Dr. Aurora A. Saulo is a Professor and the Extension Specialist in Food Technology of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her areas of interest in food science and technology include food safety and quality, consumer behavior and attitudes, risk communication, tropical fruit processing, and new food product and process development.
Dr. Saulo received her B.S. Chemistry, cum laude, from the College of the Holy Spirit in Manila, Philippines. As a Fulbright-Hays scholar, she pursued graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she completed her M.S. Chemistry degree. She continued advanced research work under the guidance of Dr. Fergus Clydesdale and received her Ph.D. Food Science degree from the same university.
After graduation, Dr. Saulo began her career, first as Flavor Chemist then as Food Processing Engineer, with the United Brands Company in Newton, Massachusetts, where she started their flavor lab and developed the world’s first commercial, all-natural banana essence. She then joined Hunt-Wesson Foods Company (now Con-Agra) in Fullerton, California as a Food Technologist in the Convenience Foods Division and later in the Tomato Processing Division. She also developed Hunt’s All Natural Manwich® Sloppy Joe and formulated Hunt’s Manwich®Dry Seasoning Mix.
Dr. Saulo served as Chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. She also served as Committee Clerk for Rep. David Morihara (D-HI), Chair of the Higher Education Committee. Her current activities include disseminating technical information to the commercial food processing and foodservice industries of Hawaii and overseas through seminars, workshops, on-site investigations, and publication of research results for the purpose of improving the marketability of their products and their business potentials. She conducts the FDA-approved Better Process Control School, the FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food, the Principles of Food Hygiene and Food Safety (as required by FSMA), the National Restaurant Association’s certification course on Applied Foodservice Sanitation Program, the HACCP, GAP, GMP, and TQM programs, and others customized to the needs of the food facility. Dr. Saulo also gives training sessions and works with foreign food processors and manufacturers to improve the safety and quality of their products entering the United States. As a Food Science Communicator of the Institute of Food Technologists and a Media Expert for the International Food Information Council, Dr. Saulo serves as a public media liaison in matters of food science and technology.
She is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), one of the Ninety Fabulous Faculty of the University of Hawaii, an Outstanding Alumna of the Year and one of the 100 Outstanding Alumnae of the College of the Holy Spirit, an IFT Outstanding Volunteer in the Extension Division, and is listed in the Who’s Who of American Women