The eighth International Food Convention (#IFCoN-2018) will be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute here. The focal theme of the convention is ‘Holistic Approaches for Startup, Food Innovation and Human Resource Training for Agriculture and Food Industry Gemmation (HASH TAG)”.
Pawan Kumar Agrawal, CEO of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), will inaugurate the event at the KSOU Convocation Hall at 2.30 p.m. This year, the event is supported by the Union Ministry of Food Processing and the FSSAI, the country’s top food regulatory body.
The flagship food tech event is held every five years. It is organised by the Association of Food Scientists and Technologists, India (AFST (I)), in association with CSIR-CFTRI and DRDO-DFRL. This event is expected to serve as an excellent platform for members of academia, researchers, startups, industrialists, food professionals, students, and policy-makers to showcase their activities, scope of business and collaborations, a press release said.
Around 2,000 delegates are expected to attend the convention, which will have more than 20 technical sessions with 100 speakers.
Food expo
A mega food expo will be conducted featuring manufacturing industry units, analytical laboratories, ingredient manufacturers, educational institutes, and other stakeholders in the fields of nutrition, food science and technology. It will be open to the public on Thursday and Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will feature around 80 exhibitors.
IFCON 2018 will be a platform to discuss and debate the latest trends and developments in food innovation, food engineering and instrumentation, nutraceuticals and functional foods, analytical/quality control systems, skill development and human resource, marketing challenges, distribution, logistics and cold storage, food business startup success stories, additives/ processing aids, and more, the release said.
The organisers will provide registered participants employment opportunities, with many industries participating in the event.
There will be convention talks soon after the inaugural event. Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO of FSSAI, will deliver the Dr. Amla Memorial Talk at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. CFTRI director K.S.M.S. Raghava Rao and Edmond Rock, research director, Human Nutrition Unit, Scientific Officer for India, International Affairs INRA, France, will also speak.