Call from the Food Engineers of the Future

12th Food Engineering Student Congress, organized by Bursa Uludağ University and TGDF Akademi partnership, concludes. The 12th Food Engineering Student Congress, organized in partnership between Bursa Uludağ University and TGDF Akademi, the education initiative of the Turkish Food and Beverage Industry Associations Federation, has concluded. At the congress, chaired by Prof. Dr. Mihriban Korukluoğlu, a faculty member of Bursa Uludağ University's Food Engineering Department, final-year food engineering students from across Turkey shared their work with the food industry and academic community through oral and poster presentations. The final-year food engineering students participating in the congress called upon all stakeholders, especially food engineers, to take on responsibility in the name of "capturing the future." The congress conclusion statement included the following remarks: "Our world faces mounting challenges day by day. As the effects of climate change are visible in every area, the prospect of fairly distributing increasingly scarce resources among a growing global population diminishes by the second. The scarcity of resources and the power struggles waged over them are triggering conflicts at every point on Earth. Resources spent on wars instead of people, people forced to migrate instead of producing, all deepen the quagmire we have fallen into. Triggered by climate change and population growth, the pandemic spreading across the world at an incomprehensible pace through global circulation has exposed in mere days how fragile all systems we thought were unshakeable truly are. The most important conclusion to be drawn from recent developments is that food security and safety can be threatened unexpectedly and on unexpected scales. Hunger and pandemic have ceased to be disasters seen only in documentaries; they have taken their place beside us. Preventing this course, contributing to the future of our country and the world is today's students' and tomorrow's food engineers' most fundamental duty. Food engineering is far more than knowing a factory's flow chart. A food engineer combines the analytical thinking, problem-solving ability and precision gained through their education with every step along food's path from farm to table. This combination is the key to ensuring food security and safety for future generations. Our responsibility as food engineers is not only to our country but also to the world we inhabit. Today, the world's countries operate through vast communication networks they have established with one another. Our country is part of many of these. For this reason, initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Union Green Deal concern us directly. The Sustainable Development Goals include mitigating the effects of climate change, sustainable use and protection of resources, and ending hunger through responsible production and consumption. These goals have become a primary area of interest for food engineers today. The Green Deal brings environmental responsibilities to the fore at every stage of food production, and progress in this area will again be possible through the food engineering discipline. Securing the future of our country and the world depends on food engineers transferring their knowledge to every link in the food supply chain. This is only possible through adequate and well-equipped food engineer employment at appropriate points. The employment of food engineers not only in food processing but in every sector that touches food is of paramount importance. This includes agriculture, storage, logistics, wholesale and retail sectors. The employment of food engineers not only in the private sector but also in various fields including public institutions and organizations engaged in food production, inspection, development of new foods, environmental and natural resource protection, and the determination of economic and humanitarian policies, is an undeniable necessity imposed by today's conditions. Today's students, tomorrow's food engineers, aspire to work in every area of the food supply chain from farm to table; to exchange knowledge and collaborate with all stakeholders in the sector, academia and public sector in contributing to a better future. Food engineers remain ready and willing to take on responsibility to make both our country and our world a more just and more livable place." Source