Indigenous Fermented Foods for the Tropics

Prof. Oluwafemi Adebo is with the Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa. He leads the Food Innovation Research Group and involved with research geared towards the improvement of various traditional food processes, enhancing food health promoting constituents, food product development and value addition to underutilized food sources using conventional, novel and innovative approaches. He has contributed to over 100 journal articles and book chapters, several invited talks and keynote presentations and has a provisionally approved patent. He has received different grants and won prestigious awards including the 2019 Institute of Food Technologists Emerging Leader Award, 2021 National Research Foundation Emerging Researcher of the Year, 2021 UJ's Vice Chancellor's Distinguished Award as an Outstanding Young Researcher and UJ's Faculty of Science Top Research Award (Lecturer/Senior Lecturer Category) twice. He is a Young Affiliate of The World Academy of Sciences and a regular volunteer for activities that promote food science and technology. Prof. Chiemela Enyinnaya Chinma serves as Deputy Director of Research, Innovation and Development, Federal University of Technology Minna and is the Academic Coordinator of World Bank facilitated Africa Centre of Excellence for Mycotoxin and Food Safety. Prof. Chinma is the Chairman, University Policies and Manuals Advisory Committee at the university. He is in the Editorial Board of the Nigerian Food Journal, the Managing Editor of Journal of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (JAAT) and Regional Editor of American Journal of Food Technology. Prof. Chinma has presented at several international conferences, has won research grants for the production and characterization of modified tuber starches, plant protein concentrate and complementary foods among others. He has served as a Deputy Coordinator (North Central, Nigeria) of the African Network of Food Data Systems (AFROFOODS), a Regional Data Centre of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS). OBADINA Adewale Olusegun, PhD is the Head of Department, Food Science and Technology and immediate past Director of Biotechnology Centre, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. He is a grantee and Research Associateship Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences with research experience in Food Safety, Quality, and fermentation technology. He is a member of Board of Directors, International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST); African Continental Association of Food Protection (ACAFP). He is also an active member of: Food Science Advisory Council, Human Health Organization (HHO); IUFoST Food Safety Committee; IUFoST Mycotoxin Working Group; Safety Enhancement of Edible Products, Legislation, Analysis and Management (SELAMAT); Mytox-South; Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI) and member of the Nigeria National Antimicrobial Resistance - Technical Working Group (AMR-TWG). He has played an integral role in various collaborative projects sponsored by DFID, EU, World Bank, Africa-Brazil Innovative Marketplace, M-BoSs, The World Academy of Science and USAID. Dr. Antonio Gomes Soares has a background in Food Science and Technology and Postharvest Technology research. He is currently a scientific researcher at Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation - EMBRAPA Food Technology in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is also a Scientific Responsible Researcher for the Postharvest Technology Scientific Area. He was a member of 25 research projects between 1985 and 2020, which coordinated 13 of them. His main research activities are associated with Food Chemistry, Food Science, Food Quality Control, Postharvest Technology, Edible Coatings, Innovative Packaging Materials for fruit and vegetables (Mango, papaya, strawberry, heart of palm, persimmon, minimally processed vegetables, cassava, tomatoes, ginger, green coconut). Sandeep Kumar Panda is an assistant professor in the. He holds an MSc in applied microbiology and a PhD in microbiology from Utkal University in India. He completed his postdoctoral studies as a Global Excellence Stature Fellow at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. His main research focus is on the development of probiotic functional foods by fermentation and is the recipient of 'Young Scientist Award in Life Sciences-2018' by Odisha Bigyan Academy, Government of Odisha, India. Dr. Ren-You Gan is a Chief Scientist in the Research Center for Plants and Human Health, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China. He received his PhD degree from The University of Hong Kong, and was previously a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. His main research interest is functional plants/foods and human health, such as the health benefits of traditionally fermented foods in China. He has published more than 100 SCIE-indexed papers, including 70 first/corresponding-author papers and 12 ESI highly-cited papers, with total citations more than 4800 times and H-index of 32 based on Google Scholar statistics.