IFT celebrates 75 years

Annual meeting and food expo to feature new Innovation Center

In honor of its 75th anniversary, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) will feature special celebratory events at its Annual Meeting & Food Expo, June 21-24 at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.

IFT will kick off the tradeshow June 22 with a keynote presentation by Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s. Renowned for growing Trader Joe’s from a small, nine-store chain in Southern California to a national retail player with more than 340 stores in 30 states, Rauch will share his thoughts about how to feed the world, one healthy, sustainably sourced meal at a time.

Also on June 22, IFT will host a special celebration called “Diamonds & Donations” in Generations Hall at 9 p.m. Proceeds from this event will support the programs of Feeding Tomorrow, the foundation of IFT.

As part of the anniversary celebrations, IFT will highlight both past and future contributions of food science at the tradeshow through a new onsite Innovation Center, which will showcase the most important food science and technology achievements of the past 75 years. The Innovation Center also will feature a presentation theater with sessions focused on emerging trends, scientific developments on the horizon, and more.

The 2014 tradeshow will showcase the latest food products and trends as well as important developments in food science. More than 900 companies are expected to exhibit food ingredients, equipment and packaging solutions.

This event also will provide more than 100 educational sessions and approximately 1,000 poster presentations about the latest developments and trends in food science. More specifically, the tradeshow’s Scientific Program will address hot topics in food safety, product development, food health and nutrition, environmental sustainability, and novel processing and packaging.

Noteworthy speakers at this year’s tradeshow will include beacon lecturers Hod Lipson, professor of engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and co-author of “Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing,” as well as Jane Karuku, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, former deputy chief executive and secretary general of Telkom Kenya, and former managing director for East and Central Africa for Cadbury. Lipson will describe the disruptive principles underlying 3-D printing and their effects in education, medicine, art, literature, bio-printing and food-printing as well as what the future holds for this technology. Karuku’s presentation will focus on the challenges and potential solutions to the issue of global food security.

For more information or to register for IFT 2014, visit am-fe.ift.org.

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