48th Annual Conference Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology

Ken Buckle

The 48^th Annual Conference of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) was held on 11-13 August 2015 at the iconic Luna Park in Sydney, Australia, in conjunction with the 15^th Australian Food Microbiology Conference (AFMC). Over 500 delegates from all sectors of the Australian food industry heard from more than 90 local and international speakers on a range of topics. The conference sessions were supported by more than 70 exhibitors and sponsors. The conference theme was “Food for All”, with a significant emphasis on aspects of food safety, from plenary sessions to concurrent sessions, including those sessions within the AFMC.

A welcome to delegates by Ms Georgie Aley, CEO of AIFST, was followed by the official opening of the conference by Bruce Christie, Deputy Director-General Biosecurity and Food Safety of the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Sydney’s Luna Park, site for the 48^th AIFST Conference and 15th AFMC

  (l to r): Georgie Aley, CEO, Dr Anne Astin, President, Dr Tom Lewis, Director

Plenary Sessions

11 August

The Plenary session on 11 August featured Dr Linda Harris, a Professor of Food Microbiology at the University of California, Davis, CA, USA, who spoke on global trends in food safety, highlighting that while foods are becoming safer, nevertheless significant and deadly outbreaks of foodborne disease and food poisoning still occur throughout the world. Modern techniques and social media are now making significant progress in detecting and tracking disease outbreaks, and more rapidly identifying culprit foods and organisms. Dr Harris also spoke in the 7^th Australian Association for Food Protection (AAFP) / bioMerieux Symposium in which she discussed food safety challenges and opportunities for low moisture foods, and was a panel member of a consumer trust and food industry round table (see below).

Plenary speaker Louise Tran of OzHarvest reported that 4 Mt of food was wasted in Australia each year, worth about $10B. OzHarvest now has 30 vans that collect and distribute surplus food for distribution to the needy, supplying about 300,000 meals/y, with a goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2025.

Prof Linda Harris 

     (l to r) Dr Anne Astin, Dr Martin Cole, Dr Larry Marshall

12 August

The plenary talk on the second day featured Dr Martin Cole, Director of the CSIRO Food and Nutrition Flagship, who discussed the National Food Nutrition Research and Development and Technology Transfer Strategy that involves CSIRO, many universities and government departments, and the food and nutrition industries. He stressed that we need to align government, industry and research institute efforts and develop a whole of chain approach, and outlined the formation of a series of key taskforces, including aspects of food, nutrition and health, food safety, integrity and traceability, resource efficiency and sustainability, technology transfer and adoption, food and agribusiness growth, and skills and training.

A panel discussion on “Consumer trust, technology and the food industry – is there a disconnect?” featured moderator Tim Powell and panel members Fiona Cameron (Australian Research Council), Dr Linda Harris (UC Davis), Dr Geoffrey Annison (Australlian Food and Grocery Council), Mirjana Price (Food Innovation Australia Ltd), Georgie Aley (AIFST) and Dr Martin Cole (CSIRO).

The JR Vickery Award Address, named after CSIRO food research pioneer and AIFST’s first President, Dr James Vickery, was presented by Dr Larry Marshall, CSIRO CEO, on unlocking Australia’s innovation dilemma to transform the food and agribusiness industry.

Food industry exhibition

 AIFST Award of Merit recipient Peter Schutz

2015 AIFST Awards

The 2015 AIFST Awards presented during the conference included the following:

·      Keith Farrer Award of Merit: Peter Schutz, Food Innovation Australia, who was overseas and presented his address via video;

·      Food Industry Innovation Award: AquaBotanical Beverages (Australia) Pty Ltd

·      President Award: CSIRO Food and Nutrition Flagship and Dr Ailsa Hocking, Honorary Research Fellow, CSIRO, North Ryde;

·      Jack Kefford Award for best food science and technology paper published in a peer-reviewed journal: Dr Ying Zhu, University of Adelaide;

·      Bruce Chandler Book Prize for published contribution to food science and technology: Prof. Bhesh Bandari, University of Queensland, for his publication Food Materials Science and Engineering;

·      Malcolm Bird Award, for young members who demonstrate academic achievement, leadership and integrity: Ms Divya Eratte, Federation University;

 (l to r) David Haslett, Dr John Christian, Divya Eratte

Student helpers at the conference

·      Student product Development Competition for the proposal for a new product: terry Waldron, Theoni Binos and Laura Vougas, William Angliss Institute of TAFE;

·      John Christian Young Food Microbiologist Award: Ms Hasinika Gamagen, Macquarie University;

·      Poster Competition: Ms Divya Eratte, Federation University; Young Professional in Science: Hilal Varinili

49^th AIFST Conference and Exhibition

The 49^th AIFST Conference will be held in Brisbane, Queensland on 27-28 June 2016, in conjunction with the 2016 Foodtech Exhibition.

Dr Ken Buckle is Emeritus Professor, Food Science and Technology Group, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia (e-mail: k.buckle@unsw.edu.au). He is a Fellow and former President (2001-03) of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, a Fellow of the [US] Institute of Food Technologists, and a Fellow and former President (1995-97) of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology. He is chair of the Editorial Advisory Board (2006-) of The World of Food Science (www.worldfoodscience.org).