By Ken Buckle
Introduction:
The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology Incorporated (AIFST Inc) held its 45th Annual Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre on 15-18 July 2012. The Conference theme, “Reaping the Rewards”, provided considerable scope for keynote and technical session speakers to explore the many different aspects of foods, education, food science and technology, R&D, production and agriculture.
A brief history of AIFST Inc is outlined in a report of the 40th AIFST Conference in 2007 (see Association News Archives: (www.worldfoodscience.org/cms/?pid=1003795). The history of the formation of AIFST has now been published by AIFST: Birth of a Profession: A history of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology, by Keith Farrer, Jack Kefford and Ken Buckle, AIFST Inc, 116 pp (2011); ISBN: 978-0-95789-073-2.
Conference Highlights:
Speakers, Program and Posters
The Adelaide Conference, the first in that city since 2006, attracted a total of 407 delegates and speakers, including 14 from overseas. There were 40 student delegates, and 46 attendees at three post-Convention workshops.
The major sponsor was the SA Government (Primary Industries and Regions SA). Sponsorship support was also provided for many conference activities and delegate handouts, including the Wine and Cheese night (Chr Hansen), Convention dinner (Manildra Group and Food Spectrum), satchels (Kerry), poster competitions (Additive Solutions, 3M, Ingredients Plus), early morning refreshments (Appointments Group), barista (DTS Food Laboratories), lunch (Watermark), refreshment breaks (Tate & Lyle, Bronson & Jacobs, SAI Global), pens (Cheetham Salt) and lanyards and notepads (KF Specialty Ingredients).
Among the 80 speakers were five from overseas, including Emeritus Prof Malcolm Bourne (Cornell University, Geneva, NY, USA); A/Prof Patrick Wall (University College Dublin, Ireland);Tatsuya Morita (Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan); Dr Robert Brackett (National Center for Food Safety and Health, Illinois Institute of Technology, Bedford Park, IL, USA); and Markus Link (Bruker BioSpin GmbH, Rheinstetten, Germany).
Cathy McArdle, the President of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST), and Rosemary Hancock, Executive Manager of NZIFST, attended the AIFST Conference and Council meeting.
The Conference opened on Sunday afternoon 15 July 2012 following the Institute’s Council meeting. The opening Plenary Session was presented by Em Prof Malcolm Bourne, who gave a detailed overview on the topic “Preserving food after harvest is an integral component of food security?, followed by AIFST Student Product Development Competition teams from Deakin University and The University of New South Wales, and Malcolm Bird Award presenters from SARDI Food Safety, SA and Monash University, Vic.
President Jo Davey launched the Career Tools Package of the Continuing Professional Development program developed by AIFST over the past year, followed by presentations from three successful SA companies outlining their R&D, production and marketing strategies.
The Convention was officially opened on Monday morning 16 July by the Hon Gail Gago MLC, SA Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, with an additional welcome provided by Rachel Sanderson MP, the Member for Adelaide in the SA Government.
The AIFST Keith Farrer Award of Merit was presented to Callum Elder, Executive General Manager of Simplot Australia, Victoria, by Mrs. Jennifer Farrer, a daughter of Dr Keith Farrer, one of the founders of AIFST and its second President (1969-71), who passed away aged 96 on 6 June 2012.
There were three Plenary sessions, 19 technical sessions with up to three concurrent sessions, and 33 posters. Forty six delegates took the opportunity to participate in three workshops on Wednesday 18 July on “Understanding and using texture as an essential quality attribute of food”, presented by Em Prof Malcolm Bourne of Cornell University, USA; “To be or not to be? Is that your question?”, available only to AIFST members and outlining the latest developments in the CPD program; and “Making due diligence work in the new environment” presented by Dr Robert Brackett of IIT, USA.
The Tuesday Plenary session saw former Australian Government Minister John Kerin reminisce about food, agriculture and events from the past as a contrast to the current political climate. He was followed by current politicians John Cobb MP and Martin Hamilton-Smith MP, and the Acting Director of the Australian Food and Grocery Council Geoffrey Annison.
Exhibition:
A technical exhibition is a long standing feature of AIFST Conferences, and this year’s meeting attracted over 30 exhibitors as part of the AIFST exhibition, covering laboratory services, ingredient suppliers, food industry organisations, scientific testing equipment, state and national government agencies, patent and trademark attorneys, book/journal publishers, recruitment agencies, research organisations and food processors.
2012 Awards
The Institute presented the following annual awards:
Social Events:
The conference social events began with a Welcome Reception for delegates and exhibitors in the Exhibition Hall at the Convention Centre. The traditional wine and cheese evening was held at the Art Gallery of South Australia, where delegates had the opportunity to taste and purchase wines from a variety of Australian wine producers. At the Conference dinner the winners of the Malcolm Bird Award for Young Members and Student Product Development Award were announced.
Conference Organisation:
The Conference was organised by the Institute’s National Office staff (Mel Malloch, Julie Bennett, Vicki Wallace) in conjunction with an Organising Committee (Chair Charavy Chan, Treasurer Joe McCreanor, Technical Program Committee Convenor Callum Elder, and members Fil Lagala, David Topping, Carly Cannon and Megan Sheehy). The National Office was set up in 1998 to enable conferences and seminars to be run in-house, as well as publish its journal Food Australia. Office staff were assisted by several university and TAFE students from local food science departments.
AIFST Annual General Meeting:
Nearly 50 members attended the AGM breakfast meeting on Tuesday morning 16 July. AIFST President Ms Jo Davey summarised the main activities of the past year, and outlined how the Institute had prepared for recent difficult financial times with the formation of working groups that were examining convention and technical meeting activities, financial strategies, publications and a major revision of the Institute’s websites. Honorary General Treasurer Tom Debney outlined the Institute’s financial affairs, and Public Officer Adam Hyland outlined a significant proposed rewriting of the Institute’s Constitution.
Concurrent Meeting:
The Australian Association for Food Protection (AAFP), an affiliate organisation of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP), held its 5th Annual Business Meeting during the Conference. Edward Jansson of the NSW Food Authority followed Dr Scott Crerar of Food Standards Australia New Zealand as AAFP President for 2012-13, with Jeremy Chenu (UNSW / Baiada) elected as Secretary and A/Prof Julian Cox (UNSW) reappointed as AIFST representative on the AAFP Board. Ian Jenson, Meat and Livestock Australia, remains the Affiliate Representative.
2013 Conference:
The 46th AIFST Conference will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, on 14-16 July 2013.
Dr Ken Buckle is an Emeritus Professor in the Food Science and Technology Group, School of Chemical Engineering at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, e-mail: k.buckle@unsw.edu.au. He is a Past President (1995-97) and Fellow of AIFST and was Public Officer (2006-11), a Past President (2001-03) and Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, a Fellow of the [US] Institute of Food Technologists, and is chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of The World of Food Science.
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