Dr Petru JITARU

Petru Jitaru is an expert in food chemistry, mainly related to trace and ultra-trace elements determination, speciation analysis (including using species-specific isotope dilution) and nanoparticles characterisation by “single particle” inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

Petru Jitaru has completed the Ph.D. (2004) at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and after a short stay at the University of Iasi, Romania, he got a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (Elemental speciation analysis in bio-molecules) at the National research Council in Venice, Italy (2006-2008). He then pursuit his career as a post-doctoral researcher at the National Metrological Laboratory (LNE) in Paris (2008-2010). Then he became assistant professor at the UniLsalle Polytechnic Institute in Beauvais, France (2010-2015).

Since 2016, Petru Jitaru Petru Jitaru is the head of the unit Trace Metals and Minerals of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES).

The current research projects comprise methods development & validation of ultra-trace multi-elemental determination and speciation analysis of Hg, As and Cr in foodstuffs in the framework of the 3rd French Total Diet Study. Research is also ongoing to extend the applications of the inorganic tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) to the characterisation of organic contaminants containing heteroatom(s) in foodstuffs.

Within the Up4Food project, Petru Jitaru coordinates the food safety related to raw materials and final products, either in terms of organic and inorganic contaminants. Additionally, he is the leader of the work package “Communication and dissemination” hence ensuring, together with the project’s coordinator, the dissemination activities and external communication related to the project.

Dr Eng. Olga Szulecka

Olga Szulecka is an expert in fish technology, hygienic requirements of the fish processing plants, food safety and quality legislation. Her main areas of interest are traceability in the fish value chain, instrumental research methods, fish product development, and consumer research. She is also a consultant for fish sector entities and supervisory authorities in the field of food safety, traceability and Polish trade names of marine invertebrates.

In 2012 she completed her PhD in economy in commodity science at the Maritime University in Gdynia, Poland. In the PhD thesis, she evaluated the internal traceability systems implementation in Polish fish processing plants.

Since 2003 she has been working in Morski Instytut Rybacki – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (National Marine Fisheries Research Institute) in Gdynia, Poland. At first as a specialist at the Department of Processing Technology and Mechanization than as a senior specialist and assistant professor at the Department of Fisheries Economics and deputy head of this unit.

She has been a leader or the member of the team of several scientific national and international projects, connected with traceability in the fish sector, fish processing technology, aquaculture, and bioeconomy, e.g. project supported by the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance relating to the traceability system implementation in the Polish fish processing industry.

She organized and led the trainings for fishermen, fish farmers, fish processors and fish inspectors in the field of traceability requirements and implementations, technology of fish processing, and fish marketing standards.

She is also an expert in the Technical Committee of fish and fish products in the Polish Committee for Standardization and Polish representative in West European Fish Technologists Association. She is an author and co-author of 20 English and Polish publications and book chapters in the area of fish traceability, and fish technology. She is also an editor and co-author of Polish monograph “Code for the Code of Good Production Practices in Fish Processing”.

Her current and recently completed research projects comprise new fish product development from low-value fish species and consumer and economic research in this area.

Within the Up4Food project, Olga Szulecka leads Work Package 6, which is dedicated to knowing the consumer attitudes to new food concepts and also stakeholders’ knowledge barriers to improving utilization of the side-streams from food production. Additionally, she coordinates the work in task 4.4 about the economic aspects of introducing new food concepts to the market.