IFT Annual Meeting and Food Expo packed with new features

THE 2014 Annual Meeting and Food Expo hosted by Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) will be held at Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, on 21-24 June.  The IFT also turns 75 years, and commemorating this occasion, it will be presenting more informative features to the expo:   

-The Innovation Theater: A series of sessions led by food science visionaries uncover how food science and technology could impact our food supply over the next 25 years.
-The “Kitchen of the Future Interactive”: Futuristic food demonstrations and tastings show what food might be like in the future.
-Talk one-on-one with NASA scientists about their solutions for feeding astronauts on space flights to Mars (Sunday)
-Meet the filmmakers of the FutureFood 2050 documentary film (Monday).
-Learn about how plants may be the key to sustainably feeding 9 billion people by 2050 (Tuesday).
-Interactive Timeline: Walk through the Innovation Center’s interactive timeline of IFT’s and food science’s major milestones.

Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe's, will be a keynote speaker at the general opening session 22 June, from 8:30-10:15 a.m.

Hod Lipson PhD, professor of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and co-author of the recent book Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing, will describe the disruptive principles underlying 3D printing and their effect, from education to medicine to art to architecture, and from bio-printing to food printing, as well as what the future holds for this technology.
Jane Karuku, president of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), former deputy chief executive and secretary general, Telkom Kenya, and former managing director for East and Central Africa for Cadbury, will speak about the challenges and potential solutions to the critical issue of global food security.

Apart from these, there will be educational session including:

-Azodicarbonamide: A case study of perceptions of the safety of food ingredients
-Perspectives on the GMO debate
-A deeper look into the post-trans fat world
-Millenials: what's on their plate?
-Food system development for extreme environments
-Potential of insects as food
-The safety of spices: challenges and opportunities

Additional sessions presented from the following areas:

-Food Safety & Defense

-Food Processing & Packaging

-Product Development & Ingredient Innovations

-Public Policy, Food Laws & Regulations

-Education and Professional Development

-Sensory Science

-Food, Health & Nutrition

-Sustainability

-Food Chemistry

-Food Microbiology

-Food Engineering