Global Visions for the Role of Food Science and Technology to meet Societal and Technological Challenges

Foreword to the Global Visions document:

“An increasing world population is asking for more and more and even better lifestyle oriented food. Major players in this conflict area are agronomists who are supported in their efforts to scale up agricultural production by all types of specialists. They are quite rightly tackling the problem of increased yields from agriculture, but IUFoST recognises that a change in efficiency of conversion of agricultural products to food and feed is also vital. This is the role of Food Science and Technology. Appropriate post-harvest and processing methods including storage, distribution and retail sale are able to make optimal use of the harvested crops and animal produce and reduce losses along the food chain. This itself will require excellence in the science of food. It is however not sufficient to reduce the role of Food Science and Technology to purely providing sufficient and well balanced nutrition. Food production, processing and eating habits have had a strong impact on the development and formation of ethical and cultural standards, as well as social and political structures, not forgetting the impact of the whole food chain on environmental and climatic changes. It will be important to consider all these factors in the course of meeting the grand challenges of global food Security and Sustainability.

At the 16th IUFoST World Congress in Brazil, Fellows of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) recognized that very little was known of how major countries are planning and structuring future developments within the domain of Food Science and Technology oriented research and training. This information is essential for the design of worldwide Food Science Curricula, research programs and international cooperation.

Based on the discussion in Brazil, Anne-Marie Hermansson, (Sweden) and Peter Lillford (UK) developed a strategy to compile the pertinent information, supported by a team of Academy Fellows’ information from a number of major countries.”

The Commission is ongoing as data is being added in depth and breadth across government, industry and academia to compile a clear and comprehensive picture of the state of the profession and its future role.