Charles Odilichukwu R. Okpala

Education

Teaching

Some college level courses/programs delivered since Jan 2001:

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; Food safety extension programs for community/foodservice sectors; Health wellness extension programs for community groups

Prior Professional Positions

Awards

Editorial Appointments

Service

Outreach

Recent extension outreach newsletters, and conferences/meetings:
A) Newsletters/Bulletins/Magazines

• Okpala COR (2026), "Take The Safety of Leftover Foods Seriously", Connector Magazine (Augusta Partnership for Children Inc.),10, 61-63
• Okpala COR (2026), "A Comfortable and Energy-Saving Home", Healthy Indoor Environments, 10(2), 2
• Okpala COR (2026), "Routine Cleaning Habits to Reduce Home Dust Accumulation", Connector Magazine (Augusta Partnership for Children Inc.), 9, 65-66
• Turner PR, Okpala COR, et al. (2026), "House Clutter Control", UGA Cooperative Extension Circular 1067
• Okpala COR (2026), "Drink water always to help strengthen your health and wellbeing", Connector Magazine(Augusta Partnership for Children Inc.), 8, 34
• Okpala COR (2026), "Free Your Fridge From Mold", Healthy Indoor Environments, 10(1), 5
• Okpala COR (2025), "Prompt Routine Cleaning Habit enhances a Food-Safe Refrigerator", Connector Magazine(Augusta Partnership for Children Inc.), 7, 10
• Turner PR, Williams E,.....,Okpala COR, et al. (2025), "Home Safety Checklist", UGA Cooperative Extension Bulletin, 1429
• Okpala COR (2025), "Reiterating Agrifood Safety Education to Further Reduce Southern U.S. Farm Markets’ Product Waste", Southern Ag Today, 5. 48.5
• Okpala COR (2025), "Start Early to Plan for Food Safety during the Summer", Connector Magazine(Augusta Partnership for Children Inc.), 6, 38-40
• Okpala COR (2024), “Many kitchen sinks are riddled with harmful microbes. Learn here how to get rid of them.” The Augusta Chronicle, 03/28/2024

B) Conferences/Talks/Seminars:

• Okpala COR (2026), "Journey from certified food handler(s) to protection manager(s): Possibilities and realities in Richmond County, GA", Presentation delivered at 2026 Georgia Extension Association of Family and Consumer Science (GEAFCS) Conference, held at Augusta Richmond County -GA, between 25-27 August 2026.
• Okpala COR (2025), "Cleaner food service and home environment via food safety education: FACS Agent’s 2022-2025 Richmond County community’s response snapshot", Presentation delivered at 2025 State Georgia Association of Natural Resources Extension Professionals (ANREP) Conference, held at Habersham County Extension Office between 27-29 August 2025.
• Okpala COR (2024), “Understanding effective partnerships for library progress", Presentation delivered at the Staff Development Day at Augusta Richmond County Public Library, Augusta- GA (2024/10/14)
• Okpala COR (2024), “Mission and outreach of UGA Cooperative Extension across communities in Georgia",Talk delivered to Augusta-Richmond community group, held at Augusta-GA (2024/09/04)
• Okpala COR, & Brown A. (2024), “Introducing right food choices for healthy meal", Youth activity organized in collaboration with Challenge Preparatory Academy and The Brunch House of Augusta -GA (2024/08/26)
• Okpala COR (2024), "Study skills for enhanced youth academic performance" Talk delivered at 4H Augusta-Richmond County Council Meeting, Augusta -GA, (2024/3/19)
• 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, held at Augusta-GA (2024/1/15)
• Okpala COR (2023), “Me, my family and my role beyond Christmas.” Presentation delivered at Challenge Preparatory Academy, Augusta -GA (2023/12/15)
• Okpala COR, Nettles, D, Saha, UK, Turner, PR (2023), "Radon, vaping, and tobacco - Preventing and fighting cancer together", Poster presented at UGA Stand of White Ribbon Fast Fair, Augusta Farmers Market, Augusta- GA (2023/11/18)
• 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)
• Okpala, COR (2023), "Strengthening Augusta-Richmond county foodservice credential feedback capacities" Presentation delivered at Georgia Department of Public Health, Augusta- GA, (2023/9/15)
• 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
• Okpala COR (2023), "Importance of mothers in family and home at these challenging times" Presentation delivered at the Kiwanis group - Augusta Branch, at Pierce Methodist Church, Augusta-GA (2023/8/15)
• Okpala COR, Tkaczynska A, & Korzeniowska M (2023), "Towards delineating the e-commerce entities' challenges involving meat products", Poster presentation delivered at UPWr Food Technology Seminar, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland,(2023/1/16)
• Okpala COR, Korzeniowska M, & Guine RPF (2022), "Towards managing quality in agro-food technological processes: From people to products", Poster presentation delivered at the 9th Quality and Safety in Food Production Chain Conference, Wroclaw-Poland(2022/9/15)
• Okpala COR (2021), "Importance of quality evaluation of functional foods and key processes in its new product development", Presentation delivered at the UPWr Food Technology Summer School, Wroclaw-Poland(2021/7/7)

Areas of Expertise

Areas of expertise and keen interest are listed below:

-  Consumer safety/food protection;
-  Family consumer sciences/extension outreach/services;
-  Foodservice personnel training and empowerment;
-  Agri-food processing/production/quality in sustainable global food systems;
-  Quality management of agrifood products/foodservice industries;
-  Sustainable food production/preservation quality systems;
-  Innovative food science and emerging processing technologies;
-  Environmental public health and community wellbeing;
-  Qualitative/quantitative research methods;
-  Academic community/learner development and progress;
-  Quality assurance/accreditation practice, procedures, and processes;
-  Continuous improvement of academic learners 
-  Lean six sigma implementation processes across sectors

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 programming in line with plan of work include increasing health and wellness awareness, as well as breaking through Richmond County community with food safety practices. He holds an excess of 75 other credentials, for example, Diplomas in Legal Studies, Social Work Studies, Psychology, Workplace Safety & Health, as well as Certifications like FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food(USA); HACCP Meat & Poultry(USA); HACCP Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Packinghouse(USA); ServSafe® Instructor/Registered Examination Proctor(National Restaurant Association-USA); ServSafe® Food Protection Manager(National Restaurant Association-USA); Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Train-the-Trainer (Association of Food and Drug Officials, USA); etc.
With over 150 creative/scholarly works (comprising several Scopus-indexed high-impact articles, newsletters, conference proceedings, book chapters, etc), he has excess of 4500 Google Scholar citations and h-index of 30. Alongside serving as an academic/associate editor (editorial board member) of Scopus-indexed journals, he remains a scientific reviewer in over 45 others. By divine grace of God, he has delivered posters/presentations at regional/state/international conferences/seminars. As a proud Strathclyder, Charles' research interests include the following: community/learner development/progress; consumer safety/food protection; family consumer sciences/extension outreach/services; agri-food processing/production/quality in sustainable global food systems; environmental public health/epidemiology; quality management of agrifood products/foodservice industries as well as qualitative/quantitative research methods. Most essentially, Charles trusts Almighty Yahweh to lead him in academic, and administrative endeavours. Notably, he is extremely passionate and zealous about ensuring colleagues/students/community members strive to achieve, excel, and succeed.

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

Current research interests include:

-  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;
- Quality assurance and standards in foodservice sectors;
-  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. Importantly, FACS Agents have a long tradition of helping individuals and families over their life span and strengthening communities through educational programs. Further, the mission of FACS remains is to extend lifelong learning through trusted and verified resources to Georgia citizens through unbiased, research-based education in agriculture, the environment, communities, youth and families. 

Journal Articles

Selected journal articles/abstract proceeding from over 150 scholarly works, include:

• 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
• Okosi IR, Okorie-Kanu OJ....Anyanwu MU, Okpala COR (2026), Serovars, Genetic Relatedness and Antimicrobial Resistance of Non-Typhoidal Salmonella in Poultry and Farm Workers in Southeastern Nigeria, Microorganisms 14(4), 850
• 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
• 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
• Okpala COR(2024), Sustainable Food Systems and Food Market, Foods 13(13),1962
• 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
• Okpala COR et al. (2023), Quality attributes of different marinated oven-grilled pork neck meat, Int. J. Food Prop. 26 (1), 453-470
• Adepoju FO….Okpala COR (2023), Yogurt fortification with Moringa oleifera: Nutritional and production aspects, Mljekarstvo 74(1)3-21
• Okpala COR (2023), Good Practices contributing to Cleaner Food Production? A Preliminary Survey Analysis involving Wroclaw-Poland Food Retail Sector, Processes 11, 1224
• 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
• 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
• 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)
• Okpala COR (2020), Towards Sustaining Global Food Systems for the Future, Front. Sustain. Food Sys. 4 (3)
• Okpala COR & Korzeniowska M (2020), Concept, Content and Context Perspectives of Quality of AgroFood Products: Reflections on Some Consumer Decision-Making-Purchase Scenarios, Front. Nutrition 7 (578941)
• 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
• Okpala COR (2019), Towards enhancing the detection of adulteration in bioactive food products, J. Food Bioactives 6, 6-9
• 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
• 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
• Okpala COR (2017), Home ozone processing - protecting healthful lipids in seafood, International News on Fats, Oils and Related Materials 28 (2), 28-31
• Okpala COR (2017), Fish Processing by Ozone Treatment - Is Further Investigation of Domestic Applications Needful? Chem. Eng. Trans. 57, 1813-1818
• 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
• Okpala COR (2016), Lipid autoxidation in ozone-processed crustacea under cold storage: A treatise, Lipid Technol. 28 (5-6), 93-95
• 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
• 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
• Okpala COR et al. (2014), Quality and shelf life assessment of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) freshly harvested and stored on ice, Lebens. Wissenschaft Technol. 55, 110-116
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Awuah RT, Kwoseh C, Koranteng S, Okpala COR et al. (2006), Appearance of Fusarium basal rot disease of onion at Eastern Region of Ghana (The first report), Proceedings of the 7th Annual General Meeting - Ghana Institute of Horticulturist (GhIH) - CSIR CRI, Ghana, Number 3.

Publications

Links below to view scholarly profile/works:

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

PeerJ: https://peerj.com/CharlesOkpala/