Articles from Institute of Food Technologists

Seeding The Future Foundation and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) are proud to announce the Seed Grant winners as well as the Growth Grant finalists and Seeding The Future Grand Prize finalists for the 2024 Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. This year’s Seed Grant winners have created impactful innovations in the ag/food space that address some of the world’s biggest food issues, including crop protection and productivity, dairy safety, sustainable agriculture, farmlands restoration, post-harvest loss reduction, and combating malnutrition for children.

Seeding The Future Foundation and the Institute of Food Technologists are proud to announce the Grand Prize and Growth Grant semifinalists as well as the Seed Grant finalists for the 2024 Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. A record of nearly 1,200 submissions were received this year from scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and multidisciplinary teams from 93 countries, each showcasing their groundbreaking innovations that have the potential to address the most critical food system challenges.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, is pleased to announce that registration is now open for IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, which is being held July 13-16, 2025, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The 2023 Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, funded and initiated by the Seeding The Future Foundation and hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists, attracted over 900 submissions from 78 countries. Scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and multidisciplinary teams showcased their groundbreaking innovations addressing critical food system challenges.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, recognized five IFT Sections this year with its new IFT Section Impact Award. IFT Sections allow food science professionals to network with their local peers through a variety of events and opportunities, including supplier nights. IFT has 47 Sections spread across the U.S., as well as Mexico, Japan, England, and Canada.

The Seeding The Future Foundation and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) are proud to announce that submissions are now open for the fourth annual Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. Awarding up to USD $1 million, the Challenge is designed to create and accelerate the pace of innovations needed to transform food systems to become more nutritious, regenerative, and equitable.

The Seeding The Future Foundation and Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) are proud to announce the return of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, which awards USD $1 million every year to scientists, engineers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and multidisciplinary teams across non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, social enterprises, universities, research institutions, and small and emerging for-profit enterprises for their innovations that will help transform food systems globally.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, is proud to announce that Christopher Daubert, PhD, vice chancellor and dean of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), became IFT’s 85th President effective September 1, 2024. Previous IFT President, Sean Leighton, global vice president of food safety, quality and regulatory at Cargill, completed his one-year term on August 31, 2024.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, is proud to announce the winners of the IFT Student Association (IFTSA) product development and research competitions. The winners were revealed at the IFTSA Closing Ceremony at the recently completed IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, the popular food science, technology, and innovation event that was held July 14-17, 2024, in Chicago.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, has released its 2024 Compensation and Career Path Report examining career trends in the science of food including compensation, job satisfaction, and workplace challenges. The comprehensive resource is an invaluable tool for veteran and novice science of food professionals, HR managers in food and beverage organizations, as well as food science professors and students. The report includes data on compensation and career trends across various job titles and functions in the food industry, academia, government, and nonprofits. It covers salary breakdowns by geographic region, job function, gender, race, and more.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, is excited to provide a glimpse into a few of the supplier scientific sessions and demonstrations that will take place at IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, the popular food science, technology, and innovation event being held July 14-17, 2024, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

IFT’s Feeding Tomorrow Fund has partnered with PepsiCo to support the next generation of the science of food community through a joint Academic and Travel Undergraduate Hybrid Scholarship. This unique hybrid study-and-travel scholarship offers a $5,000 academic scholarship in addition to a $1,000 travel stipend to IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, where the recipient will join the global science of food community to experience innovative products and solutions, cutting-edge scientific sessions, and exclusive networking opportunities.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization with global members spanning academia, government, and industry, is pleased to announce that registration is now open for IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, which is being held July 14-17, 2024, at McCormick Place in Chicago. The theme of this year’s IFT FIRST is Collaboration + Innovation: How Can Food Science and Technology Transform the Food System?

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization with global members spanning academia, government, and industry, is hosting a webinar on “Additives: State-Level Actions, National-Level Impacts” that will be held on Friday, February 16, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. CT. The webinar will address the complex and confusing environment food scientists are currently facing as stakeholders increasingly focus on food additives safety. Specifically, the webinar will focus on the recently passed California Food Safety Act and related legislation in Illinois (SB2637) and New York (S6055) banning brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye #3. Illinois is also expected to pursue banning titanium dioxide as part of the Illinois Food Safety Act.

The Seeding The Future Foundation and Institute of Food Technologists are proud to announce the Seeding The Future Grand Prize and Growth Grant winners for the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge, which awards a total of USD $1 million annually for innovations that can transform food systems to be more equitable and lead to safe, nutritious and trusted food using sustainable practices. This year’s winning innovations include nutrient-dense porridges for schools in Zambia, solar cooling hubs for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, an innovative approach to addressing food insecurity in Indonesia, novel nutritious and affordable composite flours for school feeding programs in Uganda, and a regenerative agriculture model helping farmers in India transition away from chemical-based farming approaches.

IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center has launched an Enterprise Traceability Education Suite, which empowers organizations to train their employees on key traceability concepts, prepare for incoming regulations, and take steps to reduce the impact of recalls. From a basic awareness of food traceability principles to detailed guides on how to design, implement, evaluate, and enhance an organization’s traceability system, the self-paced courses are thoughtfully designed to educate professionals across all levels and business areas.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, has released a white paper that examines how existing and novel processing technologies could help improve global food and nutrition security.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, has launched a new virtual short course designed to help academia, government, and industry professionals harness the boundless potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to innovate and excel through hands-on exercises, personalized use cases, and insights from AI thought-leaders.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, has launched two product development platforms that address the challenges, resource shortages, and learning gaps that exist in the product development process in the food and beverage industry.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific organization committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system, announced that registration is now open for IFT FIRST: Annual Event and Expo, which is being held July 16-19, 2023, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and Seeding The Future Foundation today announced the winners for Growth Grants and Grand Prizes of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. Out of over 600 application submissions from 75 countries, three organizations were selected to receive Growth Grants and two organizations were selected to receive Seeding The Future Grand Prizes.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today announced the promotion of Bryan Hitchcock to chief science and technology officer, a top leadership position within the nonprofit scientific institute committed to advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system. Hitchcock assumes the role from former IFT President John Ruff who has served in an interim capacity for the past two years.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and Seeding The Future Foundation today announced the Seed Grant winners and finalists for Growth Grants and Grand Prizes of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. Out of over 600 application submissions from 75 countries, eight organizations were selected to receive Seed Grants and 11 finalists were identified for Growth Grants and Seeding The Future Grand Prizes.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today announced it has partnered with the first IFT section in Latin America, Mexico Section IFT, to further support connection among the global food system communities and promote the science of food and its applications. The Mexico Section is the fourth international section of IFT, joining the U.K., British Columbia and Japan.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), in collaboration with the Seeding The Future Foundation, is proud to announce the return of the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge. With up to 811 million people across the globe suffering from hunger and facing food-related challenges, the goal of the Challenge is to inspire and support innovative, diverse, and multidisciplinary teams to develop game-changing innovations that will help transform the food system, as well as make healthier diets more accessible and empower consumers to make choices benefitting both personal and planetary health.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today announced winners for the inaugural Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge–an initiative which seeks to inspire and support innovative, diverse and multidisciplinary teams to create game-changing innovations that will help transform the food system. To incentivize innovation at all levels, including idea generation, development, and scale up, the Challenge offers three levels of awards consisting of Seed Grants, Growth Grants, and a Grand Prize category, totaling more than $1 million.

Feeding Tomorrow, the Foundation of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), today announced that applications are now open for more than 30 undergraduate scholarships and more than 20 graduate scholarship opportunities. Founded in 1985, Feeding Tomorrow encourages, promotes, and rewards the excellence of students pursuing food science careers through various efforts including a variety of academic tuition scholarships.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today announced finalists for the Seeding The Future Global Food System Challenge–an initiative which seeks to inspire and support passionate, creative, diverse and multidisciplinary teams to create game-changing innovations that will help transform the food system. Out of nearly 900 preliminary submissions, four finalists were selected in the Seeding The Future Grand Prize category, two of which will be awarded $250,000. Six finalists were selected for the Growth Grant, which will award $100,000 each to three winners.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today launched the first annual Seeding The Future Global Food Systems Challenge, an initiative which seeks to inspire and support passionate, creative, diverse and multidisciplinary teams of innovators, scientists and engineers to create game-changing innovations that will help transform our food systems.