IUFoST Year End message



As we come to the end of another year all of us at IUFoST wish you great happiness and good health for 2023.

We were fortunate to meet many of you again recently in Singapore as we reviewed the state of Food and Nutrition Security and where we need to go from here.  Food Insecurity is again making the headlines.

What can we do to alleviate the burden and to secure food systems for the future?  Many answers arose from our recent congress and we plan to work together, we hope with you, to address potential solutions in the coming year.

Some of the answers concern education and thinking ‘outside of the box’; others refer to increasing need to work in an inter-disciplinary way and to especially ensure that Nutritionists and Food Scientists are working side by side to come up with answers.  IUFoST is already addressing this need with a Task Force that encompasses both disciplines.

We need to focus on what has worked through local knowledge and wisdom to support sustainable food systems and scale it up – for example the many traditional foods that have provided health and well-being through local produce for many centuries.  Production that increases the life of food and maintains its nutrients while providing more people with accessible food is one fundamental way of reducing food  insecurity and ensuring sufficient safe, healthy and nutritious food for all populations where ever they may be.

There is a lot to be done and we as food scientists, technologists and engineers need to provide the science, the vision and also be able to communicate the importance of the work we do to ensure the future and stability of the world’s food systems.

With our gratitude to all of you working within IUFoST already and our welcome to those who join us going forward.

We wish you and your families all the best from all of us in the IUFoST Board, Academy Executive Council, Scientific Council and College of Early Career Scientists Committee,

Aman Wirakartakusumah, Vish Prakash, Sam Godefroy, Pavinee Chinachoti, Alejandra Medrano, Mitsutoshi Nakajima, Cheikh Ndiaye, Pingfan Rao, Declan Troy, Judith Meech, Hongda Chen, Lilia Ahrne, PG Rao, Roger Clemens, Charles Aworh, Fereidoon Shahidi, Stephane Guilbert, Chin-Kun Wang and  Elizabeth Arenas.