Matthijs Dekker

Dr. Matthijs Dekker is an Associate Professor in the Food Quality and Design group at Wageningen University, Netherlands. He holds a PhD and has prior industry experience at Unilever Research Laboratory. His research focuses on process/product design impacts on food health aspects, phytochemicals in fruits/vegetables, mathematical modeling in food science, and innovative food packaging. With over 130 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 40), he leads projects on antimicrobial packaging, food matrix effects, and consumer-focused food design.

Research Interests: Dekker’s work integrates food engineering, nutrition, and packaging science. Key themes include optimizing phytochemical stability during processing, developing smart packaging systems, and modeling digestion dynamics. He explores how food structure influences bioactive compound bioavailability and sensory attributes.

Publications Overview: Recent work spans antimicrobial packaging innovations, carotenoid bioaccessibility, and glucosinolate stability. His articles highlight interdisciplinary approaches linking food chemistry, microbiology, and consumer behavior to enhance food safety and health benefits.

Professional Activities: He serves on scientific committees (e.g., Healthier Food Logo, Novel Foods Safety Assessment) and lectures at the Dutch Packaging Center. Teaching responsibilities include courses on predictive modeling, food packaging design, and data science applications in food systems.

Labs/Teams: Leads a multidisciplinary team in the Food Quality and Design group, collaborating on EU-funded projects like antimicrobial nanostructures in packaging and sustainable logistics solutions for perishables.