It is an exciting time for food science and technology. On the one hand, the staggering capabilities of the new bioscience to change food materials and to understand their impact on human health challenge us continuously, raising economic, legal and ethical issues on a worldwide basis. Professor Peter Lillford, president of the Institute of Food Science & Technology, reports.
Physicists and engineers are beginning to unravel the complexity of food behaviour in the processes we have been using for years. Studies in experimental psychology begin to explain just how deep is our association with the food we eat. Just when all this science and technology is becoming available, the average consumer in our well stocked supermarkets is beginning to ask why and whether all this technology is necessary.
A return to asimpler' and more considerate animal and environmentally friendly processes is being sought throughout the food chain. The media, meantime, has a field day with every announcement of the latest scare, or miracle life extending ingredient.
So what should professionals in the food chain be doing about it? The Institute of Food Science & Technology's statement of purpose is: "To serve the public interest by furthering food science and technology and achieve pre-eminence in representing (our) profession“. Given the above rapid changes in science technology and consumer awareness, this is not an easy thing to do.
Food science and technology encompasses all the disciplines of chemistry, physics, biology and engineering but it is experience in food materials and their handling that sets us apart. In maintaining a safe, reliable and interesting output from the food chain we are expected not just to be clever and innovative, but also to be safe and efficient, both in the long and short term. I suggest that this is the primary service we are expected to give ain the public interest' and this is why we plan to broaden our membership even further, to include those with expertise in the legal, financial and managerial skills of the food chain.
The other recurring request ain the public interest' is the truth about our technology and practices, the risk involved and the long and short term benefits. Again, easier said than done especially when the enabling science is moving so rapidly. What we must provide is aopenness', and I think this is becoming a mandatory condition of continuing business. I believe that this is where our Institute, together with other bodies such as the European Federation of Food Science & Technology (EFFoST), the American Institute (IFT) and the developing International Union (IUFoST), can have a global impact by providing balanced views of new technology, and the dissemination of best practice around the world.
An issue of relevance both to the public interest and our own profession is education and training in science and technology. We read depressing reports on the decline of interest and uptake of science or technology in schools, and inevitably the resultant reduction in technically trained candidates for employment. Science and technology are becoming more and more complex, specialised and distant from everyday life in the language they use and the knowledge necessary to become a practitioner. It is my experience however, that children have not lost the ability to be curious, and teaching with examples from food provides an ideally relevant framework for anything from genetics to quantum physics. Our Institute will continue to provide information and examples which will provide not only interesting educational material, but sustain an interest in the food chain as a vital technical industry.
What has all this got to do with the day to day job and status of most existing members of our profession? I would like to communicate the fact that we need and respect their expertise and will use it whenever they contribute. "We are none of us as clever as all of us“. Secondly, it is not possible to survive by standing still in this changing world, and formal recognition and development of the knowledge and talent in our profession is how we will achieve athe pre-eminence in representing our profession'. This is why I am so keen on our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Scheme. We will try to persuade employers that a single point of reference for qualification, recognised by an independent bodies such as this Institute, is a winning situation for both employer and employee alike. p
For further information about IFST membership and the
IFST CPD scheme, write to IFST, 5 Cambridge Court,
210 Shepherds Bush Road, London W6 7NJ, UK.
E-mail: info@ifst.org. Website: www.ifst.org.
