News
November 2009: New Chief for CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences
Internationally recognised food scientist and science leader, Professor Martin Cole, will start as the Chief of CSIRO’s Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences (FNS) in January 2010.
Professor Cole is currently Director of the National Centre for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) in the United States and Research Professor of Biology at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Born in the United Kingdom, Professor Cole graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the Manchester Metropolitan University and completed a PhD at the University of East Anglia in 1988. His career has included research and management appointments with food companies Unilever and Nabisco.
From 1999 to 2004 Professor Cole was based at Food Science Australia (FSA) – a joint venture between CSIRO and the Victorian Government and the predecessor to FNS. His time at FSA included 15 months as acting CEO. More...
July 2009: CSIRO established the Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences on 1 July 2009 in a new research collaboration with the Victorian Government.
The new Division maintains the full food and nutrition research capability and research portfolio that was operated by Food Science Australia (FSA), a joint venture of CSIRO and the Victorian Government, and CSIRO Human Nutrition. More....
June 2009: Skilling up for food manufacturing program launch
At the launch: Rod Smith, FSA's Factory Manager, discusses the use of high presure processing in food manufacture.
Skills training in Victoria’s food manufacturing industry will receive a boost with the launch on May 28 2009 of the state government’s new Food Skills Program at Food Science Australia (FSA).
An initiative of Regional Development Victoria, the Food Skills Program will train final-year university students in the use and application of food manufacturing equipment and technologies in a series of ‘practical’ sessions at Food Science Australia’s food manufacturing plant at Werribee.
The universities of Ballarat, Victoria, Melbourne, Deakin and RMIT along with the Food Technology Association of Australia (FTAA) and food industry leaders are developing a curriculum designed to produce more graduates who possess the practical skills necessary to work effectively in the industry.
The students will undergo practicals in the emerging food processing technology – high-pressure processing – as well as food processing techniques such as: separations, evaporation, spray drying, cheese making, retorting and margarine manufacture.
FSA will provide expert CSIRO staff along with their world-class pilot-scale food plant valued at over $30M. The plant provides the necessary equipment for Australian food manufacturers and researchers to trial the manufacturing of new products and implement innovative food processing technology.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Victorian Minister for Industrial Relations, Ms Jaala Pulford, launched the program.
Also speaking at the launch were Lloyd Simons (Project Leader, Food Science Australia); Quinton Wilkinson (Innovations Support Manager, McCain Foods Australia and New Zealand); and Dr Peter Aldred (Food Science & Technology Program Coordinator and Senior Lecturer, University of Ballarat).
September 2008: Foodbank Award
Food Science Australia's CEO, Dr Anthos Yannakou (right) accepts the Foodbank Award from the Hon Warren Truss, MP.
Food Science Australia has been honoured with Foodbank Australia's Partnership Award, in recognition of assistance in significantly reducing Foodbank’s operating costs.
The award was presented on September 15 during the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s Annual Industry Leaders Dinner in Canberra.
Foodbank is Australia’s largest hunger-relief charity acting as a broker between the nutrition and grocery industry and the welfare sector, and helping to feed more than than 48,000 Australians a day. Food Science Australia provides office accommodation and other support services for Foodbank at North Ryde, NSW.
Foodbank CEO, Bronwyn Boekenstein, said "Foodbank’s role as the pantry for the welfare sector would not be possible without the commitment and generosity of the food and grocery industry."
The winners of this year’s Awards, sponsored by KPMG, were Woolworths, SPC Ardmona, Unilever, Sugar Australia, Labelmakers, Penford, Visy, Goodman Fielders Baking, Toll Group and Food Science Australia.
August 2008: Victoria Fellowship awarded to Dr Amy Richards
Dr Amy Richards is tackling one of the big challenges for the food industry - working out how to replace bad fats with good fats to develop healthier food products.
And with Australia surpassing all other countries with respect to obesity levels, Dr Richards' research into fats and oils has never been so important.
The CSIRO postdoctoral fellow based at Food Science Australia is one of six young Victorian scientists to win a prestigious 2008 Victoria Fellowship. She received the Fellowship on Wednesday 13 August at a gala function at Government House from the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, AC.
The Victoria Fellowships, worth $18,000 each, were first awarded by the Victorian Government in 1998 to recognise young researchers with leadership potential and to enhance their future careers, while developing new ideas that could offer commercial benefit to Victoria.
She will use the Fellowship to travel to the Unilever Research and Development Centre in the Netherlands to learn new techniques that will help the Victorian food industry understand the physical properties of alternative fats.
She will also visit the USA to present her research at the American Oil Chemist Society meeting.
"Consumer awareness of the need to use healthier and alternative fats and oil blends is at an all time high in Australia," says Dr Richards.
"They are also, understandably, demanding healthier food that tastes good and is convenient."
"For the food industry, providing a high quality food product in terms of taste, texture and shelf life, while at the same time altering the fat content, is often a complicated research and development challenge," she said.
"Increasing good polyunsaturated fats, like the omega-3s, is very difficult because of their tendency to oxidise and produce off-flavours and smells," she added.
Dr Richards said she hoped her research would contribute directly to the development of new food products in Victoria, as well as tie in with current initiatives such as the traffic light food labelling system within the Go for your Life program targeting Australian children.
Dr Richards studied her Bachelor of Applied Science at RMIT and her postgraduate studies at the University of Melbourne. She is a member of the American Oil Chemist Society, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and the Dairy Industry Association of Australia.
August 2008: FSA research capability changes
Food Science Australia (FSA) is implementing substantial changes to its research capability and effort to ensure the long-term sustainability of CSIRO's food and nutrition research capability and tackle the long-term challenges to Australia's food security and production.
These changes are an implementation in FSA of those that CSIRO indicated in May (see www.csiro.au/news/FutureScienceDirections.html).
FSA is redirecting shareholder funds from some near market and incremental research to address issues affecting the long-term viability of Australian food production. These issues include climate change, water availability and sustainability.
FSA CEO Dr Anthos Yannakou says that FSA will continue to seek partnerships with the food industry.
"We will continue to provide near market research where industry clients and industry can fully fund the research and the cost of maintaining the required staff and infrastructure. This approach recognises that public money is best spent on strategic research that provides long-term benefits to industry and the community," he says.
The changes also respond to the increase in operating costs and changes to private and public research funding schemes in the food industry.
FSA expect that there will be thirty to forty redundancies. This number is part of the redundancies already indicated by CSIRO in May. There will also be a reduction in FSA's footprint at CSIRO's North Ryde site to reduce research costs.
FSA will be reducing capability in some areas of food microbiology, food process engineering, chemistry and biochemistry and combine our analytical chemistry capability across the organisation. FSA will redirect some of these staff to research into food processing efficiency to help the industry meet sustainability, water and energy efficiency challenges.
FSA will also focus on the emerging area of food material science and expand our nutrition research recognising the health issues facing the Australian community. Industry stakeholders are encouraged to contact FSA with any concerns or for further information.
Media Contact
Huw Morgan, Manager CSIRO Media Unit
Ph: 02 6276 6406
E: huw.morgan@csiro.au
Industry Contact
John Smith, Communication Manager, Food Science Australia
Ph: 08 8303 8857
E: john.m.smith@csiro.au
April 2008: Dairy Industry Signs Top Scientists for Healthy Dairy Projects
The Dairy Health & Nutrition Consortium announced its first research portfolio today - an investment worth a total $5.5 million that will investigate the health benefits of dairy foods.
Research projects will be conducted by three well-known institutes and each team is led by a high profile researcher.
- Associate Professor Peter Meikle, Professor Paul Nestel AO, Associate Professor Jonathan Shaw and Doctor Jeremy Jowett will lead two projects at The Baker Heart Research Institute and The International Diabetes Institute. The projects will investigate the effects of long term consumption of dairy foods and the effects of eating fermented dairy products such as cheese.
- Co-Author of the CSIRO Total Well Being Diet and nutrition expert, Associate Professor Manny Noakes will lead a team in a project based at Food Science Australia’s CSIRO Human Nutrition centre in Adelaide, focussing on health benefits to children of including dairy in their diet.
- Associate Professor David Cameron-Smith and Professor Andrew Sinclair will lead two projects at Deakin University examining dairy proteins and the unique properties of dairy fats.
"The Australian population is simultaneously aging and gaining weight, leading to epidemics of diabetes and heart disease. Dietary strategies are urgently needed that help with weight control and combat the stress of ageing," said one of the research leaders, Deakin’s Associate Professor David Cameron-Smith.
Each research partner is contributing its unique and world renowned expertise and capabilities to focus the new research portfolio on aspects of the influence of regular consumption of dairy foods on lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease
Chris Nixon, Chairman of the Gardiner Foundation said "We are proud to be supporting these excellent projects and scientists. This investment is in capability that will seek to underpin dairy foods as a healthy component of everyone’s diet."
Andrew Donovan, Chairman of Dairy Innovation Australia Limited said that an aim of the consortium was "to build dairy research capability by engaging elite scientists to focus on health aspects of dairy foods."
March 2008: Food Science Australia and CSIRO Human Nutrition to Conduct Comprehensive Review on the State of Mushroom and Health Research
In response to a worldwide call for proposals by the Mushroom Council (USA) on behalf of the Global Initiative on Mushrooms and Health, Food Science Australia and CSIRO Human Nutrition have been selected to conduct a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the strength of the science linking mushrooms to health.
The project team is led by Dr. Peter Roupas, and includes Dr Jennifer Keogh and Dr Manny Noakes. On behalf of the team, Dr Roupas commented: "FSA/CHN believes that the communication of the health benefits of foods should be based on sound scientific evidence. Accordingly, we are delighted to assist the global mushroom industry in conducting a systematic literature review to evaluate the strength of the science linking mushroom consumption to potential health benefits. An initial search of the literature indicates that over 11,000 scientific papers have been published on mushrooms and our challenge will be to examine and summarise this work systematically and critically. We commend the responsible approach that the mushroom industry is taking in its communication to consumers and look forward to undertaking the review."
FSA/CHN's review will evaluate the strength of the science linking mushroom consumption to:
- immune function and Inflammatory response
- bone health
- blood glucose, lipids and blood pressure levels
- cancer prevention, treatment
- brain function/dementia
- weight management
- dietary guidance recommendations regarding mushrooms worldwide, as identified by major countries and health organizations.
In addition, FSA/CHN will develop a comprehensive systematic method to identify existing literature on mushrooms and health that is updatable, searchable and retrievable for use by the worldwide mushroom industry, researchers, media and health professionals on an on-going basis.
Progress on the initiative will be reported in May.
December 2007: Food Science Australia's 2006 - 2007 Corporate Report available
FSA has a strategic approach designed to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the Australian food industry, enhance the health and nutritional status of the community, maximise the impact of FSA’s science and equip the organisation for its future needs. During 2006-07, FSA continued to effectively implement the Strategic Plan set out in 2004-05, and made good progress in the key areas of business, science, partnerships and people.
The 2006-2007 Corporate Report provides insight into the achievements of Food Science Australia, Australia's leading food and nutrition research organisation. Download PDF 
(1.9 MB)
October 2007: Winners Announced in prestigious Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards
A total of 25 gold 'ladles' were awarded at Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards’ gala presentation in Adelaide, Australia.
The award for Best health and nutrition book was presented to The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, Book 2 by Dr Manny Noakes and Dr Peter Clifton, published by the Penguin Group, Australia.
The foodie equivalent of the movie Oscars, the 2007 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards acknowledges the work of food and drink professionals, writers, educators, TV presenters and producers, and recognises excellence across a broad range of publishing on food and drink, books, magazines, newspapers, television, internet websites, guide books and photography.
October 2007: Flinders University Convocation Medal awarded to Dr Michael Fenech
The Chancellor of Flinders University Sir Eric Neal AC, CVO, the Vice-Chancellor Professor Anne Edwards AO and the President of the Alumni Association, Stephen Hains congratulate Dr Michael Fenech (third from left).
The Convocation Medal was established in 1991 to mark the 25th anniversary of Flinders. It recognises substantial and outstanding contributions by graduates to the local, national or international communities through one or more of:
leadership in their field or profession
the advancement of knowledge
the advancement of professional practice
community service.
The 2007 Award was presented to Dr Michael Fenech, Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSRIO Human Nutrition, Adelaide for "Outstanding leadership in, and contribution to, the international field of environmental health science".
August 2007: Native fruits bear sweet antioxidants
Food Science Australia researcher, Dr Izabela Konczak.
Twelve native Australian fruits that are exceptional sources of antioxidants have been identified in research published in the journal Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies.
The fruits: Kakadu plum, Illawarra plum, Burdekin plum, Davidson’s plum, riberry, red and yellow finger limes, Tasmanian pepper, brush cherry, Cedar Bay cherry, muntries and Molucca raspberry; were compared with blueberries (cultivar Biloxi) - a fruit renowned for its high antioxidant properties.
REFERENCES
1. Netzel, Michael; Netzel, Gabriele; Tian, Qingguo; Schwartz, Steven; Konczak, Izabela (2007) Native Australian fruits - a novel source of antioxidants for food. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 8 (3) pp. 339-346
2. Netzel, Michael; Netzel, Gabriele; Tian, Qingguo; Schwartz, Steven; Konczak, Izabela (2006) Sources of antioxidant activity in Australian native fruits. Identification and quantification of anthocyanins. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 54 (26) pp. 9820-9826
"Finding unique food ingredients and flavours with health-promoting properties is a key market requirement these days," says research team leader, Food Science Australia’s Izabela Konczak. "And, by encouraging growers to cultivate native fruits, we are also contributing to the growing need to ensure agriculture becomes more sustainable."