Bachelor's Degree in Food Chemistry

Edgar Adonai Meneses Escorcia, Food Chemist Edgar Adonai Meneses Escorcia, an outstanding graduate of the Bachelor's Degree in Food Chemistry, has a track record of academic excellence and has excelled in the undergraduate EGEL. He currently works as a production supervisor at Seaboard Triumph Foods, located in Sioux City, Iowa, USA.

Researchers Javier Castro Rosas, Edgar Arturo Chávez Urbiola, José Manuel Saucedo Solorio, Esmeralda Rangel Vargas and Ana María López Grimaldo from the Institute of Basic Sciences and Engineering of the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo developed a face mask prototype that implements natural zeolite filtering cartridges and a Jamaican compound to combat the spread of the SARS-COV-2 virus.

Using naturally occurring compounds such as zeolite and compounds from Jamaica, the research team developed functional prototypes of mouth covers that were intended to be an effective alternative for use by medical personnel caring for infected patients and a means to reduce the number of infections.

The study was based on the fact that the compounds have a porous structure that has the capacity to provide absorbent properties, microbial qualities of up to 99.99% in the case of Jamaica, and that they also have a variety of uses in the improvement of soils for cultivation, manufacture of certain foods, purification and treatment of waste and industrial water and in the construction industry, for which this work was granted five patents by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property.

Thanks to the effort and dedication of the team of teachers and researchers of the Academic Area of Chemistry of the Institute of Basic Sciences and Engineering ICBI, the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo obtained for the first time the registration of two patents in the United States related to the disinfectant and antibacterial properties of Jamaica.

One of the two patents applied for and registered by scientists Javier Castro Rosas, Carlos Alberto Gómez Aldapa and Roberto Villagómez Ibarra is related to the creation of a Jamaica-based disinfectant. The second is related to the novel discovery of the high antimicrobial capacity of a Jamaican compound called hibiscus acid, in addition to the medicinal properties already known, such as anticancer, hypoglycemic, antiobesity, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiparasitic properties; it also helps prevent heart attacks, is hepatoprotective, strengthens the immune system, diuretic and slightly laxative.