Alfredo Montaño received his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Seville in 1987, and currently is a scientific researcher at the Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC). His scientific career has been linked to the Department of Food Biotechnology since the very beginning (year 1983), except for a period (between 1990 and 1991) in which he worked as a fellow at the Center for the Sciences of Food and Nutrition of the Oxford Polytechnic University. In all this time, he has specialized in the analysis of different classes of chemical compounds (sugars, organic acids, vitamins, amino acids, organosulfur compounds, acrylamide, volatile compounds, etc.) using different analytical techniques (HPLC, GC-MS, spectrophotometry, etc.), and in the elaboration of fermented vegetables, with emphasis on the study of chemical, sensory and nutritional changes during processing and storage time. To date, his major scientific achievements include:

• Identification of the compound responsible for the typical odor of the “zapatera” spoilage in Spanish-style green olives, as well as of the corresponding precursor compound.
• Contribution to the knowledge of fermentation chemistry in Spanish-style green table olives.
• Contribution to the knowledge of chemical reactions induced by thermal treatments in sterilized olives, such as racemization of amino acids and formation of acrylamide.
• Development of a database on nutritional composition in table olives, which is currently used by companies in the sector for the nutritional labeling of their products.
• Knowledge of stability of different additives (ascorbic acid, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, sodium glutamate, sulfites) during the storage of pickled vegetables and its impact on quality.
• Contribution to the knowledge of the chemistry and microbiology of fermentation in
pickled caperberries.
• Development of a new process for the preparation of fermented carrots, with knowledge of the microbial evolution and the biochemistry of fermentation.
• Development of different processes of elaboration, with and without fermentation, of pickled garlic, with knowledge of chemical, sensory and nutritional changes during processing and storage.
• Contribution to the knowledge of volatile profile of table olives (both Spanish-style and Californian-style) as affected by cultivar and processing steps.

He has been supervisor of 2 Ph.D. Thesis and has published over 85 articles in journals and books in the field of Food Science and Technology, as well as 3 patents. His current interests are focused on studying the contribution of yeasts to the volatilome of naturally fermented green olives, which will be of great importance for a better establishment of the quality of this product and for the development of improved fermentation procedures.