Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Vijay Juneja

Biography

Vijay K. Juneja received a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India in 1978; a M.S. degree in Animal Science (Microbiology) from University of Tennessee in 1988; and Ph.D. degree in Food Technology and Science (Food Microbiology) from University of Tennessee in 1991. From 1978 to 1986, Vijay worked as a Practicing Veterinarian in private and government organizations. Following his Ph.D. studies, Vijay joined as a GS-12 Microbiologist at the Eastern Regional Research Center, Philadelphia, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently he is a Lead Scientist (Supervisory Microbiologist, GS-15) of a project entitled, “Predictive Microbiology for Food Safety”. Dr. Juneja is among the world’s leading authorities in food safety research. In the scientific community, he is highly regarded for his ability to build multi-disciplinary teams and to lead, develop, implement, supervise, and integrate basic and applied research programs that respond rapidly to changing research needs. Vijay’s research addresses high priority U.S. national needs by developing technical information and technologies needed by federal regulatory agencies, the food industry, consumers, and the international scientific community. Specifically, his research focuses on the interventions to reduce/eliminate pathogens in foods of animal origin, assessing, minimizing risks from emerging technologies, and developing predictive models and strategies for performing risk assessment on cooked foods. Dr. Juneja develops strategies for research plans, oversees projects, reports results to user groups, and advises regulators (FDA, FSIS, etc.), food industry and young faculty members in universities on technical matters, i.e., research needs, and emerging issues. Both Vijay’s and his colleague’s mathematical models were incorporated into the USDA-ARS-Pathogen Modeling Program.  

Research Interest

Interventions to reduce/eliminate pathogens in foods of animal origin, assessing, minimizing risks from emerging technologies, and developing predictive models and strategies for performing risk assessment on cooked foods.