Dr. Sanu Jacob is the Director of the National Food Laboratory (NFL) in Chennai, India, which comes under the aegis of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Government of India. He has over 20 years of multicultural and multi-disciplinary work experience in agriculture and food sciences.
Dr. Jacob obtained his Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Milan (UNIMI), Italy, and has postdoctoral experiences in France, Italy, and Canada. He also received grants and fellowships from Israel, the Netherlands, the US and the EU linked to his expertise. Dr. Jacob is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Society for Horticultural Sciences (ISHS), the International Food Safety and Quality Network (IFSQN), and many others. He has published peer-reviewed articles and chapters in agriculture and food sciences, in which he has also guided and co-guided the dissertation works of many students.
Dr. Jacob serves as an ex-officio member of the Board of Governors at the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Thanjavur, India and is a member of the Board of Studies for both National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, India and Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), Kochi, India. He also serves as a member of the department advisory board for the Department of Food Science and Technology at Saintgits College of Engineering, Kottayam, India. Dr. Jacob mentors aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators funded under various schemes of the State and Central Government of India. By utilizing his scientific acumen, he serves as an editorial board member of the Journal of Food Science & Technology (JFST) and the Journal of Post-harvest Technology (JPHT). Previously, he was selected as an external reserve expert to evaluate the EU - COST (European Union - Cooperation on Science and Technology) research proposals. He has also coordinated the scientific panels of FSSAI on [1] fruits and vegetables and their products, [2] biological hazards, and [3] contaminants in the food chain and served as an ex-officio member of the scientific panel of FSSAI on sampling and analysis methods.
Dr. Jacob serves as an expert member / resource person / master trainer of FSSAI in various committees and forums, both inter- and intra-institutional. Born in 1975, Dr. Sanu Jacob is a highly accomplished and respected scientist, academician and leader.
