We are excited to announce that the program of the National Conference of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) is well underway. The 53rd edition of our National Conference will be held in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario at the White Oaks Resort and Spa on May 27 to 29. It is our great pleasure to invite all CIFST members and anyone working in the food profession to take this great opportunity of engaging in the timely theme of this year conference: Healthy Food Revolution: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions.

For more than 50 years, CIFST has been the national organization for the food and beverage sector. We have held an annual or biennial conference with the primary focus on the science, technology, research and regulatory affairs of the Canadian food and beverage industry.

One of the national and global challenges to advance the food and beverage industry is to provide healthy food and beverage to the mass market. To accomplish this, the 2018 CIFST National Conference will bring together experts in food, nutrition, and health from across Canada to speak about various aspects of interconnection among disciplines to achieve the ultimate goal of a Healthy Food Revolution.

The first plenary session on Food, Nutrition, and Human Health is devoted to review the fundamentals of developing healthy foods. The second plenary session on Food Innovation will bring national industry leaders in food manufacturing to discuss the current progress and challenges of improved food product development. The concurrent sessions consist of macronutrients and health, food bioactive, novel food processing technologies, healthy food-safe food, nutrigenomics, nanotechnologies, prebiotics-probiotics-fermented food, local food and consumer trends in healthy foods.

Beyond the technical program, the CIFST National Conference is always a valuable opportunity for food professionals to learn, brainstorm, exchange information and network.  Some of the highlights of this year conference package are a welcome reception, net-working and poster presentation sessions, exhibits, banquet, our annual general meeting, and post-conference tours with wine tasting.

We would also like to give a warm welcome to all of our students from universities and colleges across the country. We hope the national food product development competition for students will become a spotlight of this year’s conference. There is no better venue for understanding the landscape of our Canadian food and beverage industry and finding your future mentor or employer within the food sector.

We are sure you will enjoy everything this year’s event has to offer. We look forward to seeing you at the 2018 CIFST National Conference in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Warm regards,

Michael Nickerson, Brad McKay, Rob Kowal and Vasantha Rupasinghe

CIFST-2018 National Conference and Program Co-chairs