4 Postdoctoral Researchers, and 8 Researchers with a Master’s degree in Food Science.
