**About the Editors**

### **Theodoros Varzakas**

Theodoros Varzakas has a Bachelor's (Honours) in Microbiology and Biochemistry (1992), a Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology, and an MBA in Food and Agricultural Management from Reading University, UK (1998). He has also worked as postdoctoral research staff at the same university. He worked in large pharmaceutical and multinational food companies in Greece for 5 years and has at least 22 years of experience in the public sector. Since 2005, he has served as Assistant, Associate, and Full Professors at the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, ex Technological Educational Institute of Peloponnese, Greece, specializing in issues of food technology, food processing/engineering, and food quality and safety. He is also a Section Editor-in-Chief (Food Security and Sustainability) for the journal *Foods* (2020–), was an ex Editor-in-Chief for *Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science* (2015–2019), and is a reviewer and member of the editorial board in many international journals. He has written more than 250 research papers and chapters in books and has presented more than 160 papers and posters at national and international conferences. He has written and edited 15 books in Greek and 11 in English on sweeteners, biosensors, food engineering, food processing, chemometrics, and authenticity published by CRC. He has participated in many European and national research programs as a coordinator or scientific member. His work has been cited in over 4000 citations and has an h-index of 31. He is also an ex EFSA advisor/scientific expert on a panel about biological hazards; a visiting professor at Ghent University global campus, South Korea; and a Research Fellow at the University Technology Malaysia. According to an update on data from September 2022 for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators", Varzakas Theodoros is in the top 2% of citations worldwide.

### **Rui M.S. Cruz**

Rui M. S. Cruz has a Bachelor's in Food Engineering (2001) and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology, with expertise in Food Science and Engineering, from the Portuguese Catholic University (2009). He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Food Engineering, ISE, at the University of Algarve and a researcher at MED (Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development) and CHANGE (Global Change and Sustainability Institute). His area of interest is the application of emerging and sustainable technologies in food preservation, particularly in the development of new biodegradable packaging systems and the application of new technologies in food processing. He has collaborated with several food companies in the development of new products and the application of processes, as well as in the characterization and determination of the shelf-lives of different food products. He has evaluated and participated in several research projects, written more than 30 research papers and chapters in books, and presented several posters and oral presentations at national and international conferences. He has also edited five international books in food processing, food analysis, and food packaging. He has reviewed more than 2500 research papers in the area of Food Science and Technology. He is also a member of the editorial board in international journals such as *Heliyon*, *Journal of Food Processing and Preservation*, *All Life*, *Applied Food Research*, *Frontiers in Food Science and Technology*, *Open Agriculture*, *International Journal of Food Studies*, and *LWT—Food Science and Technology*.
