Dr Maria Benlloch Tinoco

Assistant Professor

School: Geography and Natural Sciences

Dr Benlloch-Tinoco is an Assistant Professor in Food Science and the Department of Applied Sciences. She studied BSc and MSc in Food Science and Technology at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV). In 2010, Dr Benlloch-Tinoco received a VALi+d Fellowship to complete her PhD studies in Food Engineering, where her research examined the quality and safety of Ready-to-eat fruit-based foods preserved by microwave heating (UPV, 2015).

In 2015, Dr Benlloch-Tinoco joined the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Food (CIM) at the University of Nottingham as a Postdoctoral Associate, where her activities focused on exploring the techno-functionality of food ingredients and how these can be used to create food microstructures with targeted functionality.

In 2018, Dr Benlloch-Tinoco started her role as Assistant Professor in Food Science at Northumbria University, and in 2019 she became course director for the BSc Food Science and Nutrition programme.

Email Maria

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

It is may research interest to explore the use of thermal and non-thermal processing approaches (e.g. conventional heating, microwave heating and high hydrostatic pressures) to modulate the techno-functionality of starch and other food ingredients in a range of food applications. My current areas of work are:

Use of pressure processing to promote the development of microstructures with targeted functionality in starch systems.
Use of thermal and pressure processing to promote the formation of resistant starch in foods (V-type inclusion complexes).
Enhance the solubility and foaming and emulsification properties of plant proteins by non-thermal processing (high hydrostatic pressure and cold atmospheric plasma).
Novel bioactive edible films and coatings with dual functionality.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Alginate Edible Films as Delivery Systems for Green Tea Polyphenols, Benlloch-Tinoco, M., Gentile, P., Taylor, L., Girón-Hernández, J. 1 Jan 2025, In: Food Hydrocolloids
Camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) polyphenols modulate rice starch digestibility after thermal complexation but not during storage, Girón-Hernández, J., Carranza Gutierrez, C., Railton, J., Cheung, W., Gentile, P., Benlloch Tinoco, M. 26 Sep 2025, In: Food Hydrocolloids
Growth profile of Bacteroidetes strains under low molecular weight alginate fractions produced by non-thermal processing techniques, Rivero-Ramos, P., Fernandez-Julia, P., Rodrigo, D., Benlloch-Tinoco, M., Muñoz-Muñoz, J. 1 Jun 2025, In: Food Hydrocolloids for Health
High hydrostatic pressure modulates the digestive properties of rice starch-gallic acid composites by boosting non-inclusion complexation, Rivero-Ramos, P., Railton, J., Rodrigo, D., Benlloch Tinoco, M. 1 Mar 2025, In: International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Rice starch-alginate systems gelatinised by high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) as dysphagia-oriented matrices, Rivero-Ramos, P., Valdez, M., Sanz, T., Garzon, R., Rosell, C., Benlloch-Tinoco, M., Rodrigo, D. 1 Jun 2024, In: Food Hydrocolloids
Theobroma Genus: Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of T. grandiflorum and T. bicolor in biomedicine, Benlloch-Tinoco, M., Nuñez Ramírez, J., García, P., Gentile, P., Girón-Hernández, J. 1 Oct 2024, In: Food Bioscience
Exploring the effect of utilising organic acid solutions in ultrasound-assisted extraction of pectin from apple pomace, and its potential for biomedical purposes, Girón-Hernández, J., Pazmino, M., Barrios‐Rodríguez, Y., Turo, C., Wills, C., Cucinotta, F., Benlloch Tinoco, M., Gentile, P. 1 Jul 2023, In: Heliyon
Synergistic depolymerisation of alginate and chitosan by high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment in the presence of H2O2, Rivero Ramos, P., Unthank, M., Sanz, T., Rodrigo, M., Benlloch Tinoco, M. 15 Sep 2023, In: Carbohydrate Polymers
Impact of heterogeneously crosslinked calcium alginate networks on the encapsulation of β-carotene-loaded beads, Giron Hernandez, J., Gentile, P., Benlloch Tinoco, M. 1 Nov 2021, In: Carbohydrate Polymers
Staphylococcus aureus - dairy, Fox, E., Jiang, Y., Tinoco, M. 27 Sep 2021, Encyclopedia of Dairy Sciences, Elsevier

PGR Supervision

Pedro Rivero Ramos Potential of non-thermal technologies for the development of alginate and starch-based functional ingredients and food products. Start Date: 06/05/2022 End Date: 05/06/2025