Maria Isabel Gil is a Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at CEBAS Institute in Murcia (Spain). She coordinates an expert group involved in fundamental and applied aspects of preharvest and postharvest factors affecting quality and safety of fresh produce, particularly leafy vegetables. Her research activities are focused on providing high quality fresh vegetables through the selection of varieties, implementation of good agronomic practices, and the optimization of processing operations including disinfection, packaging, and storage conditions.
She has a strong collaboration with producers and fresh-cut processors. Randolph M. Beaudry is a Professor in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University. His research program is focused on assessing the quality of harvested plant products and the development of technological interventions to improve quality maintenance. Much of the work is focused on developing protocols for storage using modified atmospheres via controlled atmosphere rooms or in polymeric packages.
Packaging studies include mathematical model development for predicting the performance of packaged produce and the development of active packaging solutions.