The 鈥楥urrent Topics in Food Science鈥� class of the Graduate School organized a webinar series exploring various cutting-edge areas of discussion in food science. This series featured three insightful sessions, each covering a unique aspect of food science and bringing together experts and students.
The first session, 鈥淔ood System Transformation Towards-Sustainable Healthy Diets鈥�, was delivered by the esteemed Dr. Mildred O. Guirindola, a Supervising Science Research Specialist of the Department of Science and Technology- Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI). Guirindola, a renowned expert in her field, shared her invaluable insights on the importance of transforming food systems to address environmental and health concerns, covering everything from production to waste management. She presented innovative approaches and best practices for creating sustainable diets that benefit consumers and society. One of the key takeaways from her webinar is that there is a need to find ways to make the food system sustainable for feeding billions of people while keeping the planet alive.
The second session featured Mr. Jacus S. Nacis, a PhD candidate at Wageningen University, Netherlands who discussed 鈥淥mics Spice and Everything Nice: The Prospects of Nutrition Omics to Food Science.鈥� Nacis explored the rapidly evolving field of omics technologies, focusing on genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics and how these disciplines reshape the food science landscape. The term omics refers to various disciplines in biology that end with the suffix -omics. In his talk, Nacis discussed the potential for personalized nutrition and enhanced food safety. It is worth noting in this webinar that addressing some challenges in omics technology can unlock the full potential of omics that can revolutionize the agri-food system.
The final session was presented by Mr. Carl Vincent Cabanilla, a Senior Science Research Specialist at DOST-FNRI, on the topic 鈥淣utrition Tools and Standards.鈥� Cabanilla highlighted the importance of standardized nutrition tools and the Nutrition Profile Model (NPM) in ensuring food quality and safety in the Philippines. He discussed the use and development of the Philippine Dietary Reference Intake (PDRI) and some challenges encountered. He also explained the latest trend in food labeling particularly the Front-of-Pack Labelling System (FOPL) which is relevant nowadays to make it easy for the consumer to understand the content of the food. His talk points out that it is important to have a holistic approach from various stakeholders to implement interventions by the regulatory bodies.
Led by its course facilitator Dr. Mario V. Capanzana, the webinar series was geared towards the continuing sharing of knowledge amongst practitioners in the field of food science and technology. The webinars were consistently attended by students and academic staff from different universities and food science professionals from the industry.
Topics in this webinar series relate to SDG 2, which aims to 鈥渆nd hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture鈥� by 2030.
