During her PhD research, Xingchen Zhao focused on ‘Food safety hazard identification and characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis biopesticides applied on edible plants’.
In order to provide a scientific fundament for assessing the food safety (post-harvest) of plant-based food products derived from crops that have been treated (pre-harvest) with B. thuringiensis biocontrol agents for pest control, her PhD research explored in depth the growth, survival and pathogenicity of B. thuringiensis biocontrol agents post-harvest (when treated crops have become food). Her research provides information to elaborate an evidence-based approach to estimate the risk of B. thuringiensis biocontrol agents affecting public health via consumption of plant-based foods.
For her postdoc, she is active on two projects:
RELOG, a project interacted with a number of companies to provide substantiation and advice regarding the management of Salmonella in the production of chocolate (from bean to finished product).
FoodSafeR, an EU project that aims for an integrated approach to the identification, assessment and management of emerging food safety risks in collaboration with various European partners.
In total, she has published 23 peer-reviewed scientific papers (h-index 13, citations 375), and she is the first (co-first author) or corresponding author of 11 publications. During her PhD, she cooperated with multiple food processing companies and research institutes, attended training schools, presented at several international conferences, published in peer-reviewed journals and supervised six Bachelor and Master thesis/internship students.
