Horticulturae Webinar | New Strategies for Revalorisation and Postharvest Maintenance of Fruit and Vegetables
the chair
4th Horticulturae Webinar
New Strategies for Revalorisation and Postharvest Maintenance of Fruit and Vegetables
Everyone is warmly invited to this special webinar celebrating the 10th anniversary of Horticulturae. I am Noelia Castillejo from the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Spain), and it is my pleasure to serve as Chair for this webinar, “New Strategies for Revalorisation and Postharvest Maintenance of Fruit and Vegetables.”
Over the past decade, Horticulturae has provided a vibrant forum for advancing horticultural science and accelerating the translation of research into practice. This program will reflect that spirit—bringing together complementary perspectives on how we can extract more value from fruit and vegetable resources while preserving quality throughout the postharvest chain.
We will be honored to host three distinguished talks:
“Innovative Uses and Extractions of Fruit and Vegetable By-Products: A New Frontier in Plant-Based Foods.” With Dr. Lorena Martínez-Zamora, we will explore cutting-edge extraction and valorisation approaches that transform side streams into high-value ingredients.
“Revalorisation of Agro-Industrial By-Products to Develop New Valuable and Functional Foods Through Fermentation Processes.” With Dr. José Ángel Salas-Millán, we will highlight bioprocessing strategies—especially fermentation—to unlock functionality, safety, and sensory appeal in novel foods.
“Non-Destructive Analysis for Food Products with Applications to Fruit and Vegetables.” With Dr. Danial Fatchurrahman, we will examine rapid, non-invasive tools that enable real-time quality assessment and better decision-making from harvest to consumer.
Date: 16 December 2025
Time: 4:00 pm CET | 10:00 am EST | 11:00 pm CST Asia
Webinar ID: 882 9295 5534
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet the Event Chair
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Lorena Martínez-Zamora
Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. De la Universidad, s/n (Edificio Vinalopó), Elche, Alicante, Spain;
With a PhD in Food Technology, Nutrition, and Food Science and a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Murcia, Lorena Martínez-Zamora has been able to focus her research career on improving the healthiness of plant and animal foods using novel technologies and natural extracts, especially obtained from food by-products. Throughout her career, she has made significant contributions to the field, publishing her findings in renowned ISI JCR journals and presenting at both international and national congresses. Her work aims to improve food quality and sustainability, combining scientific advancements with practical applications in the food industry.
Dr. José Ángel Salas Millán
APC Microbiome, University College Cork, Ireland;
Dr. José Ángel Salas Millán is a pharmacist from the University of Murcia with a master’s degree in R&D and Drug Control from the University of Granada. In 2019, he carried out research at the University of Costa Rica, funded by the Fundación Carolina, focusing on the phytochemicals of Psidium and the in vivo evaluation of CAS juice.
He completed his PhD at the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT) in collaboration with JimboFresh International and the Spanish Ministry of Science. His research focused on the revalorisation of agricultural by-products using lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation for the development of functional foods. He also specialised in advanced chromatography (QqQ, QToF), in vitro gastrointestinal digestion, and bioactivity assays. During his PhD, he completed a research stay at APC Microbiome (University College Cork), for which he received the European International Mention.
Dr. Salas-Millán has authored six Q1-JCR papers, a book chapter, and several conference presentations. He is co-owner of three utility models and one pending patent. He has also taught in the UPCT's Agro-Food Engineering and Agronomic Engineering programmes (2021-2025) and participated in science outreach projects.
He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at APC Microbiome, working on in vitro systems and 3D cultures (organoids), contributing to COST Action (CA20128) and Horizon 2020 (NUTRIMMUNE) projects.
Dr. Danial Fatchurrahman
Postharvest Technology, Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Science, Engineering, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy;
Danial Fatchurrahman is a researcher and academic specialising in postharvest technology and food quality assessment. Currently based at the University of Foggia (Assistant Professor), Italy, he holds a research position in the Department of Agricultural, Food Science, Natural Resources, and Engineering, with extensive experience in collaborative projects across Europe and Asia. His work focuses on innovative applications of machine vision, fluorescence, and hyperspectral imaging for quality inspection in horticultural produce. Danial serves as an editor and reviewer for international journals, contributes regularly to scientific conferences, and has received multiple awards for research excellence and technological innovation in food engineering. He is also a co-founder of Frescon-Technologies and affiliated with prestigious scientific societies, including ISHS and SISNIR.
Sponsors and Partners
Organizer
The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
Postharvest Biology and Technology of Horticultural Crops
Edited by Dr. Noelia Castillejo and Dr. Danial Fatchurrahman
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 29 April 2026