The Council of the Society was delighted to learn that Fellow, Professor Johannes le Coutre FRSN, of the UNSW School of Chemical Engineering, was recently elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) for his outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the global food industry.

At UNSW Sydney, where Professor le Coutre leads the University’s food program, his team is working on cellular agriculture, involving the production of food that conventionally comes from animals – but without those animals. He aims to develop novel technologies that produce alternative proteins that he hopes will alleviate the agricultural burden on the environment and strengthen global food security. He believes that current food systems around the globe cannot provide sustainable food security, and hence the need to change what we eat and how we grow it over the next two decades so we can diversify our sources of protein. In the case of meat, he says that while we will still be eating meat in 30 years’ time, less of the meat will come from livestock. He went on to say that “there are simply not enough cows on this planet to meet the projected food production demands and we can’t ignore the looming environmental challenges posed by the agriculture and the food industry.”

The IUFoST is the key international advisory body on food science and food security, with a standing invitation to make recommendations to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Prior to his arrival at UNSW in 2019, Professor le Coutre spent 19 years at Nestlé in Switzerland where he conceptualised and spearheaded the company’s ‘taste physiology’ research program and initiated various large-scale global research projects. To read more about Professor le Coutre and his important research, please consult the article on the UNSW Newsroom website.

The Council of the Society extends its sincere congratulations to Professor le Coutre on this international recognition of his international contributions to food science and technology.