Food experts at an International Seminar on Food Process Engineering have urged to make combine efforts arrest the growing food losses and wastage at farm gate to consumer-table as due to mechanical issues in harvesting, handling, transportation, storage and even during the processing and packaging, a huge amount of food losses its safety and consumption quality.

Food experts at an International Seminar on Food Process Engineering have urged to make combine efforts arrest the growing food losses and wastage at farm gate to consumer-table as due to mechanical issues in harvesting, handling, transportation, storage and even during the processing and packaging, a huge amount of food losses its safety and consumption quality. Addressing the inaugural session of the seminar as chief guest, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan emphasized to have good food engineering in order to net the growing food losses adding that the country is lacking in preserving all perishable commodities including milk due to poor knowledge and practice. He said that food losses is also exists in the US and other developed country but they are not at that level we are facing so we need to accept the challenge of make the food safe and healthy. He stressed the food engineers and technologists to complement each other aiming at providing good quality food to the consumers. He told that keeping in view the energy issues in the country UAF experts have successfully introduced pasteurizer, chillers, and dryers by using solar technology. He said when we were in process of designing and offing the Food Engineering Program, we witnessed a huge resistance but we stick with the idea that the country is in dire need to have good food engineers to make the food safe and healthy. He hoped that graduate of Food Engineering program would be able to design food machines, milk pasteurizing, install good storage mechanism to prevent the food losses by using their skills. He said that marketable surplus can only be taken care of by mechanized processes and a multiplier for a growing economy in mechanized agriculture is food engineering. He said the country demands safe and sufficient food supply for feeding its growing population. He expressed his dismay over missing the mechanical intervention in food harvesting, handling, storage and even safe transportation adding that the microbial issues contaminate most of the perishable commodities due to various biological reasons. Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology Dr. Allah Bakhsh said that food handling is a significant feature in agriculture sector and skill in dealing with agriculture produces at and off-farm gate is an uphill task. He said the sensitivity of food requires engineering knowledge to carefully deal with such products. He was of the view that food processing can be performed if professional engineers in the agriculture sector are available to keenly understand and manipulate with the tools of engineering. Speaking on the foodborne pathogens Dr. Haley F. Oliver of Purdue University USA revealed that per capita food loss and waste is highest in Europe and North America that needs to be arrested by using the post-harvest processing technologies at farm and manufacturing level. She said world population would be 9 billion in 2050 with more food to consume. She proposed interdisciplinary solutions to food safety and security. She was of the view that most of the losses occur at the retail level due to unhygienic environment after manufacturing and processing the food. Prof. Dr. Cheorun Jo of Seoul National University, South Korea urged the food engineers to conduct genotoxicity test to examine the product for consumption and also make essential evaluation of the drinking water adding that a large amount of water is being contamination issues. He said Plasma technology has the potential to be applied in food industry including food of animal origin particularly in meat analysis. He said that per capita meat consumption has been increased in South Korea adding that his country is spending 1.0 billion dollar every year on foodborne illness. Dr. Paul Ebner from Purdue University USA revealed that every year there were 48 million cases of foodborne illness are been reported in USA. He said that today we need to reduce the foodborne pathogens by using various methods to ensure food safety. He urged the food process to be effective that reduce the contamination and prevent the infections. Chairman, Department of Food Engineering Dr. Muhammad Azam Khan while expressing his gratitude to the participating speakers from inland and abroad said that his department is imparting quality education of international standards to the students by providing them online teaching facility from other countries of the world. He said that time has come to meet the WTO standards in food products to compete the world market. Highlighting the objectives of the seminar he said that the seminar would help to disseminate the importance of role and food process engineering towards food safety and security in the country. Prof. Dr. Ki-Chang Nam from South Korea, and Dr. Tahir Zahor DG NIFSAT also spoke on the occasion.