Recent research:
Across diverse environmental and agricultural contexts, the researcher integrates traceability, contamination assessment, and bioactive potentials to advance public health and sustainable practices. The work demonstrates heavy-metal profiling in rice agrosystems and edible mollusks, revealing soil and water pathways of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and chromium with implications for food safety and regulatory policy. It extends to the valorization of fermentation and natural products, comparing traditional and accelerated cocoa oil fermentation and characterizing physicochemical properties relevant to cosmetics and food uses. The antimicrobial investigation of plant-derived essential oils for hand sanitizer formulations highlights practical applications of traditional knowledge in infection control, confirming species-specific potency against common pathogens and practical formulation parameters. Methodologically, the research relies on microwave-assisted digestion and ICP-OES for trace element analysis, standard antimicrobial assays (Kirby-Bauer), and basic physico-chemical characterizations (density, acidity, peroxide value, refractive index, saponification, loss on heating). Collectively, the studies emphasize environmental monitoring, food safety, and the translation of plant and microbial resources into health-related products, with impact on policy, industry practices, and consumer protection in the Latin American context.