Elina Säde

Elina Säde is a Senior University Lecturer at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health. She is an expert in food safety and food spoilage with extensive research experience in food microbiology.

Her research interests focus on:

• Food safety and hygiene
• Microbial spoilage of foods
• Shelf-life of foods
• Food microbiology
• Microbial ecology in food systems

Dr. Säde's publication record demonstrates expertise in food spoilage bacteria, particularly lactic acid bacteria and their impact on meat, fish, and vegetable products. Her work examines microbial communities in modified atmosphere packaged foods, bacterial taxonomy, and food safety issues related to biogenic amines and pathogens. Recent publications show a growing interest in sustainable food systems and the application of genomic approaches to food microbiology problems.

She has supervised numerous licentiate theses in veterinary medicine and serves on various committees related to food safety. Dr. Säde is also active in peer review for multiple food microbiology journals and participates regularly in national and international conferences.

Dr. Säde leads research projects including "ETTS 2024_Elintarvikehygienian tutkimuss" (2024-2025), "Climate smart food and nutrition research infrastructure" (2020-2021), and "Identification of spoilage bacteria of fish" (2019-2021). She is part of the Helsinki One Health (HOH) research organization, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to food safety issues.