Honor for Clydesdale; Looking back at the International Division; IFT’s MIT origins

The University of Massachusetts Amherst completed a five-year, $1.8 million fundraising campaign to establish the Fergus Clydesdale Endowed Professorship in Food Science. The professorship will focus on the goal of devising ways to make healthier food available to the masses while keeping it affordable.

“Health and nutrition professionals tell us what problems are there, but it requires food science to solve them, and then it takes industry to turn the molecular solution into real food that people will eat,” said Clydesdale. “That’s where food science fits.”

Clydesdale, an IFT emeritus professional member, headed the school’s Dept. of Food Science from 1990–2008 and now serves as a distinguished professor and director for the UMass Amherst Food Science Policy Alliance, which he founded in 2004. As one of the first scientists to integrate food science, nutrition, and public policy, Clydesdale has also served as adviser to a variety of public and private agencies dealing with product development, research, scientific policy, and regulation regarding food quality, safety, nutrition, and health.

A look back at IFT’s International Division
The International Division has taken a look back at its extensive history in a new article appearing on the IFT website. The article illustrates the series of international events that paved the way for the division’s formation, from members serving in Australia during World War II spreading the word about the newly formed Institute of Food Technologists to the conversations held during the 1960 Glasgow Symposium that led to the creation of the International Union of Food Science & Technology, which counts IFT among its adhering bodies.

Two decades later, IFT member Onuma Okezie presented the idea of forming a new division within the greater organization to address world food problems, particularly in less developed countries. No doubt at least somewhat inspired by this effort, IFT’s leadership announced the official formation of IFT’s International Division at the 1990 Annual Meeting.

Over the years, the division increased its membership and launched programs and activities such as the International Division Newsletter and a book and journal exchange that sent publications to needy institutions in Latin America. Though those programs are no longer active, the division continues to thrive, sponsoring international symposia at Annual Meetings and jointly operating the Global Harmonization Initiative. It now looks to the future, with goals of halting the demonization of modern technology in global food science communications and spreading useful knowledge and ideas among members all across the world.

The article also features an appendix that includes a thorough timeline of the division’s key moments, a list of past chairs, and the very petition that first brought the idea of the International Division to IFT leadership’s minds. Visit www.ift.org/about-us/our-history/international-division-history.aspx to read the full story.

JFS explores IFT’s MIT origins
To coincide with IFT’s 75th anniversary celebration, the Journal of Food Science (JFS) has released a virtual issue that serves as a tribute to the former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) food science program, the site of IFT’s founding.

In an introductory letter, IFT Past President Ted Labuza and professional member and Food Technology contributor Aaron Brody explore the significant role MIT played in the establishment of IFT. There, Dean of Science Samuel Cate Prescott, along with fellow food technologist Bernard Proctor and several others, created the Institute of Food Technologists. Over the years, MIT produced six IFT Presidents, including Prescott, Proctor, and Labuza, and its students’ work has been recognized with IFT awards. At the hands of IFT members, MIT served as the site of many important advances and discoveries in food technology, including the fields of kinetics, water activity, ultra high pressure pasteurization, and biotechnology.

This virtual issue compiles 20 previously published papers that highlight food technology research at MIT from a historical perspective, and it includes a comprehensive bibliography of JFS papers written by MIT scientists since 1936. The issue can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1750-3841/homepage/VirtualIssuesPage.html.

--- PAGE BREAK ---

Chaudry speaks at halal conference
Muhammad Munir Chaudry, a professional member of IFT, recently spoke at a panel at the Third Gulf Conference on the Halal Industry and Services in Kuwait. Chaudry, who serves as president of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, joined the Consultants Panel of a seminar called “Investment in the Halal Industry as One of the Means of Guaranteeing the Integration of the Halal Process,” where he discussed the feasibility of creating international certification bodies to manage halal affairs in Gulf Cooperation Countries.

NOW Health promotes Emme
Jim Emme has been appointed CEO of NOW Health Group. Emme, an IFT member with more than 30 years of technical experience and leadership in the food industry, had previously served as the company’s president. He joined NOW Health in 1995 and helped lead the company’s global expansion efforts and operational development.

Uriyo joins Ardent Mills
Newly formed flour miller Ardent Mills—a joint venture between ConAgra Mills, Horizon Milling, and producer-owned cooperative CHS—has named Elizabeth Uriyo vice president and research, quality, and technical services lead.

Uriyo, a professional member of IFT, joined Cargill in 2010 and is currently vice president and technical director for Horizon Milling. The company will be headquartered in Denver, Colo.

Gold Coast Ingredients hires Gascon
Mariano Gascon recently joined Gold Coast Ingredients as senior director of new products and innovation within the Research and Development team. Gascon, a professional IFT member, is a certified flavor chemist with more than 20 years of experience in the flavor and ingredient industry. He is also a past president of the Society of Flavor Chemists and a member of the American Association of Candy Technologists.

In Memoriam
William H. Willis Jr., a longtime IFT member, passed away on May 11, 2014. As president of the executive search firm William Willis Worldwide Inc., Willis was responsible for placing many IFT members into positions within the food industry over the years. He served as founding chairman of the World Search Group, which united 30 independent search firms globally in a strategic alliance. Willis was also active in civic and community service, acting as national treasurer and director of Girls Incorporated and serving on the Human Resources Committee of the YMCA of Greater New York, and he founded the Willis Lecture series at The Field Club of Greenwich.

Lloyd O. Luedecke, an emeritus professional member of IFT, passed away on June 4, 2014. Luedecke joined IFT in 1962, the same year he became a food science professor at Washington State University, where he taught and advised students for 39 years. Over the years, he was honored on many occasions with excellence awards for his teaching and his work within food safety. After retiring in 2000, he spent another 12 years working at the university’s creamery. Also a longtime member of the Washington Association for Food Protection, Luedecke is remembered through the establishment of several scholarships, including the Undergraduate Food Science Activity Endowment Fund and the Washington Association for Food Protection/L. O. Luedecke Endowed Scholarship.

IFT also notes the passing of the following Members: John A. Milner, Koushik Seetharaman, and Daniel Steketee

Section & Division meetings
Chicago
Aug. 19: Golf outing and dinner. Lemont, Ill. Visit www.chicagoift.org/golfouting.html.