Phytochemicals and Medicinal Plants in Food Design: Strategies and Technologies for Improved Healthcare

Discusses plant-based secondary metabolites for healthcare, focusing on the health aspects of herbs and medicinal plants and nutraceuticals for livestock production and for the treatment of diseases such as HIV and diabetes.

Megh R. Goyal, PhD, PE, is a Retired Professor in Agricultural and Biomedical Engineering from the General Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus. He has worked as a Soil Conservation Inspector and as a Research Assistant at Haryana Agricultural University and Ohio State University. He was the first agricultural engineer to receive the professional license in Agricultural Engineering from the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico, and was proclaimed as the Father of Irrigation Engineering in Puerto Rico for the twentieth century by the ASABE, Puerto Rico Section, for his pioneering work on micro irrigation, evapotranspiration, agroclimatology, and soil and water engineering. During his professional career of over 52 years, he has received many prestigious awards. A prolific author and editor, he has written more than 200 journal articles and several textbooks and has edited over 75 books.

Preeti Birwal, PhD, is working as a Scientist (processing and food engineering) in the Department of Processing and Food Engineering at the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. She is currently working in the area of nonthermal food preservation, fermented beverages, food packaging, and technology of millet-based beer. She has served at Jain Deemed to be University, Bangalore, as member of the board of examiners and placements. She has participated at several national and international conferences and seminars and has delivered lectures as a resource person on doubling farmers’ income through dairy technology in training sponsored by the directorate of Extension, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Dr. Birwal has published research papers, an edited book, book chapters, popular articles, conference papers, abstracts, and editorial opinions. She is advising several MTech scholars in food technology and has successfully guided postgraduate students for their dissertation work. She also serves as an external examiner for various Indian state agricultural universities. She is also serving as editor and reviewer of several journals. Dr. Birwal has been named outstanding reviewer of the month by the online journal Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science. She has successfully completed AUTOCAD 2D & 3D certification. She is a life member of IDEA. She is a life member of IDEA. She holds a degree in Dairy Technology from ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India; master’s in Food Process Engineering and Management from NIFTEM, Haryana; and PhD (Dairy Engineering) from ICAR-NDRI, Bangalore, India. She is the recipient of fellowships from MHRD, Nestle India, GATE, and UGC-RGNF.

Santosh Kumar Mishra, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Dairy Microbiology at the College of Dairy Science and Technology at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. He is currently working in the area of functional foods and dairy products, incorporating live probiotics and technology of functional lactic cultures for fermented and non-fermented dairy products. He has served in the dairy industry as a Quality Assurance Executive at the Mother Dairy, New Delhi, India. He is handling several externally funded projects by the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Ministry of Food Processing Industries, and the Indian University Grants Commission as principal investigator or co-principal investigator. He has received several awards for best papers and poster presentations. He is the recipient of junior and senior research fellowships during his master and doctoral programs from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India. Recently he has received an Award of Honor at the International Conference sponsored by Partap College of Education, Ludhiana, in association with the International Professionals Development Association, UK. He has published several research, review, and popular articles in national and international journals as well as several book chapters and teaching reviews in various training programs.