IUFoST News Brief April 2022

In this issue: 

  • Bubbles in Food Scientific Information Bulletin (SIB) released by IUFoST Scientific Council today
  • Meet the New Fellows of IAFoST, part 1
  • IUFoST Codex Committee – who’s who
  • Major Roadmap for COVID 19 and the role of Food Science and Technology in Interventions to reduce health risks 
  • Food 101 – Stories about Food – more about IUFoST scientific resources
  • Members News, updates on last week’s Members Meeting 
  • Events

 

BUBBLES IN FOOD: STRUCTURE CREATION OUT OF THIN AIR! – NEW SIB FROM IUFOST

Bubbles have been incorporated into foods for many years, and the structure, texture and mouthfeel of such products have been dominated by the characteristics of the dispersion. Despite longstanding use, bubble incorporation has scarcely been studied as a food processing operation. Likewise, bubbles or gases have scarcely been mentioned as food ingredients in literature. The main aim of this article is to redress this issue by throwing light on the formulations and processes employed to incorporate bubbles into foods to create novel products, structures, and mouthfeels. Another key attraction of bubble containing foods is that the structure is created using a zero-calorie food ingredient, i.e., air or other pure gases, which gives consumers lower calorie foods and manufacturers significant market advantage. The article also identifies the opportunities and challenges offered by bubble containing foods. This SIB’s author is Professor Keshavan Niranjan, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, UK. Here is the link to read this Scientific Information Bulletin released today by the IUFoST Scientific Council and to see the others in the IUFoST catalogue.

 

A BRIEF LOOK AT THE IUFOST CODEX COMMITTEE 

IUFoST Codex Committee members are Sam Godefroy, (former Codex Vice-Chair), Canada;  Charles Aworh, Nigeria; Pamela Byrne, Ireland; Nik Daud,  Malaysia; Lara Hanna Wakim,  Lebanon; Jairo Romero, Colombia; Kazutaka Yamamoto, Japan; Pur Hariyadi (former Codex Vice-Chair), Indonesia;  and Amine Kassouf  of Lebanon as the Early Career Scientist representative to the Committee. 

The Document – IUFoST Providing Food Science and Technology Expertise and Solutions – Supporting the Codex Mandate – was prepared and presented to the 44th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC44) in November 2021 by the IUFoST Codex Committee as IUFoST raises its profile as a key and officially the only global Food Science and Technology scientific representative (as recognised by the International Science Council ) in Codex through more active involvement. Let us know  (secretariat@iufost.org) if you would like to get involved in this work.

 

INTRODUCING THE NEW FELLOWS OF IAFoST 2022 – The Gallery begins with the first six new Fellows we will meet in Singapore

The International Academy (IAFoST) elected 27 new Fellows in this 13th class of outstanding food scientists and technologists. These Fellows were elected from among many nominations by the International Academy and IUFoST Adhering Bodies, and they are acknowledged by their peers as aoutstanding representatives of international food science and technology. These new Fellows will be inducted in the Academy when the 21st World Congress of Food Science and Technology is to be held in Singapore this year. We begin the gallery with introducing six of our newly elected Fellows. The others will be introduced in the next few Newsbrief issues.

Dong Uk Ahn – USA/Korea
Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, Iowa State University
Focus areas: Irradiation, Lipid Oxidation, Meat Quality, Functional Proteins and peptides, value-addition to egg.

Rotimi Aluko – Canada
Professor, Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada. Focus areas: food proteins, bioactive peptides, enzymology, antihypertensive compounds, quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling. 

Pamela Byrne – Ireland 
Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). Member of IUFoST Codex Committee. Focus areas: Risk Assessment, public policy, regulatory science, public good, food science and nutrition.

Farid Chemat – France
Professor of Food Technology, Avignon University, France. Focus areas: Green Food Processing, intensification techniques, green extraction of food ingredients

Pavinee Chinachoti – Thailand
Ministry of Higher Education  Science, Research and Innovation Appointment, Chair Innovation and Regulation Network and Advisor to FoSTAT; Chair of IUFoST Industry Relations and Global Outreach Working Group. Focus areas: Food innovation, health claims, product development, food systems, functional foods

Sin Bin Chua – Singapore
Director of Haidilao International Holding Limited and Adjunct professor, National University of Singapore. Focus areas: architect of national food safety system, educator and advisor to many government organisations and food industry

IUFoST Distinguished Lecturer and Chair of the Science Group of the UN Food Systems Summit, Dr. Joachim von Braun, will open the Academy session at the congress, which will include the induction of all 27 new Fellows of the Academy.

 

APPLYING FOOD SCIENCE TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF COVID-19 HUMAN DEFENSE FUNCTIONS Major actions, Roadmap and Congress Session

The COVID-19 pandemic was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).  The rising number of cases of this highly transmissible virus with its variants prompted an urgent need to identify and develop effective antiviral interventions that may reduce the initial health risks associated with this virus.  Increased awareness of food science and dietary components may represent important and critical roles in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 viral infection sequelae within the human host.  Evaluation of the intersection of metabolic dysfunctions and plant-derived substances may contribute to the development of novel interventions and strategies, particularly against the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC).  This session, organized and hosted by the Academy Executive Council, features the following presenters:

Narain Naidu (Founder/CEO, bioQuad Life Sciences/Nterminus - USA), Barry Halliwell (Distinguished Professor, National University of Singapore - Singapore), Fereidoon Shahidi (University Research Professor, Memorial University - Canada), Kenji Sato (Professor, University of Kyoto - Japan), Chin-Kun Wang (Professor, Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan); Roger Clemens (Adjunct Professor, University of Southern California – USA).  Major outcomes, including critical medical / scientific manuscripts intended to provide a roadmap to future PASC research, are already underway including the Singapore Congress session facilitated by these speakers.  The session is entitled: Global Initiative: Nutritional Strategies for Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) Management.

 

DEADLINES COMING SOON for 21st WORLD CONGRESS OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SINGAPORE ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS, MOST COMPETITIONS

Deadlines for abstract submission closing fast for the IUFoST World Congress in Singapore this year. Date is 30 April 2022. Deadlines for competition submissions, also are at the end of April, except for Video competition (15 May). Two pre-congress workshops already finalised. More on these next time.

Congress website: https://www.iufostworldcongress-singapore.com/home

 

‘FOOD 101 – STORIES  ABOUT FOOD’ NO LONGER AN IUFOST  ‘BEST KEPT SECRET’ 

More than 100 reader-friendly articles by Dr. Don Mercer, University of Guelph, Canada, are available on the IUFoST Website. Created as one of IUFoST’s food education initiatives, they present important information in a way that helps consumers to make informed choices and avoid food-related health issues, amongst other things. Examples of the range of articles available include The Origin of the Metric System; Syneresis: A big word for an annoying problem; Food Drying-‘DIY’; and Food Spoilage-You know its spoiled when… These are gems that are consumer friendly and, as they are not overly long, they can be translated easily into many languages.

To begin reading: https://www.iufost.org/publications/food-101-%E2%80%93-stories-about-food

 

MESSAGES TO MEMBERS AND COLLEAGUES OF IUFoST and IAFoST

Following the Special Members Meeting last week on Food Science and Technology contributions and solutions towards the Sustainable Development Goals, members are submitting their national focus points, and these will be shared amongst members and will contribute to the IUFoST White Paper on the subject to be presented at the World Congress in Singapore.  Much more to follow and again a special thanks to all the many Fellows and Adhering Bodies who contributed to this invitation-only event.

Gratitude is expressed to our distinguished speakers: Ian Noble, VP R&D Research and Productivity, Mondelez International, UK; Chii-Cherng Liao, Director-General of the Food Industry Research and Development Institute, Taiwan; Mercy Mmari, Deputy Chair of the Tanzanian Association of Food Science and Technology; Emmanuel Hatzakis, Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, Ohio State University, USA; PG Rao, CSIR Distinguished Scientist, Past President of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, India; Pavinee Chinachoti, Chair, Innovation and Regulation Network and Advisor to Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand; Samuel Saguy, Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.  Co-chairs and discussion facilitators Vish Prakash, Aman Wirakartakusumah, Hongda Chen, Stephane Guilbert and Chibuike Udenigwe are also thanked for their contributions.

 

EVENTS 

Food Innovation Asia Conference 2022
Date: 16 - 18 June 2022
Theme: Innovative and Sustainable Development of Functional Ingredients and Materials: Benefits, Concerns and Challenges in Human Health and Well-Being.
For information: https://www.fiac-thailand.com/

20th ICC (International Association for Cereal Science and Technology) Conference 2022
New date: 5 - 7 July 2022
Theme: Future Challenges for Cereal Science and Technology
Website: https://www.icc-conference.com/

21st World Congress of Food Science and Technology, Singapore
Date: 31 October to 3 November 2022
To register click here for congress site