Profile

Paw Dalgaard is Professor in Predictive Food Microbiology. He works with microbiological quality and safety of fresh and lightly preserved food. The overall aims of this research is to obtain insight into the quantitative microbiological ecology of fresh and lightly preserved food and to use this information for development of new methods and strategies to determine, predict and improve the safety and shelf-life of products. The Food Spoilage & Safety Predictor (FSSP) software has been developed to facilitate dissemination and application of results from the research group.

Other information

Further studies: Visiting scientist at University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, USA (May to October 1998) and at Oniris, Nantes, France (February to June 2012).

Reviewer and editor activities: Member of the Editorial board of International Journal of Food Microbiology (1995- ) and of Journal of Food Protection (2008-2010). Ad hoc reviewer for more than 20 different international scientific journals and in total reviewer of more than 400 manuscripts.

Guest Editor of three special issues: Two for International Journal of Food Microbiology in 2008 and 2010 and one for Food Microbiology in 2015.

Other activities: International Committee of Predictive Modelling in Food (ICPMF). Secretary (2011-12) and chairman (2012-).

Member of International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) and of Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis Professional Development Group (MMRA-PDG) within IAFP (2009-).

Research areas

Research: I study how processing, product characteristics, and distribution systems influence microbial responses including growth, activity and survival in food. These responses have been studied in the continuum from the raw food material to the arrival of the final product to the consumer. Predictive microbiological models and software to predict shelf-life and safety have been developed by combining the analysis of product characteristics using chemical, physical and microbiological measurements with process modelling and kinetics for growth and survival of microorganisms. I have a strong experience in working with aquatic food and increasingly study other foods including dairy products, pork meat and pasta salad. The research group is internationally oriented and regularly host research visits by international scientists.

Software development: The Food Spoilage and Safety Predictor (FSSP) software has been develop and disseminated worldwide (http://fssp.food.dtu.dk/). The FSSP software is used by more than 8000 individuals or institutions from more than 110 different countries.

Teaching activities: My teaching includes supervision of project students at the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D.-levels and lecturing at DTU and at the University of Copenhagen. I am responsible for two courses at DTU: Safety and Health Effects of Aquatic Food (23154) and Predictive Food Microbiology (23551).

Advice to industry and authorities: I regularly provide advice to industry and authorities when they have questions regarding microbial spoilage, shelf-life and safety of seafood. Workshops on using the Food Spoilage and Safety Predictor (FSSP) software has been organized in various countries and for more than 500 persons from industry and authorities.