Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Teresa De Pilli

Biography

Teresa De Pilli is an Assistant professorHer in Department of Science of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Foggia, Italy.Her research interests reflect in her wide range of publications in various national and international journals. researches have been focused on cereal technology and in particular on extrusion cooking technology. She studied the processing conditions to extrude legume flour (chick pea and lentils), fat meals (almond flour, coconut flour, pistachio flour), fibres, vegetable powders. She also evaluated the effects of addition of some additives on the oil loss, which occurs during extrusion processing, and the structural characteristics of extrudates. Moreover, the formation of starch-lipid complexes during extrusion of model system and real food were studied by DSC and x-ray analyses. She studied the directly addition of enzymes into extruder (bioreactor) on the food extruded properties, and the use of some enzymes in order to enhance roasting process by microwaves. Other researches on cereal technology concern the innovative drying systems and the use of non conventional flours (like oat, buckwheat, etc.) to production of fresh and dried pasta. These studies involve both processing and formula optimization in order to obtain functional pasta. An evaluation on quality and rheological characteristics was carried out. Moreover, she studied traditional bread to develop some innovative processing production without changing the sensorial properties of these kind of products. Actually, her researches are focused on sponge cake and sweet cream with low content  of fat, cholesterol and saturated fatty acids; gluten free biscuits filled with partially osmo-dehydrated fruits with high nutritional and functional properties; edible films applied to bakery products like muffins and biodegradable packaging obtained by extrusion-cooking.  

Research Interest

Food Processing and Engineering, Food Science, Food Preservation