Abstract:
Pakistan has been teaching food science and technology since 1960. The profession is improving at a glacial pace. Academic institutions, government agencies, and food industries are all responsible for the quality of food science professionals. Innovative and practical teaching methods should be used. The government and private sector should make it easier to find food technologists. Constant prodding is required to establish a Council with greater authority that can monitor all bodies associated with food science professionals. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), one in every eight people worldwide suffered from chronic malnutrition in 2014-2016, with the majority living in developing countries. This data follows a previous FAO report (2011) that revealed that more than one-third of all food produced globally is either lost or wasted. Food waste and losses have serious consequences for the environment and people's livelihoods. In terms of the environment, these food losses waste scarce production resources such as land, water, energy, agricultural inputs, and human labor. Economically, the losses and wastes result in lower farm income and higher consumer spending. Reducing food losses has the potential to return a significant amount of food to the global supply: food science and technology can help. Food science is the application of engineering, biological, chemical, and physical sciences to the transformation of raw commodities such as grain, fruit, vegetables, and livestock into consumable food products. Food science innovations and technologies enable longer shelf-life, particularly for perishable raw commodities such as meats, fruits, and vegetables. They also allow for value addition, which allows producers to get a higher price for their commodities, increasing their earnings. Food innovations also enable year-round availability and access to high-quality, safe, and nutritious foods. The benefits of food science innovations have been realized in developed countries, but not in developing countries. This is due, in part, to a lack of capability to convert raw food commodities into value-added products, resulting in high losses (both qualitative and quantitative), exacerbating food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty.
Page(s):
223-223
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Abstract Book on Global Science Technology and Management Conference, Volume: 0, Issue: 0, Year: 2023
Keywords:
food insecurity
,
Developing countries
,
valueadded products
,
poverty
,
FAO
,
chronic malnutrition
,
food losses
,
Innovative
,
food science professionals
,
agricultural inputs
,
Food Science and Technology