Charles Odilichukwu R. Okpala

Education

Teaching

Educational courses/programs delivered (Jan 2001 - Oct2022):
Introduction to Statistics for Educational Research; Introducing Research to Beginners; Basics in Food Science Research; Introduction to Laboratory Practice; Basics in Food Fermentation; Quality Assurance Methods and Practice 1 & 2; Introduction to Lean Processes; Basics in Research Methods and Practice; Food Hygiene and Safety Practices; Quality Assurance for Food Industry; Communication in Science; Good practices in food, health, and related industries;

Prior Professional Positions

Awards

Editorial Appointments

Outreach

Extension outreach conferences/meetings and guest in newsletter columns,  include:
1) Okpala, COR (2025) “Start Early to Plan for Food Safety during the Summer”, Connector Magazine 6, 38-40, published 20 May 2025
2) Okpala, COR (2024) “Food Safety Activities for Augusta-Richmond County Gardening Community”, Poster presentation at the Gardening Club event in honor of Late Revd Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day (2024/1/15)
3) Okpala, COR (2024) “Many kitchen sinks are riddled with harmful microbes. Learn here how to get rid of them.” The Augusta Chronicle, published 28 March 2024
4) Okpala, COR (2023) “Me, my family and my role beyond Christmas.” Presentation delivered at Challenge Preparatory Academy, Augusta GA (2023/12/15)
5) Okpala, COR (2023) “Role of mothers in strengthening families and communities in these challenging times”, Presentation delivered to the Griffins Group, St James Methodist, Augusta GA (2023/9/26)
6) Okpala, COR (2023) “Feedback Knowledge Practice Mechanism for Food Service Credentials: Is it Feasible?”, Poster at GEAFCS 2023 Conference, Waycross, GA, "Crossing Programs, Crossing Communities, Crossing Boundaries", August 29-31, 2023

Charles Odilichukwu R. Okpala is an award-winning educator and subject matter specialist, a Certified Food Scientist (CFS) - International Food Science Certification Commission (IFSCC-USA), Chartered Scientist (CSci) of the Science Council-UK, Fellow - Linnaean Society of London (FLS), Fellow - Institute of Food Science and Technology (FIFST-UK), Member - International Association of Food Protection (MIAFP-USA), Member - Institution of Agricultural Engineers (MIAgrE-UK), Professional Engineer (PEng-UK), Member - The Federalist Society (USA), among others.
Areas of extension outreach include increasing health and wellness awareness across Richmond County commmunity, as well as breaking through Richmond County community with food safety programming. With over 150 scholarly works, largely in ISI impact factor journals, he has excess of 4000 Google Scholar citations and h-index of 30. Serving as an academic/associate editor (editorial board member) of Scopus-indexed journals, he remains a scientific reviewer in over 45 others. He delivered posters/presentations at regional/state/international conferences/seminars.

Books

Okpala, COR (2010) "High Pressure Processing of Fresh Cheese", Lambert Academic Publishers (LAP) - Germany (ISSN-978-3838377353)

Current Classes

Food safety education: 
a) Packing Safe Nutritious Lunches ; b) Be Food Safe, Georgia; c) Left over foods, The Safe way; d) Stay Healthy with Food Safety; e) Concession stand food safety; f) Food safety and security; g) Food Safety for Seniors; h)Enhancing safety to locally grown produce in school garden; as well as i) Food handling training for food service in Georgia.

Health wellness education: 
a) Reducing the risk of heart disease; b)Making the right choices to reduce cancer risks; c)Becoming a healthier you; d)Protect your heart-Take good care of your diabetes; e)The truth about diabetes; f)Preventing infectious diseases; g)Protecting yourself from cancer; h) At risk – how to defend yourself from foodborne illness; i)Understanding and improving your credit score; j) Healthy brain, ways to maintain a healthy brain (Healthy brain checkup); k) Understanding nutritional facts label;l) My plate, my wins: Make it yours; m) Seven ways to control blood pressure; and n) Keep in balance to keep weight off;

Current Research

-  Consumer safety/food protection;
-  Family consumer sciences/extension outreach/services;
-  Agri-food processing/production/quality in sustainable global food systems;
-  Quality management of agrifood products/foodservice industries;
-  Qualitative/quantitative research methods
-  Community/learner development and progress;

Job Description

A Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) agent is a person who can assist workers, consumers and families in meeting their basic and most important needs with a wide body of research-based knowledge about topics that affect your life: your family, your food and your house. FACS Agents have a long tradition of helping individuals and families over their life span and strengthening communities through educational programs.
The Family & Consumer Science (FACS) mission is to extend lifelong learning through trusted resources to Georgia citizens through unbiased, research-based education in agriculture, the environment, communities, youth and families. 

Journal Articles

Selected publications at promising Scopus-indexed journals include:
1) Okpala COR et al. (2009) Effects of high-pressure processing (HPP) on the microbiological, physico-chemical and sensory properties of fresh cheeses: A review, Afr. J. Biotechnol. 8 (25), 7391-7398
2) Okpala COR et al. (2010), Influence of high-pressure processing (HPP) on physico-chemical properties of fresh cheese, Innov. Food Sci. Emerg. Technol. 11(1), 61-67
3) Okpala COR et al. (2014), Quality and shelf life assessment of Pacific white shrimp (< i> Litopenaeus vannamei) freshly harvested and stored on ice, Lebens. Wissenschaft Technol. 55, 110-116
4) Okpala COR (2014), Investigation of quality attributes of ice-stored Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) as affected by sequential minimal ozone treatment, Lebens. Wissenschaft Technol. 57, 538-547
5) Okpala COR (2014), Changes of Physico-chemical Properties of Sequential Minimal Ozonetreated Ice-stored Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), Current Nutr. Food Sci. 10 (3), 218-227
6) Okpala COR (2015) Quality evaluation and shelf life of minimal ozone-treated Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) stored on ice, J. für Verbrauch. Lebensmittel.10 (1), 49-57
7) Bono G, Okpala COR et al. (2016) Toward shrimp consumption without chemicals: Combined effects of freezing and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on some quality characteristics of Giant Red Shrimp (Aristaeomorpha foliacea) during storage, Food Chemistry 197, 581-588
8) Okpala COR (2016), Lipid autoxidation in ozone-processed crustacea under cold storage: A treatise, Lipid Technol. 28 (5-6), 93-95
9) Okpala COR & Bono G (2016), Investigating the biometric and physicochemical characteristics of freshly harvested Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei): a comparative approach, J Sci Food and Agric..96 (4), 1231–1240
10) Okpala COR (2017), Home ozone processing - protecting healthful lipids in seafood, International News on Fats, Oils and Related Materials 28 (2), 28-31
11) Okpala COR (2017), Fish Processing by Ozone Treatment - Is Further Investigation of Domestic Applications Needful? Chem. Eng. Trans. 57, 1813-1818
12) Okpala COR (2018), Changes in some biochemical and microbiological properties of ozone-processed shrimp: Effects of increased ozone discharge combined with iced storage, J Food Nutr. Res. 57 (1), 48-56
13) Okpala COR et al. (2018), Hazardous properties and toxicological update of mercury: From fish food to human health safety perspective, Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 58 (12), 1986–2001
14) Okpala COR & Ezeonu IM (2019), Food Hygiene/Microbiological Safety in the Typical Household Kitchen: Some Basic ‘Must Knows’ for the General Public, J. Pure Appl. Microbiol. 13 (2), 697-713
15) Okpala COR (2020), Towards Sustaining Global Food Systems for the Future, Front. Sustain. Food Sys. 4 (3)
16) Anyanwu MU, Okpala COR et al. (2021), Prevalence and Traits of Mobile Colistin Resistance Gene Harbouring Isolates from Different Ecosystems in Africa, BioMed Res. Int. 2021 (6630379)
17) Teshome A….Okpala COR (2022), Physiochemical Properties, Lipid Breakdown, β-Carotenoids, Tocopherols, Vitamins, Amino and Fatty Acid Profiles of Soxhlet Extracted Oil from Different Garden Cress Seed (Lepidium sativum L.) Genotypes in Ethiopia, J. Oleo Science 71 (9), 1299-1308
18) Okpala COR et al. (2023), Quality attributes of different marinated oven-grilled pork neck meat, Int. J. Food Prop 26 (1), 453-470
19) Adepoju FO….Okpala COR (2023), Yogurt fortification with Moringa oleifera: Nutritional and production aspects, Mljekarstvo 74(1)3-21
20) Okpala COR & Korzeniowska M(2023), Understanding the Relevance of Quality Management in Agro-food Product Industry: From Ethical Considerations to Assuring Food Hygiene Quality Safety Standards and Its Associated Processes, Food Rev. Int. 39 (4), 1879-1952
21) Kashtiban AE…Okpala COR(2024), Recent advances in nano-related natural antioxidants, their extraction methods and contributions to the food industry, Exploration of Foods and Foodomics 2,125–154
22) Okpala COR(2024), Sustainable Food Systems and Food Market, Foods 13(13),1962
23) QN Okechukwu…,Okpala COR (2024), Marine-Derived Bioactive Metabolites as a Potential Therapeutic Intervention in Managing Viral Diseases: Insights from the SARS-CoV-2 In Silico and Pre-Clinical Studies,  Pharmaceuticals 17(3),328
24) Leicht K,Okpala COR…Korzeniowska M (2025), Antioxidant, polyphenol, physical, and sensory changes in 
myofibrillar protein gels supplemented with polyphenol-rich plant-based additives, Nutrients 17 (7), 1232
25) Leicht K,Okpala COR…Korzeniowska M (2026), Changes of myofibrillar proteins structural and functional properties in presence of selected glycosides, triterpenes and polyphenols, Food Chemistry 507, 147802

Publications

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=VmFipM8AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
Research Gate:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Charles-Okpala-3
Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=3530569060