The Food Innovation, Nutrition, and Health (FINH) academic program at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), along with its fifteen consortium partners, co-organized a FOODI Info Day and Expert Workshop on Smart and Innovative Processing Towards a Safe and Sustainable Food Systems from 29th June to 1st July 2022 at NOVOTEL Future Park, Rangsit. Seventy-five participants (in person) from 15 different countries attended the workshop.
The info day and expert workshop were organized under the project “Food Processing and Innovation (FOODI)”- A Capacity building project approved in the European Framework of higher education) (Ref. No. 598987-EPP-1-2018-1-MY-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) financed by EACEA under the ERASMUS Plus Program to develop capacity building for higher education in Southeast Asia (SEA), especially incorporating cutting-edge technologies and innovation management in food processing to turn the local food processing sector into a driver of social and economic growth. The FOODI consortium consists of 16 Institutions, including six from the EU and ten from the SEA. AIT is the first consortium partner to launch the academic program under the name of Food Innovation, Nutrition, and Health. The academic program is created and developed within the framework of the project Erasmus+ Capacity Building-MSc Food Processing and Innovation (FOODI), reference number 598987, with a co-funding from the EU.
Prof. Anil Kumar Anal (Principal Investigator, AIT) delivered welcome remarks along with the objective of the info day and workshop. Dr. Rosmini Omar (Project Coordinator, Associate Professor, and Dean, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia) gave a brief objective of the FOODI Project. The workshop’s highlight was the presence of Mr. Laurent Lourdais (First Counsellor, Delegation of the European Union to Thailand). They delivered opening remarks and shared the vision of the EU, especially toward the farm-to-fork strategy.
The final day of the expert workshop featured a panel discussion on “Future Foods: Emerging Trends, Safety Issues, Policy Implications, and Potentials” moderated by Ms. Tina Rodvong along with panel members including Dr. Rosmini Omar (Associate Professor and Dean, Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), Dr. Warapa Mahakarnchanakul (Director of Kasetsart University Research and Development Institute (KURDI), Kasetsart University, Thailand), Dr. Michelle Miccio (Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Italy), Prof. Dato Dr. Jamil Hamil (Rector, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia), Prof. Anil Kumar Anal (Professor, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand). The panel gave their insights on emerging trends and issues in foods that are perceived as future foods.
