World Food Issues on the Plate

The five-day Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting + Food Expo(r) next month is only the beginning of two, five-day sessions of technical expertise addressing hot topics involving the world's food. IFT and the International Union of Food Science and Technology co-host the 12th World Congress of Food Science and Technology July 16-20 at Chicago Hilton Hotel and Towers.

Unique to the IFT-IUFoST World Congress is discussion of global food issues by international experts whose insights lead to proposed remedies presented at the conference's conclusion.

Roundtable discussions begin the afternoon of July 16, and include the topic, How can food science and technology contribute to the world's food problem? That evening, the Congress' opening session will include an address by Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001 World Food Prize recipient, former director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute and current senior research fellow.

The $250,000 international prize was awarded Pinstrup-Andersen for his contribution to agricultural research, food policy and improving the status of the world's poor and starving. He will address the topic, Feeding the world--Innovations from farm to plate.

Other topics to be dissected by international food experts include barriers to globalization, food allergens, feeding the world, food waste management, probiotics and functional foods, food safety, food and water security, agroterrorism, and many others. Scientific participants range from government, academia and industry from the six populated continents.

The complete program, its participants and schedule are accessible online at http://www.worldfoodscience.org/worldcongress.

Journalists registering for media credentials to the IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo(r) will also be provided access to the IFT-IUFoST 12th World Congress. Credentials can be acquired via the Press Only section of the Annual Meeting + Food Expo(r) Web site, http://www.am-fe.ift.org, and picked up during open newsroom hours at the expo at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center.

Founded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is a not-for-profit international scientific society with 28,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology. IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues. For more on IFT, see www.ift.org.