Carol Valenzuela Martínez is a scientific researcher in the Laboratorio de Investigación y Entrenamiento en Microbiología de Alimentos (LIMA) of the Centro de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET) and the Centro Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos (CITA) de la Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR). She has participated in different research projects that include the In Vitro inhibition of Campylobacter spp. and Arcobacter butzlery using different antimicrobial agents. She has also collaborated in the project “Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of coffee bean extracts against the sporulation and growth of Bacillus cereus y Clostridium perfringens. Dra.Valenzuela has recently received a grant from the project “Prevalence, survival and growth of Salmonella spp. and Bacillus cereus in frozen microwaveable non ready to eat food products that contain chicken that are meant to be cooked in domestic microwaves. Project number: 735-C3-61.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science from Mexico (degree equivalent from the Universidad de Costa Rica). Her master’s degree was obtained from the Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo (CIAD) from México. Her masters project research was done in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln evaluating different natural antimicrobial interventions against Listeria monocytogenes and Clostridium perfringens in ready to eat meat products.

She got her Ph.D. in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her thesis dissertation included the destruction of Salmonella spp. in frozen microwaveable non ready to eat products that are meant to be cooked in domestic microwave ovens. In her thesis, the proper cooked times to kill Salmonella spp. were calculated in different food matrices. In the year of 2013, she graduated and received her Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology with emphasis in Applied Food Microbiology. In addition to academic reseacr, Dra. Valenzuela has a lot of experience in the food industry of the United States.