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Kamila Méndez Calderón

Research Fellow
Food Processing and Nutrition

Kamila Méndez Calderón is part of the Food Processing and Nutrition Research Group, as a part of the project: cLabel+Alimentos Inovadores “clean label” naturais, nutritivos e orientados para o consumidor. Her work is focused on the development of low sugar food products and the incorporation of functional compounds in healthy formulations.

She has participated in different research projects, working on novel technologies for fruits and vegetables, like ultrasound, extrusion, sensory analysis, among others. Thanks to those previous experiences, the National University of Colombia awarded her master thesis with a meritorious distinction, and she was the winner of one national and one international scholarship. Kamila developed two different short-stay in Spain, the first one (2015), in the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) in Lleida to evaluate the shelf-life of tropical fruits. The second one (2019) was to evaluate the effect of nutritional label on the students’ choices in the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) in Valencia. Kamila has led different degrees projects to develop new functional formulations, including peels and seeds as a functional ingredient.

“Frutas tropicales deshidratadas se convierten en saludables snacks”, April 21, 2015
“Semillas y cáscaras enriquecen rellenos de panes y donas”, March 7, 2017
“Panes y donas mejoradas con pulpas y semillas de frutas”, March 10, 2017
“Lo natural no nos engaña, (Natual food does not lie to us)”, [1]enganaEG549431 , January, 2019.

Selected Publications

  • “Más allá de la fruta fresca. Tendencias y oportunidades de productos derivados de
    fruta.”
    Alternativas innovadoras para la agregación de valor a las frutas colombianas.
    En: Colombia ISBN: 978-958-775-522-0 ed: Empresa Editorial
    Universidad Nacional De Colombia, v., p.17 – 42 ,2015.2, Printed book.