At the opening keynote lecture at 2025’s IFT FIRST conference, speaker Michiel Bakker said no researchers influence the public as significantly as food scientists. These research and development professionals directly or indirectly influence something we all do up to 10 times a day, seven days a week.
“You are shaping behavior, not just creating food,” he said to the crowd (pictured below) – around 17,000 total were in attendance across the three-day event. Bakker is the president of the Culinary Institute of America and former head of Google’s global workplace programs including Food at Google. His IFT keynote was titled, “Food as Experience Design: Applications in Food and Beverage Product Development.”
After attending just one full day of the event, which included visiting with Mizzou students, faculty and alumni at a poster session; exploring the 1,000+-booth deep expo (trying innovative food samples and getting a few “M-I-Zs” from alumni exhibitors!); and learning more about how food science shapes our lives; it is hard to disagree about the influence of food scientists on our lives.
It is also hard not to get excited about this unique, applied field of study.
‘Feeding the minds that feed the world’
IFT FIRST is the Institute of Food Technologists’ Food Improved by Research, Science, and Technology event, held each summer at North America’s largest convention center, McCormick Place, in Chicago, where IFT is based.
This year the conference ran July 13-16, and Mizzou was front and center, as CAFNR’s own Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher Daubert helped host and kick off the event as IFT’s president, including sharing a welcome at the opening keynote, cutting the ribbon to officially open the expo (pictured above), and much more.
He was able to share this special experience with his family, including wife Katie and sons Maxwell and Hayden (pictured with Daubert at the ribbon cutting, above, and at the opening session, below). Daubert has been a member of IFT for more than 30 years, serving in a number of capacities, including past board member, chair of the Food Engineering Division, on the emerging leaders mentoring panel, as Food Rheology symposium co-chair, and as advisor to the accomplished student chapter during his time at North Carolina State University.
IFT FIRST brings together researchers, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs from across the global food value chain to discuss scientific solutions in presentations and panels focused on transformative innovation. In addition to the Expo – where exhibitors showcase the latest innovative solutions, technologies, new products and ingredients – experiential innovation areas, scientific poster sessions (pictured below), student competitions and intentional networking are key pieces of the IFT FIRST experience.
IFT’s mission is “Feeding the minds that feed the world,” and this year’s conference promised to equip food and beverage leaders with the knowledge to create “game-changing products and solutions” via consumer insights.
Andrew Clarke, associate professor of food science at Mizzou (pictured below sampling at the expo), said the IFT FIRST experience will “open your mind to the vast array of possibilities within the world of food science and product development.” Clarke’s research specializes in meat processing technology, with emphasis on low-fat products.
Bongkosh (Jeab) Vardhanabhuti, an associate professor of food science at Mizzou, agreed, saying “it’s all about understanding the trends in industry” when she attends IFT FIRST. It is so important, she said, for students to understand the food science industry – and they get a front-row seat at IFT FIRST. Vardhanabhuti’s area of research looks to create innovative food ingredients while prioritizing sustainable methods for their development.
Seyedehalaleh Kousheh, CAFNR doctoral student (pictured below on the left, with her advisor Mengshi Lin and fellow graduate student), said she enjoyed the unique connection between academics and industry at the event. Kousheh presented a poster at her first IFT FIRST this year, “In-Situ Synthesis of Au@Ag Nanoparticles on Bacterial Cellulose: A SERS-Based Sensor for Micro- and Nanoplastic Detection.”
“It helps students get to know the industry’s needs,” she said. “It’s a great way to find your career.”
An innovative, versatile field
The field of food science brings together disciplines including chemistry, physics, physiology, microbiology, nutrition and biochemistry. Food scientists develop new food products, design processes to produce these foods, create packaging materials for food, create protocols that extend shelf life to keep food from spoilage, and evaluate taste and texture of products using sensory testing.
“Basically, we work behind the scenes to deliver safe, nutritious products with reasonable price and convenience,” Vardhanabhuti, pictured below at the poster session, said. “It’s everything you see in the store.”
Kousheh said she was excited to study a major that’s helpful in her life – she’s a “foodie,” and serves as a “food inspector” for her family. Attending IFT FIRST has been a dream of hers since she was an undergraduate student, with industry and other connections all in one location.
Alumna Memphis Bancroft, who graduated with her master’s in food science in December 2023 (pictured below talking with faculty members at the opening session), attended IFT FIRST this year to reach out to potential ingredient vendors. She is a research and development specialist at Kent Consumer Brands where she develops new cat litters for World’s Best Cat Litter, which is corn based. Bancroft said she chose food science due to the wide variety of career opportunities and reliable job market.
“It’s a career path that will always be in demand,” she said.
CAFNR doctoral student Changhua Su’s research looks to create safer yet palatable foods for people with dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, combining food science with 4-D printing technology. Daubert, whose research focused on texture, consistency and flow of different foods – also called rheological behavior of food – was among the first in the country to look at foods for dysphagic patients. Su also presented a poster at IFT FIRST (pictured below).
“I want to help people to enjoy their life with healthy foods,” she said.
M-I-Z; I-F-T
The opening keynote session included a shoutout from Daubert to his family as well as to CAFNR faculty, staff, students and alumni in attendance (pictured below) – they responded energetically to his “M-I-Z” with “Z-O-U,” of course.
Mizzou-affiliated attendees also gathered for a (Chicago-style) pizza party one evening (pictured below).
“IFT brings together all of my professional interests – educating excellent students; creating healthy, safe and sustainable food products; and advocating for the importance and impact of the fields of food science and engineering,” said Daubert.
“Being on that big stage representing not only IFT, but also Mizzou, CAFNR and food science, was exciting and energizing. Our industry is not only vital to the health of consumers, but also to the economy of our nation and state via creation of value-added commodity products. We bring the science to food!”
In addition to the Mizzou students who presented their research at poster sessions, CAFNR faculty including Mengshi Lin and Kiruba Krishnaswamy gave individual and panel presentations, respectively. Lin’s presentation (pictured below) was titled, “Leveraging Machine Learning Models to Detect Toxic Pesticides in Product.”
Krishnaswamy helped moderate the panel “Scientific and Technical Forum: Can Disruptive Technologies Create Resilient, Sustainable Health?” and was also part of a video tribute to IFT’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Levente Diosady, her postdoctoral advisor at the University of Toronto. He led the development of technology for fortifying salt with iron and iodine to prevent micronutrient deficiency diseases, reaching 100+ million people. (Diosady is pictured after an evening gathering below, center, with wife Klara and Krishnaswamy.)
Krishnaswamy serves on the IFT Division Leadership team as the Past Chair – IFT International Division, and judged the Graduate Student Oral Competition. An undergraduate student from her lab, Sophia Sapp, also presented a poster on “Upcycling Acid Whey Using Pearl Millet and Finger Millet as Sustainable Encapsulation Mediums.”
Clarke said Daubert has lifted the visibility of Mizzou’s food science program significantly through his year as IFT president, which runs until Aug. 31, 2025.
“Our program isn’t the largest one, but our faculty and students make great contributions to the field. A boost in visibility thanks to the Dean just enhances our program in the eyes of attendees and members of the IFT organization,” he said. Clarke (pictured below on the left with colleagues Lin, Daubert and Kantha Channaiah, assistant professor of food science and state extension specialist for food processing and safety) has served as chair of the St. Louis Section of IFT, as well as the Muscle Foods Division.
Vardhanabhuti said that having Dean Daubert as president of IFT showcases the importance of academia and how it connects with industry. Presidents can represent academia, government or industry.
“He has energized students and faculty alike and elevated our status and visibility at the national/international stage,” said DJ Ryu, director of CAFNR’s Division of Food, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences (where the food science program resides), of Daubert’s time overseeing IFT. Ryu, pictured below on the right with colleagues Krishnaswamy, Daubert and Clarke, researches chemical food safety and toxicology.
‘Food is a common language’
“Food Science is a foundation for everything that people – and pets – consume,” Clarke said. “There are unlimited opportunities for employment in this country and globally as we know everyone must eat. Safety, quality, access and availability rely on the skills that a food scientist can contribute.”
Food science is the “science you can see, taste and smell… which is irresistible,” said Ryu.
“Food is a common language,” said CAFNR doctoral student Mehdi Hajikhani (pictured above), who showcased his poster, “A Machine Learning Approach for Rapid Detection of Pesticides by SERS Coupled with Transformers,” at IFT First 2025. “It’s so applicable; everyone knows food.”
