Transforming Food Systems from Commitment to Action

International Bioactives 2026 We are excited to have Yasmina Sultanbawa joining us at International Bioactives 2026. Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa is the Director, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences and a Professorial Research Fellow at Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), the University of Queensland, Australia.  Her research spans the critical disciplines of food processing, preservation, food safety and nutrition, with a distinctive ability to integrate advanced process technologies and engineered delivery systems for bioactive compounds. By bridging these scientific domains, her work enhances nutrition, flavour, quality and safety delivering innovations that are practical and scalable. Across the agri‑food value chain, her research has generated commercially relevant solutions that address long‑standing challenges and emerging opportunities. She has established impactful partnerships with industry through contract research and collaborative innovation, ensuring that scientific discovery translates into real‑world application. This highly translational approach has influenced industry practices, informed policy directions, and contributed to improved health outcomes. Her program of work on Opportunity Crops including Australia’s native plant foods aims to embed these unique species within mainstream agriculture, promote diet diversification, and safeguard cultural knowledge. Working closely with diverse communities locally and globally, she focuses on developing nutritious, sustainable, and value‑added products that strengthen regional economies, support sovereign supply chains, and contribute to global food system resilience. This work exemplifies how science, policy and industry can converge to create future‑ready, sustainable food systems that benefit people, communities and the planet. Find out more about Yasmina by clicking on #Bioactives2026 #Bioactives #FoodScience #Biotechnology #HealthInnovation #ResearchCollaboration #IBC2026 #ARCFAAB Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) #MacquarieUniversityNaturalSciences Anwar Sunna Alison Rodger Alfonso Garcia-Bennett

🌿 CIFR's Knowing Our Members Series (KoMS) – Featuring Lindokuhle Ndlovu-Phiri 🌿 Meet Lindokuhle Britney Ndlovu, a Master's student in Food Technology whose research is driven by a passion for improving public health through innovative, science-based food solutions. Her work focuses on developing healthier edible oil formulations that remain stable, accessible, and suitable for everyday consumer use. 🌍 Lindokuhle's research aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including: 🟡 SDG 2: Zero Hunger ❤️ SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being ♻️ SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production 💡 By bridging food chemistry, functionality testing, and real-world affordability, Lindokuhle's work contributes to the development of sustainable lipid systems that balance nutrition, stability, and cost. 👏 Join us in celebrating Lindokuhle's journey as she advances food innovation. #KnowingOurMembers #CIFR #FoodTechnology #FoodInnovation #HealthyFoodSystems #UniversityOfJohannesburg

Bruce Friedrich invites the global agrifood community to #WAFI2026 How can alternative proteins help shape a greener, healthier, and more resilient food future? In this message, Bruce Friedrich, Founder and President of The Good Food Institute (GFI), long-term WAFI speaker, and author of the new book Meat, invites partners from across the global agrifood community to join WAFI2026 in Beijing this September. His work on alternative proteins, food innovation, and the future of meat offers an important perspective on this year’s theme: “Green and Healthy Transformation of Agrifood Systems.” Since its launch, WAFI has hosted dedicated forums on alternative proteins and future foods, making this topic a continued part of its agenda. At WAFI2026, alternative proteins will remain an important area of discussion as we explore pathways for agrifood systems transformation. 📍 WAFI2026 17–19 September 2026 Beijing, China Registration is now open: https://lnkd.in/gkjryDmz #WAFI2026 #AlternativeProteins #FutureFood #FoodSystems #AgriFoodInnovation #SustainableAgriculture

🚀 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 #ANH2026 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐬! We kicked off the 11th ANH Academy Week with four interactive Learning Labs, bringing our global community together online to discuss methods, explore tools, and evidence across food systems, nutrition and health. 🌍 Here's what we dove into: 🛒 Addressing food-related health risks within informal food environments in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, setting the stage for a research agenda on food safety across aquatic foods, livestock, and fruit and vegetable value chains by Richard Nyiawung, PhD, Wanjiku. N. Gichohi-Wainaina, PhD, Florence Mutua, Kebede Amenu, Ilana Cliffer 🔗 Approaches to studying the entire food value chain in agri-food research, shining a light on the overlooked "hidden middle" of aggregation, transport, processing and retail by Ayala Wineman, Eward Mushi, Shivani Gharge, PhD 🍽️ The GDQS Meal and Menu metrics, with a live demo of GDQS app to measure the nutritional quality of institutional meal programmes by Winnie Bell, PhD, MPH, Melissa Vargas Araya, Peiman Milani 💡 Designing an innovation ecosystem for food systems, exploring how stronger links between universities, research institutions, entrepreneurs and extension services can drive uptake of food systems innovations by Huma Neupane, Januka Dahal These interactive sessions bridged disciplines, sharpened research methods and sparked rich conversations across sectors. Huge thanks to our brilliant facilitators! 👏 🥹 See participants' reflections below. Catch up on recordings: https://lnkd.in/e5YJqGaW 🗓️ There's more to come. Explore the full programme and join us for the rest of the week: https://lnkd.in/gAsG5VSk #LearningLabs #Research #Agriculture #Nutrition #Health #FoodSystems #InteractiveWorkshops #Conference #SciencePolicy

🌱 The VALPRO Path final conference marked an important milestone for the project! On 25 June, VALPRO Path and GIANT LEAPS co-hosted their joint final dissemination conference, "Protein Transition: GIANT LEAPS Ahead and VALPRO Paths to Follow", at Atelier des Tanneurs in Brussels, bringing together more than 100 stakeholders from research, industry, policy and innovation to exchange knowledge and explore the future of alternative proteins and Europe’s sustainable food transition. 🌍 The event opened with inspiring remarks from Paul Webb, the Head of the Department for “Green Europe” Research, Executive Agency for Research (REA), Dr Ewen Mullins, the head coordinator of VALPRO Path (Teagasc), and Dr Paul Vos, the head coordinator of the GIANT LEAPS project (Wageningen University & Research). highlighting the importance of collaboration, research and innovation in advancing sustainable food systems. Throughout the day, participants explored key topics shaping the protein transition, including developments in alternative proteins, food safety, nutrition, sustainability, consumer acceptance and pathways from research to impact. 💡 We were delighted to hear from leading experts across Europe, including Prof Mark Fenelon, Dr André Brodkorb, Dr Emanuele, Zvonimir Sedlic, Dr Birgir Örn Smárason, Dr Eimear Gallagher, Dr Tryfon Kekes, Dr Moritz Reckling, Dr Clare Mills, Dr Esther Van Asselt, Dr Richard Lynch, Prof Maeve Henchion, Dr Hans Verhagen, Dr Fabienne Michel and many others. 👏 The conference was a great opportunity to showcase progress from VALPRO Path and GIANT LEAPS, share ideas, strengthen collaborations, and continue the conversation about alternative proteins and building more sustainable, resilient food systems. 🚀 A sincere thank you to all speakers, partners and participants who contributed to making this event a success. We look forward to continuing this important work together! 🌱 👉 Find out more about the VALPRO Path project: https://valpropath.eu/ #VALPROPath #GIANTLEAPS #ProteinTransition #AlternativeProteins #FoodInnovation #Sustainability #HorizonEurope #EUResearch

🌍 That’s a wrap on #ANH2026! Over four days, the 11th ANH Academy Week brought together the global community for interactive Learning Labs and a powerful closing plenary — creating space to learn, question, connect and reflect on what it takes to transform food systems for better nutrition and health. Across the week, we explored: 🔗 The full agri-food value chain — looking beyond production and consumption to understand the “hidden middle” of aggregation, transport, processing, wholesale and retail, and the food environments and safety risks shaping everyday choices. 🍽️ Diet quality and healthy diets —tools and metrics such as Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) and the cost and affordability of healthy diets (CoAHD), and how national roadmaps can move from strategy to implementation. 📊 Evidence for policy and decision-making — from translating nutrition research outputs into actionable policies, to equity, partnerships and locally rooted innovation ecosystems that support more inclusive food systems. 🌱 Finally,  we closed the week with a plenary on Transforming Food Systems with the Africa Regional Collaborative for Agriculture, Nutrition & Health (ANH-ARC). One message was carried through the week: food systems are not just knowledge systems; they are translation systems. Evidence only creates impact when it moves into policy, investment, implementation and action. The future of food systems is not only about better systems — it is about better collaboration. A huge thank you to all facilitators, speakers, participants and partners who made #ANH2026 such a rich week of learning and exchange. 🎥 If you missed any of the sessions, catch up on the recordings: https://lnkd.in/eV_apr9U 🥹 See participants' reflections for the week below #ANHAcademy #ANH2026 #LearningLabs #FoodSystems #Nutrition #Agriculture #Health #SciencePolicy #GlobalHealth #ANHARC #ClimateResilience #ResearchImpact

It was a privilege to co-facilitate the Healthy Marketplace session at the 11th ANH Academy Week along with Dr Preeti Khanna One message stayed with me: food systems are not just knowledge systems — they are translation systems. Evidence only creates impact when it moves into policy, investment, and action. That framing felt especially alive in our session, where we explored how food environments, market systems, and everyday choices intersect to shape diet quality and health outcomes. It was energising to be in a room with practitioners, researchers, and policymakers who are not just asking the right questions — but working together to find answers. Grateful for the conversations, the connections, and the shared commitment to transforming food systems for better nutrition and health. #ANH2026 #FoodSystems #Nutrition #HealthyMarketplace #GlobalHealth PCI India Gates Foundation India Shelly Sundberg Kristen MacNaughtan

The final session on day 1 of the HealthFerm Final Conference is Session 3: Fermentation Research in Europe. The presentations in this session are as follows: 💚 Design of Microbial Solutions for Sustainable and Healthy Fermented Food in Europe: perspectives & challenges illustrated by the DOMINO project 🎙️Dr Stéphane Chaillou, Research Director at Micalis Institute, INRAE 🛣️ Pathways for Post-Project Valorization and Mid-Term Impact in Horizon Europe 🎙️Guido Guidetti, Programme Officer, European Research Executive Agency (REA) 🏆 Building on Success: The next Chapter of the HealthFerm Community 🎙️Léna Prochnow, Senior Research and Impact Manager,EURICE – European Research and Project Office GmbH Join leading researchers, academics and industry experts as the HealthFerm Horizon Europe project concludes with two days of insights, discussion and collaboration on the future of plant-based fermented foods and healthier, more sustainable diets. https://lnkd.in/efaK9j6K 📢 HealthFerm Final Conference Plant-Based Fermented Foods for Healthier and More Sustainable Diets 📅 25–26 August 📍 Leuven, Belgium #healthferm #foodfermentations #microbiome #plantbased #horizoneurope

Did you know food data can go far beyond calories and a limited set of nutrients? 🧬🥝🔬 The PTFI is helping expand how food composition is measured by generating high-resolution data on the molecular makeup of foods. Using standardized multi-omics tools, the PTFI captures thousands of features per sample — from nutrients and bioactives to environmental and processing context. Because these data are generated through shared methods across the PTFI Global Ecosystem, results produced in laboratories from Nairobi to Cali to Bangkok can be compared consistently. This creates interoperable, AI-ready datasets that can scale across studies, regions, and applications — supporting research in nutrition, agriculture, food formulation, and beyond. Access the PTFI data: https://bit.ly/4bPSkvB #FoodScience #FoodData #Foodomics

Inscitech Meet on Nutritional Innovations and Food Engineering (IMNIFE2026) is a global conference focused on exploring groundbreaking advancements in food science, nutrition, and engineering. Taking place in the vibrant and historic city of Lisbon, Portugal, scheduled during August 10-12, 2026. this event promises to bring together experts, innovators, and leaders from the food industry, nutrition science, academia, and technology sectors to discuss the latest trends, research, and future challenges in the field. Organized by InSciTech Summits, this three-day conference will feature cutting-edge presentations, technical sessions, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities, designed to accelerate scientific progress and innovation in the rapidly evolving food and nutrition industries. Conference Chair: Dr. Elsa M. Goncalves, Food Science and Technology, Researcher at Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, IP (INIAV, IP), Portugal More information: https://lnkd.in/e3wUDXiC #INIAV #IMNIFE2026 #Meet #Nutritional #Innovations #Food