Innovative approaches to food safety and health and wellness lead IFT award winners

The award winners at IFT 2012 in Las Vegas are at the edge of innovation in food safety and health and wellness, says Dr Roger Clemens, President of IFT, but the overarching theme to emerge from this year’s show was in relation to the question, “What is the world without food science?”

Speaking with Stephen Daniells at the IFT Annual Meeting and Expo, Dr Clemens said: “We clearly see the integration of food science, medicine and nutrition. We’re getting more and more disciplines together focusing on food safety, health and wellness, as well as ‘how do we feed the world with the food that we can grow?’.

On the topic of controversial reports in the media about food science, Dr Clemens said: “What did grandma do when she harvested food from her backyard? She prepared it, either cooked it, or preserved it or refrigerated it. That’s exactly what the food industry does. The only difference is that she probably ate it right away. Today, food is global.”

“We transport food around the world, and we need assurances that food is safe, abundant and nutritious. Therefore, food science is important to provide that kind of food.”