Food Packaging Research Group

Food Packaging Research Group

Name of Research Group: Food Packaging Research Group

Main research focus and other areas of research interest of the RG:

  • Development and evaluation of sustainable food packaging materials
  • Development of an undergraduate curriculum for food packaging programme. Here in UNN Packaging of food and other materials has been very strategic in driving civilization and significantly helped to make food available to humanity in season and out of season. It helps to reduce food losses which is presently as high as 50%. To attain sustainable food security in Africa, concerted efforts should be made to understand the packaging dynamics that would influence food storage in the required direction, which a well-developed and responsive packaging curriculum will yield. It will help to promote maximum content delivery to primary beneficiaries such as students, packaging workers, industrialists, and regulatory officers amongst others. Despite the fact the food packaging industry is the largest industry in the world, the food packaging sector of Africa is not well developed due to the limited Food Packaging curriculum in most African universities, with the University of Nigeria inclusive. There is currently no African university having a complete food packaging curriculum, from undergraduate to PhD level, which is the major reason, the research group embarked on developing food packaging curriculum in UNN.
  • We are open to collaboration with universities, industries, and development organizations to build a well-equipped food packaging center, as well as a Department of Food Packaging in UNN.

A maximum of seven (7) other current or completed research projects – N/A

Name of the Coordinator: Mrs. A.O. Amonyeze

UNN email address of the coordinator: ahunna.amonyeze@unn.edu.ng

Research Group Email: fppdevrg@unn.edu.ng

UNN webpage of the RG: https://www.unn.edu.ng/food-packaging-research-group/

Phone number of the coordinator: 08035034414

Base Faculty/Institute/Center of the RG: Faculty of Agriculture

Department of the Coordinator: Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of

Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

Headshot of the coordinator

List and brief profiles of members

  • Ahunna Onyinyechi Amonyeze: Ahunna Amonyeze is a Lecturer of food processing engineering in the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She obtained her MSc in 2019 from the Department of Food Science and Technology and currently concluding her PhD program in the above Department. Ahunna, is an upcoming researcher and a member of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST). Her primary focus areas are food processing and preservation especially in fruits and vegetables, food packaging, food product research and development, food process optimization
  • Gabriel I. Okafor: Gabriel I. Okafor is a Professor of Food Processing Engineering and immediate past Head, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. He obtained his MSc. and PhD degrees in 1991 and 1994, respectively, from the Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies (ONAFT), Odessa, Ukraine. He has two Russian patents on food processing apparatus and over 100 publications. He has five outstanding innovations which are currently undergoing patenting processes in Nigeria. He won the prestigious APV Seligman Fellowship Award in Food Engineering, by the Society of Chemical Industry, UK, which was consummated at University of Reading, UK, in 2004. He served as Visiting Scholar in the following institutions: Plantation Products, Spices & Flavour Technology, Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, India (2002); Dept. of Food Biosciences, University of Reading, UK (2004); Dept. of Food Science and Technology, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria (2014-2015) and School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA (2018-2019). He is a Reviewer of several renowned journals, Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Food Journal, and Member of, Editorial Board of the Journal of Dietitians Association of Nigeria. He is a Fellow  of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) and member of Institute of Packaging, Nigeria and member of Solar Society of Nigeria
  • Anthonia Achike is a Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). She is also, a global/Adjunct faculty member of the Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (Trapca), Arusha-Tanzania. She holds a PhD degree in Agricultural Economics, specializing in Agricultural Finance and Project Analysis. Currently, Prof Achike is the Director of the Gender and Development Policy Centre (GEN-CENT) of University of Nigeria Nsukka, the team leader of Nigeria’s Community Based Poverty Monitoring System (CBMS-Nigeria), UNN Focal Point for the Alliance for the African Partnership (AAP) and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).Googlescholar:https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mmW376kAAAAJ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anthonia-Achike
  • (Mrs.) Nneka Nkechi Uchegbu holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Additionally, she serves in a parallel capacity at General Studies (Natural Sciences unit) within the same institution. Her academic qualifications include a B.Sc in Food Science and Technology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, an M.Sc in Food Science and Technology, and a Ph.D. in Food Science and Processing, both from Enugu State University of Science and Technology. Prior to her tenure at the University of Nigeria, Dr. Uchegbu attained the rank of Principal Lecturer at the Institute of Management and Technology, where she dedicated 21 years to teaching in the Department of Food Science and Technology. She is the esteemed author of textbooks focusing on Introduction to Food Packaging and Food Plant Sanitation. Dr. Uchegbu’s scholarly interests span across Food Packaging, Food Chemistry, and Food Processing. She is an esteemed member of the Nigeria Institute of Food Science and Technology and the Society for Industrial and Applied Microbiology.
  • Mumukom Maximus ANCHANG is a PhD student in Food Engineering and Processing at the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria Nsukka. Anchang is also the co-founder and director of research of the Alternative Protein Project initiative at the University of Nigeria. He holds an MSc. in Food Engineering and Processing from UNN and a B.Tech. in Food Science and Technology from the College of Technology, University of Bamenda. Cameroon.  Anchang is a member of the Institute of Food Technology (IFT), the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIST), and an associate member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. His primary focus areas are food processing/storage, food product research and development, food process optimization and modeling, and, more recently, food systems and food systems transformation.
  • C. F. Okoyeuzu is a Senior Lecturer of Food Process Engineering from the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). He obtained his B.Sc MSc and PhD in the years 2006, 2012, and 2018, respectively. Other qualifications were obtained from UW Global Health e-Learning, USA-Fundamentals of Global Health Research, and UW Global Health e-Learning, USA- Global Health Project Management in 2020. Dr. Okoyeuzu is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) and has publications in reputable journals.

RECENT GRANT

  • Alliance for African Partnership (AAP), USA, funded Development of an Undergraduate Food Packaging Curriculum in the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka in partnership with Michigan State University (MSU) and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe (LUANAR), Malawi.

Members Google Scholar Citation links

  • Gabriel Okafor- Google scholar
  • Googlescholar:https://scholar.google.com/citations? User Achike
  • Okoyeuzu Chigozie – Google scholar
  • Nneka Nkechi Uchegbu -Google scholar

Members Research gate links

Key publications of the RG from 2019 till date      N/A