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M. C. BOURNE, Food Science & Technology, Cornell Univ., New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 630 W. North St., Geneva, NY 14456-1371 There are more than 800 million people in this world who suffer from severe malnutrition. In my visits to a number of tropical countries I have seen some of this problem first hand and as a food technologist I am shocked to see how much food that has already been harvested in these areas is spoiled before it can be consumed. High rates of food spoilage and a high incidence of malnutrition are closely linked. Food technology can be divided into two main branches: 1) Processing technologies that convert food into a form with higher acceptability (e.g. wheat into bread), and 2) Preservation technologies that increase the stability of food so that its shelf life is extended ( e.g. drying, canning). Food Science Departments in the USA generally pay more attention to processing technologies than preservation technologies reflecting the needs of the American food industry. However, in developing countries there is a greater need for emphasis on preservation and storage of unprocessed and minimally processed seasonal crops such as cereal grains, roots, tubers, fruits, vegetables and fish, using low capital cost, labor intensive, appropriate technologies. Food technologists have the capability for greatly reducing the high rates of food spoilage in developing countries and cutting in half the number of malnourished people in the world. I believe we have a professional duty and a humanitarian duty to use our skills to ameliorate this chronic problem.
Session 54, Food science and engineering research for development
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