By Prof Gustavo Barbosa-Cánovas, ISFE Officer and Member, IUFoST Governing Council

For many years, food engineers from around the world have been trying to establish an informal vehicle that permits them to be in touch on a permanent basis and to address issues of common interest to the profession. Initiating the formation of a new society at the international level is not easy for a number of reasons, but when IUFoST offers assistance in putting together a viable organization, things change quite significantly.

Every four years, since 1976, we have held an International Conference of Food Engineering (ICEF), an event put together by the International Association of Engineering and Food (IAEF). This organization is mainly in charge of identifying the sites for ICEF events, and is a body of around 25 delegates representing professional engineering societies including food engineering activities. During ICEF 8 held in Puebla, Mexico, March 2000, a number of food engineers got together to explore the possibility of establishing a global society based on individual members, to strengthen communication and networking opportunities and to open new lines of cooperation in several fronts such as research, curriculum, and international standardization. This truly international group (ISFE Exploratory Committee) has interacted quite effectively and harmoniously since the beginning, and it was quite apparent we had more than just good intentions. Walter Spiess, then IUFoST President, became part of the group and invited the rest of us to develop the society in a way that was independent in structure, but linked to IUFoST for synergistic interaction, a win-win situation. The group debated this IUFoST proposition and, soon after, started working together to develop a set of By-Laws that would fit within the IUFoST Constitution and would incorporate in one document all the goals and objectives envisioned by the exploratory group.

The International Society of Food Engineering (ISFE) concept was presented during the IUFoST General Assembly held in Seoul, South Korea at the XI World Congress of Food Science and Technology and, in general, the proposal was very well received and many excellent suggestions were made by IUFoST Adhering Bodies Delegates, as well as members of the Governing Council. One of the key accomplishments during this meeting was the idea of incorporating ISFE as an IUFoST Disciplinary Grouping, which was already provided for in its existing Constitution. Since then, IUFoST made amendments to its Constitution and, at the same time, one draft after another of ISFE By-Laws was circulated and discussed among the ISFE Exploratory Committee and many IUFoST delegates. A version of the ISFE By-Laws was presented in Nairobi, Kenya during the 2002 IUFoST Governing Council Meeting. This meeting was very crucial to the fate of the society because it was decided that a revised version of the By-Laws, after contemplating the recommendations of the IUFoST Constitution Advisory Committee (CAC), would be submitted for vote at the 2003 IUFoST General Assembly held in Chicago. A further crucial development was that the CAC's amendments to the IUFoST Constitution, unanimously adopted by the General Assembly, contained a new additional provision "Disciplinary and student groupings may promulgate their own rules governing their membership", thus making ISFE's proposed membership structure compatible with IUFoST. To make the story short and sweet, very helpful and useful discussions took place during this meeting following the adoption of the new Constitutional amendments.  ISFE was approved, in principle, unanimously by the General Assembly, and additional recommendations were made to fine tune the By-Laws. An electronic vote by the IUFoST General Assembly took place after the Chicago meeting, and we learned at the end of October 2003 that ISFE received final IUFoST approval.

While IUFoST was tallying the electronic votes, I had the opportunity to visit with Jean-Jacques Bimbenet – 2000-2004 IAEF President, at his office in ENSIA, France. This visit was facilitated by our French colleagues and it was one of my most rewarding professional experiences. We did not have to talk much to develop a wonderful line of open and fruitful cooperation between IAEF and ISFE. It was clear from the beginning that ISFE was not formed to organize international conferences but to facilitate dialog among those interested in the food engineering profession, and of course, ISFE will be extremely supportive of all ICEF events. It was also agreed that during the ICEF gatherings, ISFE could hold its administrative meetings. This visit was truly encouraging because I developed the sense that the world of food engineering was in complete harmony and only we ourselves could put limits on our activities.

A month later, I had the same wonderful feeling in Chile while participating at the Fourth Ibero-American Conference on Food Engineering (CIBIA IV), where we had the opportunity to informally announce the formation of ISFE. A significant number of people in attendance showed great interest in this new society and pledged unconditional support for its development. I would like to thank my dear friend José Miguel Aguilera (CIBIA IV president and newly elected IAEF President) for facilitating the introduction of this new society.

Last month during ICEF 9 in Montpellier, France, we were given prime opportunity to announce formally the creation of ISFE. I have to acknowledge that I was pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome we received, and after the ISFE Open Meeting we had, I was able to read in the eyes of all my colleagues their supportive attitude toward this international society. Now that we have received overwhelming support from the world food engineering community and IUFoST, it is time to realize our dreams. To begin with, we have a new website under construction that you are more than welcome to access (www.bsyse.wsu.edu/isfe), and also an email address where you can send your suggestions and inquiries (isfe@wsu.edu).

At this website, you will also have the opportunity to learn a little more about ISFE and the members of the Interim Executive Committee, which includes colleagues from most parts of the planet. It is worth mentioning that graduate students are part of this committee as well. It is envisioned that at the end of this year we will hold elections. With the help of IUFoST, IAEF, and many other professional societies, we expect that ISFE will make significant strides towards contributing our share in achieving a better world. Last but not least, I would like to mention that for the first few years we are not planning to have a membership fee. We reached an agreement with Elsevier who agreed to offer all ISFE members the Journal of Food Engineering at a significantly reduced price. Additional benefits to members include among others, receipt of the ISFE Newsletter and the IUFoST Newsline. Time will tell whether or not our dreams can become a reality, but I think we have made a wonderful start.

 

February 2004
By Prof. Walter Spiess,
Past President, IUFoST

Purpose of the Meeting: At the last meeting of ICSU's Inter-national Scientific Unions (Paris, February 2001) it was decided that meetings of the Unions would be held at regular intervals in order to evaluate the position of the Unions towards the ICSU management and in order to initiate and co-ordinate activities between the Unions themselves. From IUFoST's point of view it was most interesting to see if the initiative that had been launched at the XII IUFoST world Congress in Chicago would receive continuing support from other Unions.

Representatives of all 24 Unions (presidents or past presidents or secretaries general) and international organisations cooperating with ICSU were present.

Summary of the discussions and presentations: The first presentations were devoted to ICSU's future and the potential to co-operate with other international organisations such as UNESCO. During the second day Union activities were presented and discussed. The discussions were accompanied by an exchange of opinions and experiences by various Unions. Specific problems such as financing Union-related activities, recruiting volunteers, support of Adhering Bodies in developing countries, especially in Africa and, as a further example, organising international congresses under the present security regimes in countries hit by terrorist actions, were discussed.

ICSU's Executive Director T. Rosswall had initiated a study to reflect on the following questions: (quotation modified)

• What scientific developments requiring global collaboration will take place over the next five years in the competence fields of individual Unions that could have a major impact on other disciplines e.g. the role of physics in the life sciences; the potential of information technology and nanotechnologies?

• What are the implications of such developments for the disciplines concerned?

• What are the barriers to fully develop the potential of such challenges, e.g. funding?         

• Are there any social or technological implications that might flow from these developments, either of a positive or negative nature?

• Will it be possible that this "science-driven" perspective can be complemented by anticipation of likely challenges to science from social, industrial or political change?

The process considering those elements has not come to an end. It is, however, clear that the global discussion on, for example, new science-driven developments, societal questions such as sustainability and environmental problems and how to best serve closer links with UNESCO are challenges to which the international science community must respond. At the very end it is important that the scientific community contributes and leads the discussion in order to demonstrate and acknowledge its responsibility for scientific developments and their implementation. The project/programme "Science for Health and Well Being" which has received substantial support since the GA in Rio de Janeiro can be considered as one of the Life Science Community's answers.

The discussions following the formal presentations were therefore focussed on the question of how the individual Unions could participate in the execution of the project. A surprisingly large number of Unions is interested in "The Food Chain" and "Health". This became especially evident after my presentation on the "Food Chain" (see below) and during the internal Union Meeting on "Science for Health and Well Being".

Conclusions: In order to develop realistic programmes and projects that can be turned into activities from which the targeted groups benefit, an enormous workload has to be covered. A coherent programme needs to be defined. Then the programme elements have to be shaped and, only in the third step, will the participating Unions see how they can contribute to the realisation of the individual targets. Discussions and presentations at the Unions' Meeting demonstrated to what extent the individual Unions are interested in the programme. It will be the task of the convenor of the programme to put the individual pieces together in order to obtain an overall picture of the possibilities and potentials.

IUFoST was, because of its contributions in the discussion process, recognised as one of the Unions in a position to contribute essentially to the programme and to take the lead in the segment on food safety/security/processing/impact of processing on the environment.

What to do in the near future: The meeting has shown that it is important for IUFoST and its recognition as "The Food Science Union" to develop activities that demonstrate its commitment to playing a leading role in the inter-scientific discussion on food and food related subjects.

For the time being four strings of actions need to be followed:

• A clear picture about the interest and involvement of the various Unions in the subject "food" has to be developed.

• A strategy has to be developed in order to organise a series of symposia to which all Life Science Unions can contribute and which would allow the development of a coherent picture of the food chain with its many facets and problems at the upcoming IUNS  (2005) and IUFoST (2006) World Congresses.

• In co-operation with the convenor of the initiative "Science for Health and Well-being", IUFoST's possible contributions to the initiative have to be explored.

• The above-mentioned initiatives that could be transferred to national levels need to be explored with Adhering Bodies to facilitate closer cooperation. (German delegates to the Union Meeting will see that some of the projects are reflected in a co-operative way in Germany, for example).

Finally IUFoST participation in the 28th ICSU General Assembly Shanghai and Suzhou, China, 16-22 October 2005 has to be organised. 

 

Report on Activities since CONGRESS XII

By Prof Ken Buckle
Chair, IUFoST Scientific Council

INTRODUCTION

The Scientific Council of IUFoST is independent of the Governing Council and the Management Committee and has no role in IUFoST's financial affairs. Its responsibilities include:

•    maintenance of the scientific standard and integrity of all IUFoST activities, approval of all publicly released scientific matters, including the award of prizes, and the content of learned statements on scientific matters

•    recommending to the Secretary-General, with advice from appropriate members of the Academy [International Academy of Food Science and Technology, IAFoST], chairs and members of Center Working Groups and scientific commissions, no larger than is essential, to carry out specific tasks such as preparation of position papers and offering of expert advice, and

•    supervision of the scientific outputs from working groups for both quality and timeliness, and recommendation for dissolution of such working groups when their original purpose is fulfilled.

One of the responsibilities for the Scientific Council is recommending to the Management Committee those meetings, symposia, workshops and conferences that IUFoST should co-sponsor or endorse. Co-sponsorship may or may not involve financial support of the meeting, generally support for speakers/participants, and involves input from IUFoST into the organisation of the meeting. This would normally involve identification of speakers or suggestions for broadened participation. IUFoST has a limited budget and hence there is limited funding available for financial support for these events. Endorsement involves no financial support. In this case, IUFoST reviews the agenda for the meeting and organisational details before lending its name in endorsing the meeting.

Requests for co-sponsorship or endorsement have normally come to IUFoST from individuals or groups organising such meetings. It would be desirable if Adhering Bodies were involved in identifying suitable meetings in their country or region for co-sponsorship or endorsement by IUFoST.

MEMBERSHIP 2003-06

The Scientific Council for 2003-06 consists of:

• Prof Ken Buckle, Australia (Chair)

• Dr David Lineback, USA (Past Chair)

• Prof Frank Busta, USA

• Prof Colin Dennis, UK (Chair-elect)

• Dr Mary Schmidl, USA

• Prof Malcolm Bourne, USA ( Academy President, observer)

• Alan Mortimer, Australia (IUFoST President) and Judith Meech, Canada (Secretary-General) are ex-officio non-voting members.

Biographical profiles of the elected members of the Scientific Council are provided at the end of this article.

MEETINGS AT CONGRESS XII, CHICAGO, JULY 2003

The Scientific Council for 2003-06 met formally on two occasions and informally at others during the 12th World Congress of Food Science and Technology held in Chicago, USA, in July 2003. Its roles and responsibilities leading up to Congress XIII in Nantes, France on 17-21 September 2006 include:

• approval of IUFoST support (with or without financial support) for conferences and meetings requested by outside bodies

• IUFoST obligations under the contract between IUFoST and CMP for the provision of technical programs for the IUFoST symposia/conferences to be held at CMP exhibitions (e.g. Shanghai, March 2004; Berlin, May 2004; Bangkok, October 2004)

• input to future editions of International Review of Food Science and Technology

•    contributions to the technical program for Congress XIII at Nantes, with a theme of Food for Life

•    development of short courses in conjunction with Adhering Bodies throughout the world

•    preparation of position papers on scientific topics, including news releases, information papers and expert reports.

Scientific issues of relevance to both developed and developing countries were canvassed.

TELECONFERENCE JANUARY 2004

In late January 2004 a teleconference was held to discuss future activities and assess progress on matters in hand. Subsequently an Information Bulletin on BSE was circulated to Academy Fellows, Adhering Bodies and other organisations (it is now available on the IUFoST website). An Information Bulletin on obesity, or perhaps more than one covering aspects of this complex debate, will be developed within the next three months. Teleconferences will become a regular means of communication for the Scientific Council following the success of this activity.

 

By Dr Moutairou Egounlety

The First Training Session on Gari Fortification Technologies was held on September 8-12, 2003. It involved 27 women gari processors of Djidja District in Republic of Benin. They were selected from twelve (12) women's groups. The Session took place in Lahouégon Gari Processing Unit. Lahouégon is a village located at 250 km from Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin.

The women were initiated to the techniques of gari fortification with beans (soybean or groundbean) and palm oil. Five (5) types of gari were produced namely soy-gari (Gari-soja), groundbean-gari (Gari-Doi), groundbean-palm oil-gari (Gari-Doi-Huile), soy-palm oil-gari (Gari-soja-Huile) and palm oil-gari (Gari-Huile)

The session was opened on September 8, 2003 at 10: 30 by Mr. Adoho Emmanuel, the field organizer. He particularly thanked the participants for coming to this session. After explaining the reasons for which the session could not be held last year, he invited the participants to carefully follow all the steps of this formation. On the other hand, the "Promoter of Gari Fortification Technologies", Dr. Moutairou Egounlety of Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, emphasized not only the nutritional benefits of eating the fortified gari, especially for the children, but also the health and economic aspects of this appropriate technology.

After the opening ceremony, the participants were taught the processing techniques. Emphasis was put on the ratios of the raw materials to be used, the processing of the beans (water: bean ratio, cooking time, cooling and milling), the fermentation duration and on the garification (cooking of fermented mash).

During the second, third and fourth day, the participants applied the techniques learned the first day. They were divided into four (4) groups, each group producing all the five types of gari.

The fifth day was used for the evaluation of the session. All the gari produced were weighed. The yield was determined and a cost-benefit analysis was done. Some of the problems (i.e lack of appropriate equipment, mechanical grater and press, used in this session) that may arise upon the return of the participants to their units were discussed. They were committed to transfer the fortification technologies to their members once back home.

 The session ended with a taste panel evaluation where many recipes based on fortified gari were eaten by all the participants, the villagers and the invited guests. Samples of fortified gari were distributed to all of them, especially to the participants to show to their colleagues once back home.

The session was closed by Mr. Ayikpon Gabriel, the Rural Development Officer of Djidja District. On behalf of the participants, he thanked the International Union of Food Science and Technology for its financial assistance and the "Promoter" for offering this wonderful opportunity to his people.  

Groundbean (Macrotyloma geocarpa Harms) is a locally produced bean in this district.

 

By Prof Franciszek Kluza, Correspondent

The accession to the European Union structures is a challenge for all sectors of food production and science in Poland. What seems particularly significant is the adjustment of food producers and scientific research units that can and have to contribute in a considerable degree to overcome emerging hardships.

The conformity of plants to the requirements of many laws and regulations at the same time must warrant manufacture of attractive products of good quality. Because of this fact, there has been a high degree of activity in organizing conferences, courses and seminars, frequently of an international character. In the second half of 2003 many meetings were held.  The Polish Refrigeration Industry Union, Central Laboratory of Refrigeration and The Association of Home Producers of Ice-Creams and Frozen Desserts organized (November 2003) a seminar "European Union-chance and hazard for Polish food" where new production engineering and technological solutions, food safety, programs for investment, financial support, as well as the consumers' expectations of cooled and frozen food were considered. The subject matter also included new plastic packaging particularly suited to ice-creams. The next conference "Polish food industry enterprises at the EU market after 01.05.2004 - HACCP system" directed to the food producers took place last December. The lectures were selected in this way so that the participants could be provided with a broad outlook on the legal-standardizing requirements, their introduction, demands of the competitive units as well as examples of new standards in this range. The subject matter of this conference was of particular concern to food manufacturers who were particularly concerned about how to organise the arrangement of legal matters and how to obtain all the needed information about the new requisites.

The Home Economy Chamber "Food Industry" organized another September 2003) on the changes in the food legislation "Everything about food labeling - state control service in food industry". The seminar covered the problems of consumer goods labeling in light of State Supervision of Commerce evaluation, sanitary control and a comparison of the legal regulations of labeling in Poland and European Union. The participants discussed a project of ordinance put forward by the Ministry of Health - "A detailed scope, methods and a way of inner supervision of food quality and observance of sanitary rules at the production, including HACCP system". With regard to Polish bakery quality, The Institute of Agri-Food Industry Biotechnology organized (October 2003) a conference "Impact of grain properties on bread quality" where the questions of materials and cereal preserves quality was discussed in relation with bioavailability of food components, flour improvement with vitamins and calcium as well as hygiene observance in the milling and bakers' works.

The Polish Food Technologists Society organized (November 2003) a scientific conference "Current quality requirements for materials, intermediate products and chocolate confectionery" addressed not only to scientific workers but also to industry. The seminar was devoted to the present state of the confectionery industry in Poland, trade quality of cocoa and chocolate confectionery according to cocoa grain origin and its processing.

 For the first time a panel meeting for fruit-vegetable trade was organized by the State Council of Processing and Refrigeration of Fruit and Vegetables and Industry of Fermentation and Fruit-Vegetables entitled "Fruit and vegetable processing – a chance for the Polish economy".

The main point of this meeting was the analysis of the Polish fruit and vegetable processing potential as well as this trade's opportunities in the common European market. Manufacture of fruit-vegetable industry constitutes 10% of food industry value and exhibits a dynamic upward tendency. A fast increase of production and export is a consequence of high demand for Polish preserves at foreign sales, low prices in the Polish offer and the progressive liberalization of the turnover with European Union and its candidate countries. During the meeting the most substantial elements of financial assistance from the European funds were analysed within PHARE and SAPARD programs directed to the enterprises serving the development of fruit and vegetable processing.

 

By GA Krishna, CFTRI Correspondent

The 5th International Food Convention and Expo "IFCON 2003", held in December, was a successful event at Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India. More than 2000 delegates, including 40 renowned scientists from overseas, participated in the four day long deliberations.

The theme of the IFCON 2003 was "Innovative food technologies and quality systems – Strategies for Global Competitiveness" and the deliberations covered state of the art technologies, processing systems and modern techniques, functional and innovative additives and world-wide accepted food quality evaluation systems, including microbial standards.

Prof. MS Swaminathan, the renowned agriculture scientist, in his inaugural address observed that "India with 20 per cent of world's farming community, it is time for food technologists to guide governments to open Food Parks to enable entrepreneurs and the farm sector to make India a superpower in food security".

Prof. Swaminathan advocated for a progressive approach towards a farm sector as nearly 70 percent of rural population in India is engaged in agriculture.

Dr V Prakash, Director, CFTRI, and Chairman of the IFCON, spoke on the theme of IFCON-2003 "Innovative food technologies and quality systems – Strategies for Global Competitiveness", and said 10 percent increase in food grain production is 'consumption out-pacing the production'. This he observed as a good situation, especially for a largely populated country like India. He observed that the business of food security, food sustainability, and sustainable consumption with built-in nutrition and hygienically processed food is the demand of the day.

Prof. Walter E.L. Spiess, Past President of International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), Germany, expressed his happiness over the progress that India is making towards food self-sufficiency and its potential in utilizing the modern methods in food processing technology. Dr. Spiess complimented India for its highly-skilled manpower on par with the developed nations, particularly in the field of information technology. He asserted that food science was making tremendous progress but technologists should not forget that they were working for the people. He mentioned that the food requirements of the developed world have been met but not those of the developing world. He stressed the need for translating field research into practical application to meet the requirements.

The four day event covered lectures on the topics such as "HSQC – The driving force of the world of Food Technology" by V. Prakash, CFTRI, Mysore, India; Innovations and challenges in food research by G. Thyagarajan, Former Director, CLRI, Chennai, India; Glycosyl transferases in proteoglycans biosynthesis, their role in pathophysiology and possible therapeutic applications of marine glycosaminoglycan chains by K. Sugahara, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe, Japan; The new paradigm, consumer oriented food production: Challenges to food science and food engineering by Walter E.L.Spiess, University of Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany; Sustainable development in agri-business: A product of integrated systems by Joseph H Hulse, Siemens – Hulse International Development Associates Inc. Ottawa, Canada; Unrecognised foods unrewarded diversity: Linking food, nutrition and health of ecosystem and communities by Anil Gupta, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India and Learning to digest food science and technology by AS Abhiraman, Hindustan Lever Ltd., Mumbai, India.

About 25 technical sessions, on key areas of Food Science and Technology with emphasis on breakthrough research, cutting-edge technology, recent developments and innovations were held. About 6 sessions comprising 900 poster presentations on specifically identified 20 relevant themes were arranged from original R&D work in different areas of food science and technology by researchers, technologists, engineers and students.

 

By Prof Nils Bengtsson, SIK Correspondent

Two years ago, a joint research project, sponsored by the Swedish government agency VINNOVA was started to study "Water distribution and molecular mobility in heterogeneous structures of relevance for the food and pharmaceutical industry" with the participation of SIK's department of Structure and Material Design and the Chalmers department of Applied Surface Chemistry, together with leading pharmaceutical and food companies. Anne-Marie Hermansson has been coordinator of the entire project, with Niklas Lorén and Magnus Nydén as project leaders at SIK and the Chalmers department, respectively.

The concept has been to work with applications where the diffusion of water and the functionality of active molecules in a complex heterogeneous microstructure determine product properties, be it table spreads, diaper tissue or pharmaceutical products. The diffusion in such materials is studied both experimentally and by modelling, combining confocal laser microscopy on microstructure with diffusion studies using advanced NMR techniques.

On August 27-29, 2003, a EUCHEM conference on "Structure and Molecular Mobility in Heterogeneous Systems" was arranged at Fiskebäckskil, Sweden, where a number of presentations reported results from this project, in addition to contributions from leading international researchers in the field. The aim of the conference was to expose current front line fundamental and applied research in environmental catalysis. Altogether the program comprised some 20 presentations and an equal number of posters relating to different aspects of water distribution and molecular mobility and pertinent techniques. The research project is now concluded, and the results of the project have been reported to the participants and to sponsors. A brief outline of findings is given in the following.

Many structured products have a heterogeneous distribution of water, which affects important properties such as texture, mouth feel, microbial activity, water binding and diffusion, permeability and release of active reactants and functionality of molecules in complex structures. The most important objective for the research groups at SIK and the Chalmers University of Technology has been to develop new tools to determine, predict and control diffusion properties and mass transfer in structured supramolecular gels and complex emulsions, using a combination of microscopy, image analysis, NMR diffusion and modelling NMR self-diffusion from the microstructure by a new FEMLAB approach. Model systems were selected together with the industrial partners to be relevant for a broad range of applications related to water diffusion in heterogeneous structures such as drugs, hygiene products, food gels and emulsions etc.  

During the course of the project, the basic methods for combining microscopy with NMR have been developed and proved successful and knowledge for potential applications transferred to the industrial partners. The novel combination of techniques proved successful for emulsion structures like low fat dairy emulsions, where conventional NMR diffusion methods had failed. By CLSM image analysis at several magnifications, it was possible to calculate the average propagator, describing the probability for a water molecule to diffuse a certain distance in a given time. From this, the echo attenuation can be calculated and compared to that using NMR measurements, demonstrating good agreement between the two. By simulation of a time series, the importance of the heterogeneity of the emulsion for water diffusion was illustrated, allowing a line of "marker" water molecules to diffuse in the aqueous part of the structure and studying the effects when no restrictions are imposed, and with restrictions in the form of closed or small pores, bottlenecks and shapes of the aqueous domain, such restrictions having a pronounced effect on the time-dependent concentration profile.

Work was also performed on supramolecular gel structures by electron microscopy. The gel approach was more complicated than the emulsions work, and this is the focus of a follow up project. The modelling requires 3D information and interaction effects will be taken into account in the ongoing work. Biopolymer gels can be formed over a wide range of length scales, the importance of which was illustrated by TEM micrographs of gels under study. Gels were seen to be very heterogeneous, different parts differing in gel strand density. The more gel strands, the more diffusion obstruction.

The work on commercial food spreads demonstrated that diffusion can be predicted from knowledge of the microstructure, while existing commercial NMR software and methods are erratic. The results obtained can thus be used for process design of products with the desired properties.

Many of the industrial partners make products where network structures control diffusion; drugs, foods, starch based products, hygiene products, cellulose derivative stabilisers and gel beads for chromatographic use. The methods and results obtained have been considered important for all partners. For those directly involved with the model systems used, the results have been directly implemented.

 

By Ann Wangalachi and Oiye Shadrack, KUFoST Correspondents

In Kenya, there are institutions viewed as key players in food safety. This article briefly highlights the training institutions, national regulatory authorities and consumer organizations. In subsequent issues of Newsline, other players in food safety in Kenya will be discussed.

Technical training institutions

Technical institutions such as the universities, polytechnics and technical institutes provide training to students at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Food science and Technology, key components of which are Food Quality Assurance, Food Processing and Preservation, Food Chemistry, Food Microbiology, among others. These courses are all aimed at ensuring that the personnel in the food industry are adequately trained to deal with any eventuality as far as food safety and quality are concerned. There are also other tertiary colleges, which offer training specifically for those in the food service sector. In addition, these technical institutions do carry out training of informal food processors in the use of appropriate agro-processing technologies and importance of good manufacturing practices (GMPs). An example of an institution doing this is Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, where curricula has been developed and implemented successfully.

Food control and regulation Authorities

These are housed in the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Health and Agriculture. They include the Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI), Public Health, Weights and Measures, Government Chemist's departments as well as the Horticultural Crops Development Authority. These are all legally empowered to seize food products and to order the closure of any food handling premises not conforming to set requirements of quality and public health safety.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is a statutory government body mandated to coordinate all activities in the country as regards the development and implementation of standards, both local and international as long as they are of relevance to Kenya. In addition, KEBS carries out certification of products and quality management systems such as the (International Organisation for Standardization) ISO series, employed by organizations in the country. In Kenya, consumers regard the "diamond mark of quality" issued by KEBS, as the national quality yardstick. Also firms that are ISO certified record better profits than their counterparts who do not. In addition, KEBS carries out industrial visits to gather information on quality issues on the ground and receives samples for analysis in its laboratories. These samples may be private or complaint samples. These are quality assurance and testing services components of its operations. Further, the Bureau facilitates training for undergraduate students in Laboratory Analysis, to enable them to better appreciate the relevance of their theoretical training. For those already in industry, tailor-made training seminars are conducted on issues such as quality management for better economic performance.

The work involving quality standards is by far the most important: it brings together all the stakeholders in the food industry – the academia, industry, consumer organisations and the relevant government departments. Standards dealing with food and agricultural products are developed by Technical Committees, of which there are about 30, with their secretariats at KEBS. In the development of standards, reference is made, where appropriate, to other national, regional and international standards, codes of practice and guidelines such as those by African Regional Organisation for Standardization (ARSO), ISO and Codex. In addition, the relevant Laws of Kenya are also cited. These include the Public Health Act Cap 242, Food Drugs and Chemical Substances Act Cap 254, among others.

The Bureau also serves as the secretariat of the National Codex Committee as well as the National Enquiry Point of the World Trade Organisation. This is all instrumental in ensuring that the country is kept up to date on developments in the world of food standards as well as international food trade.

Consumer organizations

The consumer organizations in Kenya include the Kenya Consumer Organization, Consumer Information Network, and Consumer Insight, among others. These have been set up to lobby for consumer protection against unfair trade practices and purchase of unsafe or substandard food products.

 

By Prof Malcolm Bourne, 2003-2006 President, International Academy of Food Science & Technology

Although a number of Agencies within the United Nations System have a deep interest in world nutrition, no single UN Agency has sole responsibility for nutrition. Therefore, in 1976, the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) which is composed of the Heads of UN Agencies established the Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) comprising eighteen UN Agencies, the World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).   The Secretariat for SCN is at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, and their website is: www.unsystem.org/scn/

The mandate of SCN is to serve as the UN focal point for promoting harmonized nutrition policies and strategies throughout the UN System, and to strengthen collaboration with other partners for accelerated and more effective action against malnutrition. The aim of SCN is to raise awareness of and concern for nutrition problems at global, regional and national levels; to refine the direction, increase the scale and strengthen the coherence and impact of actions against malnutrition worldwide; and to promote cooperation among UN Agencies and partner organizations.   SCN publishes a peer-reviewed journal, "SCN NEWS" in July and December each year. Correspondence and inquiries about the journal can be made electronically to: scn@who.int

Almost 300 people attended the 31st Session of SCN in New York March 22-26, 2004. They represented many UN Agencies, Bilateral Partners (individual countries ranging from Brazil to Zimbabwe), Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) and Intergovernmental Organizations (INGOs) ranging from the Academy for Educational Development to World Vision, and Academia and Civil Society that ranged from Arcadia University in Canada to the Center For Disease Control in the USA.   The importance of this meeting can be gauged from the fact that four World Food Prize Laureates were in attendance: Catherine Bertini (2003 Laureate) was Chair of the meeting, Pedro A. Sanchez (2002 Laureate), Per Pinstrup-Andersen (2001 Laureate), and Nevin S. Scrimshaw (1991 laureate).The International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) which is a sister society to IUFoST had several representatives present.

The first day of the meeting was a symposium on the nutrition components of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are a set of quantified and time-bound goals for dramatically improving the human condition by 2015. Ten
thematically-oriented Task Forces were commissioned by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan in 2002 to recommend by June 2005 the best strategies for achieving these goals.   Many of these goals have a strong nutrition component, for example, Goal 1 is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and goal 4 is to reduce child mortality.

The speakers at the symposium pointed out that there have been encouraging advances in reduction of malnutrition in some Asian countries, especially China. However, in much of Africa the nutrition situation has deteriorated and will continue to deteriorate, largely because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Consequently, it was felt that the fraction of assistance from world donors for nutrition programs should be increased for Africa.

Most of the second day was devoted to three parallel sessions working on 1) UN Agencies; 2) Bilateral Partners; and 3) Nongovernment Organizations and Civil Societies.These sessions met again on Thursday afternoon. All of Wednesday and Thursday morning was devoted to Working Group Meetings on various nutrition concerns including:

• Breast feeding and complementary feeding

• Capacity development in food and nutrition

•    Household food security

• Nutrition and HIV/AIDS

• Nutrition in emergencies

• Nutrition, ethics and human rights

•    Micronutrients

• Nutrition for school age children

• Nutrition throughout the life cycle

On the fifth and final day, key recommendations for action for next year were presented by the leaders of each of the parallel sessions and working groups.  The Proceedings of this meeting will be published in the next issue of SCN NEWS due out in July. Write to the Editor, Andrea Moreira at: scn@who.int if you would like to have a copy. The next meeting of SCN will be in Brasilia March 14-18, 2005.

As a food scientist, I made the point wherever the opportunity presented itself that the interests of food scientists and nutritionists are complementary.  The nutritionist establishes what nutrients are needed and the food scientist/technologist works to develop foods that provide these nutrients in an acceptable, affordable and safe form.   I kept a supply of the brochure describing IUFoST on a table just inside the conference room at UN and estimate that one hundred of these were taken.

 

(A short outline for initiating a discussion on the Food Chain
between ICSU Unions with an interest in the Food Supply worldwide.)

The latest FAO statistics show that, despite a dramatic increase in agricultural production over the last 30 years due to combined efforts of farmers, researchers, technologists and teachers in the agricultural area, globally over 840 million people (mostly women and children) are chronically malnourished and close to starvation. Other statistical data indicate that almost 30% of the adult population  (aged over 20 years) of the United States of America (USA) is obese, a phenomenon also to be found in segments of societies at the brink of starvation. Statistics on the global agricultural production show a picture that underpins the above statement, excessive production in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere, scarcity and insufficient production in Africa, Central China and many parts of South America.

These distorted situations have had detrimental effects on agricultural production at large and on the classical balance between the factors – availability, familiarity and selectivity - that have determined traditional eating patterns.

The industrialisation of agricultural production has provoked a multitude of measures targeted to increase yields and reduce production losses. These include intensive use of industrial fertilisers, intensive use of heavy agricultural equipment, and introduction of production-oriented varieties, with some of them genetically modified (e.g. BT maize) and others developed through classical plant breeding. This has led to damage to the environment (e.g. loss of biodiversity and loss of indigenous plants and microfauna), distortion of markets in transitional countries with an impoverishment of rural populations, and negative images of GM products in large segments of the population, especially in Europe but also in the USA.

Food science and food technology, as the mediators between production and consumption, have tried over the years to adjust to the variations of the raw materials and, through the development of new products and new processes, have helped to find markets for agricultural products.

In the course of these efforts it became clear that new types of products will only be accepted by the consumer when the product meets consumer demands and expectations in every respect.  In other words, the bottom-up paradigm that the available agricultural produce -where ever they come from- determines the type of processing and type of the final product cannot be maintained anymore in a modern global society. The more developed the food market, the more the consumers' needs determine processing and agricultural production. Under these conditions the question will no longer be what can be produced, the question will be what do consumers require with respect to physiological needs and with respect to their social and cultural/religious needs. This approach is a reversion of the classical bottom up paradigm.

A successful adaptation of the new approach requires close cooperation and networking of food science with all of the scientific disciplines involved: with nutritional physiology, ethnology/social science, psychology, food chemistry, food physics, food engineering, food biotechnology and with many others. At the beginning of the chain, cooperation would involve agricultural science, soil science and geographical science.

The underlying concept of the top-down approach is that food production is adjusted to the needs of the consumer in a way that famines are reduced, impoverishment fought and raw material production becomes based on sustainable, environmentally friendly methods. It is also to demonstrate that providing food to consumers at large on a global scale is a huge task, which engages not only politics, but must be based on sound scientific knowledge provided by a multitude of scientific disciplines. It is also important to understand that the approach can only be realised through the development of decentralised concepts that take into account the need individual ethnic/religious/social groups. It has also to be conceded that in cases of extreme food shortage localised in time and geographical place producing whatever you can could be the only alternative to starvation?

To visualise some of these needs and potentials, a symposium titled The (healthy, sustainable) Food Chain was organised in close cooperation with other Scientific Unions in the frame of the XII IUFoST World Congress of Food Science and Technology (Chicago, July 2003). The symposium and the papers, which will be published in three consecutive issues of the Journal of Food Science (published by the US Institute of Food Technologists, the host of Congress XII), have to be considered as a first step to bringing together representatives of scientific disciplines to take part in discussions on a healthy and sustainable Food Chain. The idea was to listen and to learn from each other and to become more familiar with the various facets of the problem; the presented papers indicate that other events and meetings have to follow.

It is suggested that all interested Unions involved in one way or other in the Food Chain enter into discussions to contribute to a healthy, sustainable Food Chain. This discussion is important to demonstrate to consumers at large that Science is willing and able to provide not only concepts and solutions for small segments of food provided to the consumer, but also for the entire agro-industry chain.

W. Spiess, February 2004

 

Elected Members of the Scientific Council 2003-06

Professor Ken Buckle, Chairman (Australia)

Ken Buckle graduated BSc (1965) and PhD (1969) in food technology from the University of New South Wales, and joined the (then) Department of Food Technology at UNSW where he now holds the Chair of Food Science and Technology within the Faculty of Engineering. He is a former Head of the Department of Food Science and Technology and of the School of Applied Bioscience, and was Associate Dean (International Development) for the Faculties of Life Sciences and of Science. He is also currently Director, China Relations for UNSW.

His teaching and research interests cover food preservation and processing, food storage and stability, traditional food processing technologies, food safety and food regulations. He is a member of the Board of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and of the Interim Advisory Committee for the newly established NSW Food Authority. He has taught, consulted and conducted research in several countries in SE Asia and North America. He is the author / co-author / editor of over 130 technical publications including 8 books and manuals.

Professor Buckle is a former President of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) and of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) and is a recipient of the AIFST President's Award and Award of Merit. He is a Fellow of AIFST, of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and of IAFoST of which he is currently Immediate Past President. He is the Chair of the Scientific Council of IUFoST (2003-06) and hence a member of IUFoST's Governing Council.

Dr David Lineback, Past Chairman (USA)

Dr Lineback graduated BSc in chemistry from Purdue University and PhD in carbohydrate chemistry from Ohio State University, and then undertook postdoctoral studies at the University of Alberta. After academic positions at the University of Nebraska and Kansas State University he became Professor and Head of the Department of Food Science at Pennsylvania State University and then at North Carolina State University. Following a position as Dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Idaho, he accepted his current position at the University of Maryland where he is Director of the Joint Institute of Food Science and Nutrition (JIFSAN), a cooperative venture with the US Food and Drug Administration.

He has been President of the American Association of Cereal Chemists, the US Institute of Food Technologists and the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, the US Institute of Food Technologists, the UK Institute of Food Science and Technology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received numerous awards and medals from several universities and institutions. He is President-Elect of IUFoST, and was Past Chair of the Scientific Council and a member of the Management Committee and Governing Council.

Emeritus Professor Francis (Frank) F. Busta (USA)

Dr Busta received a BA and MS from the University of Minnesota and PhD from the University of Illinois. Dr Busta has held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, North Carolina State University, and the University of Florida. He served as Chair of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida and Head of the Department of Food Science & Nutrition, University of Minnesota. Dr Busta's research areas are in food safety, growth and survival of microorganisms after environmental stress in food, and microbial ecology of the colon. He has published more than 125 refereed research papers.

Dr Busta is Chief Technology Advisor on an UNDP project in China on agri-processing within the WTO framework. After 15 years of service he recently retired from the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Food (ICMSF). As a member of the FDA Food Advisory Committee, he chairs the Contaminants and Natural Toxicants Subcommittee. Professor Busta is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, of the US Institute of Food Technologists, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the UK Institute of Food Science and Technology, and of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. He was President of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and currently is Senior Science Advisor of IFT's contract from FDA entitled: Analysis and Review of Topics in the Areas of Food Safety, Food Processing and Human Health.

Professor Colin Dennis, Chair-elect (UK)

Professor Dennis is Director-General of the Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association Group (CCFRA) in the United Kingdom, the world's largest independent membership-based research and technology organisation involved in the agri-food sector. He is graduate of Sheffield University, UK, where he obtained a 1st Class Honours BSc. in botany and biochemistry and a PhD. in mycology.

On graduation he worked at the UK's Institute of Food Research, Norwich for an 11 year period during which he spent a short secondment in the Norwegian Food Research Institute. Professor Dennis was an active research leader in the Institute of Food Research, particularly in the field of post harvest preservation of fruits and vegetables. He has presented over 100 scientific papers in journals and has edited four texts on the subject. He has been External Examiner for BSc-MS-PhD at the Universities of Reading, Manchester Metropolitan, Portsmouth, East Anglia, Strathclyde in the UK and the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He now has more than 30 years experience in food research and 20 years senior management experience in an industry focused organisation providing multidisciplinary scientific and technical support (including training, consultancy, process and product development, analytical and testing, information and legislation, trouble shooting and auditing) to large, medium and small companies as well as government clients. He was appointed as the Unilever Visiting Professor in the Departments of Food and Agricultural Chemistry and Food and Agricultural Microbiology at the Queen's University of Belfast in 1991, where he teaches undergraduate modules on food packaging and processing of fruits and vegetables. He is Honorary Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Professor Dennis is a Fellow of the US Institute of Food Technologists, the UK Institute of Food Science & Technology, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.

Dr Mary K. Schmidl (USA)

Dr Mary Schmidl received a BSc from the University of California Davis and a MS and PhD from Cornell University in food chemistry with minors in biochemistry and human nutrition. For more than 25 years, she had worked and published extensively in the food sector having held management and teaching positions for AG Bayer, Novartis and the University of Minnesota in St Paul, MN, USA.

Dr Schmidl is the former President of the US Institute of Food Technologists. She is a Fellow of the US Institute of Food Technologists and of the UK Institute of Food Science and Technology. She has received the IFT Babcock-Hart Award in Nutrition and the Award of Distinction from the University of California-Davis. Most recently she has served on the Board of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, an organisation representing over 1.5 million scientists and science educators worldwide. Dr Schmidl is currently principal for NFNC, a food and drug consulting firm in St Paul, Minnesota, USA and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota.

 

Dear Academy Executive Council:

Last October/November IUFoST was asked to comment on a draft of the 5th Report on the World Food Situation. Because of the short time frame for comments this request was passed on to the Academy Executive Council, some of whom sent comments to the World Health Organization, which was the agency with the primary responsibility for preparing the report.

I am pleased to tell you that a copy of this report was delivered to me last week. It is 130 pages. In the front matter (page vii) there is acknowledgment of "the intellectual advice and valuable contributions of a large number of colleagues and organizations" Included in this list are the names of three members of the Academy Executive Council: Ralph Blanchfield, Malcolm Bourne and V. Prakash.

I believe IAFoST and IUFoST should have a feeling of satisfaction in their contribution to this report that will be a blueprint for future activities around the world to accelerate reductions in malnutrition.

Regards,
Malcolm

 

February 2004 IUFoST News Bulletin

Researchers involved in food science and technology research projects relevant to worldwide food needs, especially those of developing countries, will be invited to contribute brief key details of their projects to a new searchable database developed and operated jointly by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST).

The purposes of this database are to collate information about relevant food research projects, to facilitate information sharing among food scientists globally and provide a resource and contact base especially for developing countries. Access will be at www.fao.org/INPhO.

Initiator of the database project, Prof J Ralph Blanchfield stated:

"This collaboration between the two main international bodies, FAO and IUFoST, deserves the support of all food scientists and technologists worldwide. IUFoST is asking all its national Adhering Bodies to request and encourage their members involved in research projects in food science and technology, wherever carried out and applicable to improving food quality and availability especially for developing countries to contribute details of their projects to the database. We shall also be asking research institutions to facilitate entries by their staff and aid agencies to contribute details of projects that they support."

"For the first time, there will be organized worldwide knowledge of what scientists and technologists have been or are doing in relation to this crucially-important subject, where the work is being done and for which developing countries. The IUFoST Task Force will monitor inputs and conduct searches; and will be able to:

• See where the gaps are and draw attention to them;

• Put individuals, who are unknowingly working on similar projects for different developing countries, in touch with each other;

• Possibly "broker" the application of projects that have been/are being successful, to other developing countries where they could also be relevant."

FAO is the main international agency concerned with addressing the serious problems of food insecurity in the world. IUFoST is the "United Nations" - type international body in which member countries are represented by their national food science and technology societies (termed "Adhering Bodies"). It has been seeking new ways to give practical effect to the food security principles embodied in its Budapest Declaration of 1995. Out of this was born the database concept.

At a practical level the scheme and database requirements were developed by an IUFoST Task Force led by Professor Blanchfield, and the database was constructed and implemented by FAO's Agriculture and Food Engineering Technologies Service as a module of its INPhO mega-database.

FOOTNOTE: "The database is now up and running. To make an entry go to www.fao.org/inpho/ find and click on the IUFoST link on the left-hand side of the screen, log in as "Guest" (coded password already provided), click on "Contribution" and proceed from there. You will find that the project name and brief details need to be entered in English, French and Spanish. If this presents a difficulty, to obtain a version to use in any of the three required languages, copy-and-paste your language version into the translation box in http://world.altavista.com/ and copy-and-paste the translation into the appropriate space on the form (only takes a few moments)."

IUFoST Contact: J. Meech, Tel: + 1 905 815 1926, Fax: + 1 905 815 1574, e-mail: iufost@ca.inter.net, website: www.iufost.org Please let us know if you would like more information and ensure that your publications, newsletters, websites carry the details so we can be certain that we are including everyone and every project in this database.

 

Announcement of IUFoST/FAO Database
is welcome news

"I am pleased to inform you that the Central Food Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary is willing and going to contribute to the joint FAO/IUFoST global database of food science and technology research projects with information on the institute's research activities."

-— Prof. Jozsef Farkas, Hungary

 

" I think it is wonderful that a global database of food science and technology research projects addressing worldwide food needs is being launched by FAO and IUFoST together… We need to identify the gaps, put the right and appropriate technologies and value add to the agri resources in order to make the rural urban divide much smaller… As a close associate of IUFoST, I feel very proud that this has been initiated and IUFoST can depend upon CFTRI for any assistance from us. We are committed to the cause."

-— Dr. V. Prakash, India

 

2004

 

 

 

2005

 

 

2006

 

 

IUFoST Berlin Conference Programme

Food Ingredients play an important role in modern food production because almost all processed foods contain ingredients and these must meet the expectations of the consumers. Food ingredients help to adjust colour, viscosity, structure, acidity, sweetness and flavour, and also provide nutrients and aid in preservation. On the other hand, consumers want foods that are natural, minimally processed and without the addition of any additives or ingredients. This is one of the issues facing newcomers to the European market. The European consumer expects that products from the Eastern part of the continent are natural and minimally processed but the products also must meet the high quality standards expected of the EU and its European consumers.

The IUFoST Conference "Food Ingredients – Production and Perception in a New European Environment: Challenges of Entering the Expanded European Market Place" looks at the basic issues facing the industry.  Experts in the European market from Unilever, Coca-Cola, European Food Safety Authority, Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association Group and other renowned speakers tackle the hot topics of the expanded European market place. The first is the concept of EU hygiene legislation and the role of industry self-control with relevance to GHP and HACCP, food safety management systems and generally ensuring the safety of produce used in ingredients.

The huge volume of regulations will cause major problems for the new entrants to the EU market and it is anticipated that in particular SME in the new EU Member States will have difficulty applying the EU food related legislation. The problems that SME are facing will be discussed in detail. Some of the practical problems that SME and also major producers will face include the requirements of major retailers with respect to auditing standards and the role of third party auditing. Traceability of food components and labelling of food additives in multistage processed products are additional topics that are examined during this conference.

The Conference also addresses consumer fears and expectations through discussion regarding consumer demands on labelling of food additives, microbiological risk assessment and risk assessment of biological active substances in herbs and spices. Risk assessment is again evaluated in a presentation on advantages and disadvantages of food products with special health benefits (i.e. functional foods).

This International Conference authoritatively presents the problems and requirements but also the opportunities that the modern food industry faces with respect to the use of the food additives and ingredients essential for any food product to compete successfully in the expanded European market.