Ingrenova Committee

Andrés Gavilán Bravo

President of AFCA
(Spanish Association of Food Additive Manufacturers and Distributors)

Andrés Gavilán holds a degree in Chemical Sciences from the Universidad de Barcelona. Manager of R&D&I / Scientific & Regulatory Affairs for La Casera (30 years) and La Casera-Schweppes (3 years), President of the ANFABRA (Spanish acronym for the Spanish Soft Drinks Association) soft drink technical committee (20 years), member of the UNESDA (Union of European Beverages Associations) European soft drink technical committee (12 years) and member of ANEP (Spanish acronym for the National PET Container Association) (6 years). He specializes in R&D&I and regulatory management of food additives, aromas, foods and food contaminants.

He holds the position of Scientific Consultant for Food and Beverage Industries at G.B. Consulting and manages/co-ordinates standardisation tasks for: foods, contaminants, food safety and risk management for AENOR CTN – Spanish acronym for the Spanish Association for Standardisation and Certification’s Standardisation Technical Committee – 34/SC4 (additives, nutrients and contaminants), AENOR CTN 49/GT1 (packaging and the environment), AEN/GET13 Standardisation Committee (risks), ICARE (processing contaminants), OPTI – Spanish acronym for the Observatory for Industrial Technology Foresight (food foresight); participates in the CIOA – Spanish acronym for the Inter-ministry Commission for Food Regulation – for additives and contaminants and as a speaker on courses for: AFCA, CRESCA – Catalan acronym for the Food Safety and Control Research Centre, CSIC – Spanish acronym for the Spanish National Research Council, the Universitat de Lleida, Universitat de Barcelona, and Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and others.    
 
He teaches at: CESIF - Spanish acronym for the Pharmaceutical Industry Centre for Advanced Study (master’s in food technology), National School of Health (food additives and contaminants), Madrid Veterinarians’ Association (waters and functional foods), Madrid Chemists’ Association (functional ingredients and food safety), among others. He has spoken at numerous national and international symposia, congresses and conferences and published various articles and lectures on food-related subjects in specialised magazines and books.

AFCA
(Spanish Association of Food Additive Manufacturers and Distributors)

AFCA is a not-for-profit organisation founded 50 years ago. Its scope covers management of food additives, technological additives, enzymes and food supplements (nutrients, vitamins, minerals, peptides, amino acids, etc.) and ingredients with other healthy properties (polyphenols, phytosterols/phytostanols, essential fatty acids, prebiotics, probiotics, etc.) and vegetable extracts (ginseng, aloe vera,  green tea, etc.), superfruits and novel ingredients, among others).
 
Basic information is supplied to members through a digital newsletter and various types of scientific/technical media on food additives and supplements and to the public through its website. Courses for the food industry in general are organised on an annual basis covering innovation in the area of additives and functional ingredients in collaboration with universities and technology centres. In addition, courses are organised on food hygiene and safety (HACCP Guide, ISO 22000 standard, etc.)  
 
Its activities focus primarily on information, training and consulting (ITC) for AFCA members, national (AESAN - Spanish acronym for the Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency, CSIC – Spanish acronym for the Spanish National Research Council, ACS, APS, CRESCA - Catalan acronym for the Food Safety and Control Research Centre, National School of Health, universities and official schools – chemistry, veterinary, pharmaceutical, etc.) and international (EFSA, ELC, ILSI, CIAA, etc.) official and academic institutions, other associations and consumers.

Josep Mª Monfort

Managing Director of IRTA (Agri-Food Research and Technology Institute).

Doctorate in Science from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

Monfort Bolívar is currently First Deputy Chair of the board of trustees of the Centa-Technology Centre Foundation (Catalan acronym for the Centre for New Food Technologies and Processes). He represents IRTA on the board of directors of the SAFE Consortium. Member of the governing council of the Spanish platform Food for Life.

He has been an A+ Researcher for IRTA, Director of IRTA – Food Technology (35 doctorate holders and 20 university graduates), Director of the Food Technology Reference Network for the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan autonomous community government), and Director/Co-ordinator of the Processed Meat Product Competence Centre state network. Science Co-ordinator for the Cenit FUTURAL Project (industrial project with 30 companies, 6 public research organisations and technology centres). Head Deputy Researcher for the Consolider CARNISENUSA Project (coordinated project of 16 Spanish R&D groups). He has taught at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, the Universidad de Barcelona and the Universidad de Girona and has taught on master’s courses at 11 Spanish universities. He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and lectures.

IRTA
(Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries)

IRTA is a Research Institute of the Catalan Government. It was created by Law 23/1985 on 28th November 1985 by the Parliament of Catalonia. IRTA's activities are concerned with scientific research and technology transfer in the area of agriculture, aquaculture and the agrifood industry and it functions under private sector law.
 
IRTA was created as an expression of the will to form an efficient instrument through the policy of stimulus for technological innovation based on scientific advances and to help its operation through economic means. This is seen as an unavoidable way of contributing to the modernization and economic development of both the agrifood sector and the country.
 
Among its general objectives are to stimulate research and technological development within the agrifood area, to facilitate the transfer of scientific advances and to promote its own technological advances by looking for the maximum co-ordination and collaboration with the public and private sector.
 
IRTA has promoted, since its creation, the establishment of permanent collaboration agreements with other public institutions in Catalonia that work in the area of research and technological development. As a result, this policy has led to the existence of a network of associated centres (e.g. between IRTA, Universities, CSIC, Committees, etc.) that can be defined as a co-operative R+D system.

Narcís Grèbol Massot

Manager of CENTA (Centre for New Food Technologies and Processes, a private foundation)

Narcis Grèbol holds a degree in Biology from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. He was the Technical Manager of Esteban Espuña, S.A. for 26 years, where he developed new technologies for the making of cured ham and fermented products and the first industrial application of high pressure for meat products. He obtained a Diploma of Advanced Studies from the Universitat de Girona, where he worked as part-time lecturer. He currently manages the CENTA technology centre (Catalan acronym for the Centre for New Food Technologies and Processes) and is Secretary of INNOVACC (Catalan acronym for the Association of Innovative Meat Sector Companies). He is a specialist in meat product technology, industrial uses of new technologies applied to foods, industrial management of food safety and corporate innovation management.

CENTA
( Centre for New Food Technologies and Processes, a private foundation)

CENTA is a technology centre, part of the network of technology centres of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan autonomous community government). It was established as a private foundation with three governmental patrons (IRTA - Catalan acronym for the Agri-Food Research and Technology Institute, the Universitat de Girona and CIDEM - Catalan acronym for the Centre for Innovation and Business Development), four companies representing different food sectors and four business associations.

It shares a 4000 m2 building in Monells (Girona) with IRTA Food Technologies. The facility has industrial equipment for the majority of new technologies which are applicable to food, available to companies for carrying out both research projects and demonstrations of new technologies on products from the companies themselves or the development and validation of new products or processes.

It offers services to companies: hydrostatic high pressure, microwaves, radio frequency, light pulses, non-invasive sensors for controlling product or process parameters, design and development of new packaging systems, advice on managing food safety and hygienic design of facilities and equipment, food product life, sensory analysis, training and innovation diagnostics in companies.

Lola Fernández Paniagua

TECNIFOOD Manager

Lola Fernández holds a degree in Information Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She began her professional career in the technical media working with several national publications. She then launched her own title: Dulces Noticias… y algo más, the first publication of the Sweet Press publishing house, which was founded in 1988 and which she has run since that time.

Over more than twenty years, she has developed a variety of projects as the head of the publishing company: the Professional Snack and Sweets Guides, which are currently published as a group under the name Guide to Impulse Consumer Goods. Among the most noteworthy titles are Tecnifood, Retail News and the Food Technology Guide.

In addition, Lola Fernández has been involved in various publishing projects, including The Business Owner’s Guide, the publication Muy Saludable, the magazine Saludiario and other publications for professional or business groups.

She has also been involved in organising professional events such as the Snack Seminar and has spoken at various conferences, including Exchanges between Industry and Distribution, Fead (Spanish acronym for the Federation of Spanish Sweets Associations) and Wholesale Distribution, and the 4th B2B Magazine Conference.

Tecnifood

1998 saw the debut of Tecnifood, the food technology publication which brings together all the information of interest to the food and beverage production sector. This magazine revolutionised the information market with a special take on circulation and putting the supply and demand sides into contact. It has become the reference and reading tool for this sector.