Carole Tonello Sampson is the Commercial Application Director of Hiperbaric, a Spanish company that specializes in the design, manufacture, and distribution of high-pressure processing (HPP) equipment for the food industry. She is also a member of the company’s board of directors. Prior to joining Hiperbaric in 2005, Carole Tonello worked as an Industrial Researcher at the HPP R and D company in France with an emphasis on HPP for food. After undergraduate studies in Biochemistry and Food Technology in France, she obtained a Ph.D. in Food Science on the effects of HPP on the inactivation of microorganisms. With over 15 years of experience in the food industry, Carole Tonello is an expert in food safety and preservation techniques, particularly in the area of HPP. In her current role as Commercial Application Director at Hiperbaric, Carole Tonello oversees the company’s research and development efforts, as well as its technical service and support teams. Carole Tonello is an active member of several industry associations and organizations,including the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG). She has published several articles in scientific journals and has presented at numerous international conferences on the topics of high-pressure processing, food safety, and microbiology. As an expert in HPP, Carole Tonello has played a key role in promoting the benefits of this non-thermal food preservation technique. Her research and development efforts at Hiperbaric have helped to advance the technology and improve its applications in the food industry.
Dr. Kai Knoerzer has a background in process engineering (BSc), chemical engineering (MSc) and food process engineering (PhD, summa cum laude), all awarded from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). In 2006, he commenced work with Food Science Australia (a joint venture of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Victorian Government) as a Postdoctoral fellow. He has since become a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO Agriculture and Food. Kai has a proven track record in food process engineering research and development, particularly of innovative technologies. Currently, he is leading research and venture science activities across a number of innovative food processing technologies, such as high pressure (thermal), microwave, ultrasonics/megasonics and extrusion processing. Kai’s work has shown both science impact, with more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, conference proceedings and book chapters, 7
patents/applications, 4 edited books and over 100 oral and 50 poster presentations at national and international conferences, as well as commercial impact in the food industry. His work has also been recognised with various international awards for research excellence. Kai has been an active member of IFT’s International Division in the leadership team for >10 years and is past chair of this division. Kai serves Elsevier’s Food Science Reference Collections as the Food Process Engineering section editor and is editor-in-chief of Elsevier’s Major Reference Work “Innovative Food Processing Technologies – A Comprehensive Review”
