Maria Cefola is graduated in Food Science and Technology; she attended the PhD in Innovation
Management in the Agri-food System of the Mediterranean Region at the University of Foggia
and the Department of Plant Science of the University of California (Davis) carrying out
research on the application of controlled atmosphere for the preservation of vegetable
products. Since 2014 she has been a CNR (National Research Council of Italy) researcher at
the headquarters of the Institute of the Sciences of Food Production (ISPA) located in Bari
until 2017; and subsequently at the secondary research unit of the same CNR Institute
located in Foggia, where she coordinates and manages the laboratories, and the research
group specialized in the topic of post-harvest of fruit and vegetable products. During her
scientific career she has developed significant experience in the post-harvest sector of
fruit and vegetable products, in the application of modified and controlled atmospheres to
improve the storage and transport of products, in the application of treatments based on
natural substances and innovative packaging to preserve the quality and extend the
shelf-life of fresh and fresh-cut vegetable products, in the selection of volatile organic
compounds as markers of quality or stressful storage condition, and in the application of
non-destructive methods for measuring quality also through packaging. She contributed to the
creation, at the Foggia research unit, of a controlled atmosphere management laboratory,
equipped with six cabinets with computerized control of the atmosphere and supporting
sensors and of a laboratory for image analysis of fruit and vegetable products, including
packaged, through a computerized vision system. Regarding the packaging of fresh vegetable
products, she participated in the development and validation of new packaging to extend the
shelf-life of fresh fruit and vegetables - made by the company Cartarredo SE.MA srl and the
Spin-off Nice filler - marketed respectively under the brands: NidoTech® and Cronogard®, and
of an active packaging made by the company SADA Packaging. As a CNR researcher, she
participated in numerous European, national and private research projects on the topic of
post-harvest, and participated in numerous national and international courses and
conferences on the topic of post-harvest. Over 160 printed works have been published in
scientific journals, volumes, conference proceedings. In Scopus (n. 28567510000) the 85
peer-reviewed works have over 1600 citations with an h-index of 28. Since 2021 she has held
the role of member of the Editorial Board in the Food Packaging and Preservation section of
the scientific journal Foods – MDPI, she holds the role of referee for numerous journals of
the publishing houses: Elsevier, ISHS, MDPI, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Wiley.
