Advances in Sustainable Food Packaging Technology

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE, is a Retired Professor in Agricultural and Biomedical Engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez Campus. He has worked as a Soil Conservation Inspector and as a Research Assistant at Haryana Agricultural University and Ohio State University. He was the first agricultural engineer to receive the professional license in Agricultural Engineering from the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico and was proclaimed as the "Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the twentieth century" by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneering work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of over 52 years, he has received many prestigious awards. A prolific author and editor, he has written more than 200 journal articles and several textbooks and has edited over 100 books.

Preeti Birwal, PhD, is working as a Scientist (processing and food engineering) in the Department of Processing and Food Engineering at the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. She is currently working in nonthermal food preservation, fermented beverages, food packaging, and technology of millet-based beer. She served at Jain Deemed to be University, Bangalore, as a member of the board of examiners and placements. She has participated at several national and international conferences and seminars and has delivered lectures as a resource person on doubling farmers’ income through dairy technology in training sponsored by the directorate of Extension, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Dr. Birwal has published research papers, edited books, book chapters, popular articles, conference papers, abstracts, and editorial opinions. She is advising several MTech scholars in food technology and has successfully guided postgraduate students for their dissertation work. She also serves as an external examiner for various Indian state agricultural universities and as an editor and reviewer of several journals. Dr. Birwal has been named outstanding reviewer of the month by the online journal Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science.

Anand Kumar Pandey, PhD, is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is currently working on biodegradation of cellulose and other toxic hydrocarbons that cause environmental hazards. He has great expertise in bioinformatics and has contributed immensely to the field of drug discovery with his research, which also includes discovery of food nutraceuticals to treat diseases (such as neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, viral, and bacterial infections), animal cell culture, diseased animal modeling, tissue engineering, and immunology. He was ranked among the top 5% in a Cell Culture Technologies course organized by NPTEL, funded by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. Dr. Pandey has published more than 30 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals and has authored several book chapters.

Ritesh Balaso Watharkar, PhD, is affiliated with the College of Management, Agri and Food Business Management, MIT-ADT University, Loni Kalbhor, Pune, Maharashtra, India. He was formerly Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Processing Technology at Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Karunya Nagar, Coimbatore, India. He also worked as a Senior Visiting Scholar under a UNESCO Great Wall China Fellowship Programme and as Assistant Professor at K. K. Wagh Food Tech College and at Shramshakti College of Food Technology, affiliated with Mahatma Phule Agricultural University. He has published several journal articles and has attended more than 10 national and international conferences. He also published several popular articles and has co-edited several books. He is a life member of Association of Food Scientist and Technologist, India.