The Fi Asia/China Shanghai conference held this past June was a huge success in large part due to the quality of the speakers present at the gathering. Dr. Patrick Wall of the University of Dublin and Dr. Joseph Jen of California Polytechnic University were among the exceptional scholars present at this conference and they gave important talks on food safety issues.
Dr. Patrick Wall focused his talk on the 2008 food safety crisis involving Irish pork. He offered a detailed account of how the pork issue began, initial crisis and media management. It was a detailed and thoughtful analysis of a crisis that was successfully managed and contained.

Dr. Joseph Jen focused his talk on the differences between food safety issues in the USA and China. Jen took his audience through the history of food safety regulations in the USA to show how they developed, highlighting differences between the media in China and the USA and separating the consumers in China and the USA to differentiate the issues they face when purchasing food.

Together these Food Safety Experts offer important experience and knowledge to help those in the Food Science and Technology industries and to better prevent and handle food safety issues.
Dr. Jen's talk can be found in the print IUFoST Newsline due out in September.   Download your copy  from the IUFoST Newsline section of our website.

Editor's note:   Dr. Joseph Jen, Dr. Patrick Wall, Dr. Yasmine Motarjemi, Prof. Theodore Labuza and Dr Xiumei Lui will be co-chairing the IUFoST Food Safety Committee, in which many of our IUFoST Adhering Bodies are involved. 

IUFoST Newsline excerpts 1979-1980

In 1979 IUNS and the IUFoST set up a Joint Working Group on the Nutritional Quality of Diets of the Semi-Arid Tropics under the chairmanship of Professor A.E Bender. This group joined with other agencies: The United Nations University, The International Development Research Centre, and l'Office de le recherché scientifique et technique outré-mer, to hold a meeting in Paris, 28-29 April 1980, of 16 invited scientists who had direct and relevant experience in the food and nutritional problems of the Sahel. The submissions and topics of this meeting are presented in the report Nutritional Status of the Rural Population of the Sahel.

Professor R.A Edwards, Head of the School of Food Technology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia wrote.-
"My experience of training overseas students from developing countries is that there needs to be a number of levels of such training programs, and that it is not realistic to believe that one can build all the necessary skills into the requirements of any one degree. I find myself very much in agreement with the draft IUFoST Guidelines on PhD Training in food science and technology which I see as being appropriate for a minority of overseas students of outstanding merit. The majority of overseas students, in my view, should be trained through course-work (formal) Master's programs, including small research project directly related to an immediate and practical solution of a problem in the home student's country. "

   CROFoST Organisation

   CROFoST is a non-profit organisation, which provides a focal point for those who have a professional interest in food technology, biotechnology and nutrition.  The Society is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and non-governmental organisation. The Society was established in 1998.

CROFoST's mission is to facilitate employment of the graduate students and to foster a standing dialogue with policy makers and stakeholders at a national level. The organization aims to encourage international cooperation with similar institutions and to promote and develop the profession.
Finally, they are working to be acknowledged and respected as a supporter of organisations with common interests

If you would like more information or to contact the organization
please email Dr. Kata Galic at kgalic@pbf.hr