Dr. Nuria Prieto

Research Scientist - Meat Quality and Sensory Chemometrics

Dr. Nuria Prieto conducts research to assist the Canadian meat industry with their current vision of determining points of product differentiation, without additional costs for packers and retailers, as a strategy towards increasing national and international competitiveness. The major objectives of Dr. Prieto’s Meat Quality and Sensory Chemometrics program are focused on differentiation of meat and meat products based on quality and sensory attributes, implementation of strategies to produce value-added meat from agriculturally important livestock species, address of meat palatability issues including understanding and control of flavour through technological advances in meat chemistry and chemometrics, and evaluation of non-invasive technologies for rapid assessment of meat quality attributes.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
6000 C & E Trail, Lacombe, Alberta, T4L 1W1

Current research and/or projects

  • Benchmarking Canadian retail beef flavour.
  • Canada's National Beef Quality Audit at Retail and Processing.
  • Alberta Beef Flavour: Utilizing flavour chemistry and sensory methods towards determining the uniqueness of Alberta beef flavour.
  • Novel analytical methods for meat flavour fingerprinting.
  • Classifying Canadian pork based on quality attributes.

Research and/or project statements

  • Generate new knowledge of attributes that differentiate Canadian meat and meat products, while meeting quality and cost requirements, to improve the profitability and competitiveness of the agri-food sector.
  • Improve key meat quality attributes from agriculturally important livestock species.
  • Enhancement of meat palatability, including flavour fingerprinting to identify volatile compounds that allow the rapid and anticipated identification of products with potentially desirable flavours, as well as their monitoring and marketing to target populations.
  • Market-driven quality assessment technologies: development and implementation of new high-throughput technologies for meat quality evaluation.

Professional activities / interests

  • Meat Quality
  • Meat Sensory Evaluation
  • Meat Optoelectronics (e.g. Near Infrared Spectroscopy-NIRS)
  • Bioinformatics

Education and awards

Education

  • 2006   Ph.D. (A with honours) in Animal Production. University of León (Spain).
  • 2004   M.Sc. in Veterinary. University of León (Spain).     
  • 2000   B.Sc. in Biology. University of Salamanca (Spain) and University of Swansea (UK).

Awards

  • 2008     Award of the Royal Academy of Veterinary Sciences “Award of the Distinguished Official College of Veterinarians from Madrid, NEW CAREER FIELDS" by the study “Application of new technologies (NIRS) to characterize beef from a quality brand”.
  • 2007     Award of the Carolina Rodríguez Foundation “Mariano Rodriguez Award for Young Scientists, AREA OF NATURAL AND TECHNICAL SCIENCES" by the study “Characterization of beef produced at the mountains of León: application of new technologies”.

International experience and/or work

  • 2015-Present: Research Scientist - Meat Quality and Sensory Chemometrics. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Lacombe Research and Development Centre. Lacombe, Canada.
  • 2013-2015: Research Associate. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada.
  • 2012-2013: Research Assistant. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Lacombe Research and Development Centre. Lacombe, Canada.
  • 2009-2012: Research Scientist. Spanish National Research Council-University of León. León, Spain.
  • 2007-2009: Post-doctoral Fellow. Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, UK.
  • 2006-2007: Research Assistant. Spanish National Research Council-University of León. León Spain.
  • 2002-2006: Ph.D. Fellowship. Spanish National Research Council-University of León, Spain.
  • 2000-2002: Ph.D. Fellowship. Institute of Biotechnology, INBIOTEC. León, Spain.
  • 2000: Graduate Student Research Assistant. Water-treatment plant, AQUAGEST. Zamora, Spain.
  • 1999-2000: Undergraduate Student Research Assistant. University of Salamanca. Salamanca, Spain.

Key publications

  1. Tecnologías espectrales para la predicción de la calidad de la carne. Eurocarne vol. 312, pp. 67-78, December 2022.

    2022 - View publication details

  2. W. Barragán, J.L. Aalhus, G. Penner, M.E.R. Dugan, M. Juárez, Ó. López-Campos, P. Vahmani, J. Segura, J. Angulo and N. Prieto, 2020. Authentication of barley-finished beef using visible and near infrared spectroscopy (Vis-NIRS) and different discrimination approaches. Meat Science,172,108342.

    2021 - View publication details

  3. Aplicación de nuevas tecnologías en la clasificación de canales. J. Segura, N. Prieto, M. Juárez, J.L. Aalhus, W. Barragán-Hernández, Ó. López-Campos. Eurocarne nº 290. October 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  4. Effect of in-the bag dry ageing on the flavour profile of beef low value cuts. L. Evasiuk, J. L. Aalhus, O. Lopez-­Campos, I. L. Larsen, N. Prieto. Proceedings of International Congress of Meat Science and Reciprocal Meat Conference. Number 50 August 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  5. Implementation of the Canadian retail cut beef yield grades. J. Segura, J. L. Aalhus, I. L. Larsen, N. Prieto, M. E. Dugan, O. Lopez-­Campos. Proceedings of International Congress of Meat Science and Reciprocal Meat Conference. Number 141 August 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  6. PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF THE MULTIVARIATE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OXIDATION
    PRODUCTS AND COLOR ATTRIBUTES IN BISON LONGISSIMUS LUMBORUM AND PSOAS MAJOR MUSCLES. M. M. Hasan, V. Sood, C. Erkinbaev, J. Paliwal, S. Suman, N. Prieto, A. R. Rodas-­Gonzalez. Proceedings of International Congress of Meat Science and Reciprocal Meat Conference. Number 191 August 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  7. Evaluation of the computer vision system (CVS) to predict primal composition of mature cows. J. Segura, J. L. Aalhus, I. L. Larsen, N. Prieto, M. Juarez, O. Lopez-­Campos. Proceedings of International Congress of Meat Science and Reciprocal Meat Conference. Number 151 August 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  8. Potential of visible and near infrared spectroscopy to authenticate barley finished beef. W. Barragan, J. L. Aalhus, G. B. Penner, M. E. Dugan, M. Juarez, O. Lopez-­Campos, P. Vahmani, J. Segura, J. Angulo, N. Prieto. Proceedings of International Congress of Meat Science and Reciprocal Meat Conference. Number 156 August 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  9. Effect of country of origin and cooking endpoint temperature on the flavour profile of beef. N. Prieto, J. L. Aalhus, I. L. Larsen, Z. Pietrasik, N. J. Gaudett. Proceedings of International Congress of Meat Science and Reciprocal Meat Conference. Number 64 August 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  10. Discrimination between Barley and Corn finished Beef by visible and near infrared spectroscopy. W. Barragan, J.L. Aalhus, G.B. Penner, M.E.R. Dugan, M. Juárez, Ó. López-Campos, P. Vahmani, J. Segura, J. Angulo, and N. Prieto. CMSA-ASCV 2020

    2020 - View publication details

  11. Predicción de la composición de la canal mediante espectroscopía de infrarrojo cercano en el pabellón auricular de cerdos. N. Prieto, J. Segura, M.E.R. Dugan, M. Juárez, Ó. López-Campos, R.T. Zijlstra, J.L. Aalhus. Eurocarne nº 282 Décembre 2020

    2019 - View publication details

  12. Pulido, E., Fernández, M., Prieto, N., Baldwin, R.L., Andrés, S., López, S., Giráldez, F.J. (2019). Effect of milking frequency and α-tocopherol plus selenium supplementation on sheep milk lipid composition and oxidative stability. Journal of Dairy Science (JDS), [online] 102(4), 3097-3109. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-15456

    2019 - View publication details

  13. In-the bag dry ageing as a strategy to produce value added Beef with enhanced flavor profiles. N. Prieto*, R. Thacker, I.L. Larsen, Ó. López-Campos, M. Juárez and J.L. Aalhus. CMSA-ASCV

    2018 - View publication details

  14. Volatile compounds responsible for the fishy off-flavour in Beef with enhanced healthful fatty acids. N. Prieto, R. Thacker, I.L. Larsen, M.E.R. Dugan, P. Vahmani, M. Juárez, Ó. López-Campos, J.L. Aalhus. CMSA-ASCV 2018

    2018 - View publication details

  15. Soladoye, O.P., Prieto, N., Lopez-Campos, O., Aalhus, J.L., Uttaro, B., Roberts, J.C., Larsen, I., Shand, P., Gariépy, C., Juárez, M. (2018). Potential of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in predicting pork belly softness. Meat Science, [online] 142 1-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.03.025

    2018 - View publication details

  16. Juarez, M., Horcada, A., Prieto, N., Roberts, J.C., Dugan, M.E.R., Lopez-Campos, O, Uttaro, B., Larsen, I.L., Hosford, S., Galbraith J., Aalhus J.L. 2017 Guaranteeing Canadian lamb meat quality using near infrared spectroscopy on intact rack. Can J Anim Sci. 98: 390-393. doi:10.1139/CJAS-2017-0106

    2018 - View publication details

  17. Prieto N, Dugan MER, Vahmani P, Rolland DC, Aalhus JL (2018) Using blood near infrared spectra from steers to classify fat and meat samples with low or high levels of vaccenic acid. NIR news 29 (2):10-13. doi:10.1177/0960336017751466

    2018 - View publication details

  18. Juárez, M., Roberts, J.C., López-Campos, Ó., Prieto, N., Aalhus, J.L. (2018). Focusing on phenomics to unlock the potential of livestock genomics. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, [online] 13 http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/PAVSNNR201813019

    2018 - View publication details

  19. Prieto, N., Osika, E., Aalhus, J.L., Lopez-Campos, O., Juarez, M., Pawluczyk, O. (2018). Application of hyperspectral imaging on meat and meat products, 13 http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/PAVSNNR201813042

    2018 - View publication details

  20. Juárez, M., Dugan, M.E.R., López-Campos, Ó., Prieto, N., Uttaro, B., Gariépy, C., Aalhus, J.L. (2017). Relative contribution of breed, slaughter weight, sex, and diet to the fatty acid composition of differentiated pork, 97(3), 395-405. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/CJAS-2016-0103

    2017 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Lacombe Research and Development Centre
6000 C and E Trail
Lacombe, AB T4L 1W1
Canada

Expertise

Agriculture›Agri-Food
Agriculture›Beef
Agriculture›Biochemistry›Food
Agriculture›Bioinformatics
Agriculture›Food Science›Food biochemistry
Agriculture›Meat science
Agriculture›Pork
Agriculture›Sensory evaluation
Food›Agriculture
Food›Cooking

Affiliations

Canadian Meat Science Association (CMSA) - Director Western Canada & Chair of the Website and Electronic Communications Committee.

 

 

Language

English

Other languages

Spanish