AIFST Annual Awards

The AIFST President's Award 2021

2020 Winner: Dr Lisa Szabo

Director Food Safety & CEO Food Authority, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Biosecurity & Food Safety​

The AIFST President’s Award recognizes, acknowledges and acclaims an individual or an organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to the Institute.

Guidelines 

Previous Winners
Nomination Form

The AIFST Peter Seale Food Industry Innovation Award 2021

2020 Winner: Daly Potato Company Pty Ltd, Sorell Tasmania

Potato salad varieties with increased shelf life

This award is given in honour of AIFST Past President Peter Seale.

The award acknowledges a significant new development in a process, product, ingredient, equipment or packaging which has achieved successful commercial application in any section of the Australian food industry. 

The award was presented by Tom Lewis (RDS Partners, FAIFST) to Susie Daly. 

Guidelines 

Previous Winners

Nomination Form

The AIFST Foodbank Hunger Hero Award 2021

2020 Winner: Justin Dowling, GM Supply Chain Operations - Woolworths Group

The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) Foodbank Hunger Hero Award recognises a person or team who have gone above and beyond to tackle food insecurity. Whether it’s championing a new initiative within their company or volunteering their time and expertise in the community, AIFST and Foodbank want to recognise an individual’s or team’s contribution and hold it up as an inspiration to others.

Guidelines 

Previous Winners

Nomination Form

The AIFST Jack Kefford Award for Best Paper 2021

2020 Winners: Sushil Dhital, Mike Gidley, Haiteng Li - Wall porosity in isolated cells from food plants: implications for nutritional functionality 

The Jack Kefford Award for Best Paper recognises the contribution to food science and technology of members of the Institute who publish research and technical papers.

The Award is named in honour of Mr Jack Kefford who provided enormous input to the science and technology of food as Officer-in-Charge of the CSIRO Food Research Laboratory; Assistant Chief of the CSIRO Division of Food Research; as a scientist of international repute; and as AIFST President (1971-73); and Technical Editor of food Australia.

Previous Winners

The AIFST Allergen Bureau Julie Newlands Award 2021

2020 Winner: Monash Health and Monash Health Central Production Kitchen

The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) Allergen Bureau ‘Julie Newlands’ Award recognises excellence in food allergen management in Australia. 

The award was presented to Imran Hanif and Peter Fischer from the Monash Health and the Monash Health Central Production Kitchen Team.  The Award recognises excellence in food allergen management based on their contribution to a consistent, science-based approach to food allergen risk assessment, management and communication that assists allergen sensitive consumers to make informed choices based on label information and guides industry best practice in Australia.

Julie Newlands was an inaugural Director and the first Honorary Treasurer of the Allergen Bureau Ltd. Julie was a fabulous food allergen advocate and immersed herself in all aspects of allergen science, management and communication. Everything that Julie achieved at the Allergen Bureau is a testament to her drive and passion for the allergic consumer and for food safety. Julie passed away in November 2017.

Guidelines 

Previous Winners

The AIFST Bruce Chandler Book Prize 2021

2020 Winners: Dennis Forte and Gordon Young

Food and Feed Extrusion Technology: An applied approach to extrusion theory 

AIFST received a bequest from the late Dr Bruce Chandler to establish a prize named in his honour, the Bruce Chandler Book Prize. Dr Chandler was a long-serving member of the Institute, notably as Literature Editor of food australia for 12 years.

The book prize is awarded to AIFST members who are authors of books considered to make the greatest contribution to the literature on food in particular years.

Guidelines 

Previous Winners

Nomination Form

The AIFST Keith Farrer Award of Merit 2021 

2020 Winner: Not Awarded

The Award is named after Dr Keith Farrer, an outstanding food scientist and author who was involved in the formation of the AIFST in 1967.

The AIFST Keith Farrer Award of Merit acknowledges achievements within food science and technology in the wide areas of research, industry and education, and may take cognisance of contributions made to further the aims and objectives of the Institute.

Guidelines 

Previous Winners

Nomination Form

The AIFST John Christian Young Food Microbiologist Award 2021

2020 Winner: Not Awarded

The John Christian Young Food Microbiologist award was created as a means of encouraging and supporting the development of young food microbiologists. 

The applicants must be under 30 years of age and under at the time of presentation and must be a member of the AIFST however not restricted to students.   

Finalists are chosen on the basis of a 500 word summary of a food microbiology topic.  The topic and content must be related to food microbiology, including general interest topics, research work, literature review, risk assessment, case- or epidemiological study.  Assessment of applicant summaries will be undertaken by the FMG. 

Topic criteria are that the project is food microbiology related – literature review, experimental-based study, risk assessment, case or epidemiological study. 

Guidelines 

The AIFST Malcolm Bird Young Members Commemorative Award 2021

2020 Winner: Not Awarded 

This award is for young AIFST members who demonstrate academic achievement, leadership and integrity in their profession. The AIFST Malcolm Bird Commemorative Award is named in honour of Malcolm Bird, fifth President of the Institute (1975-77), who died in 1977 soon after completing his term of Presidency. Malcolm always showed an active concern for the welfare of young members.

Guidelines 

Nomination Form

AIFST Annual Competitions

The AIFST Research Poster Competition 2020

Judges Award

2020 Winner: Gethmini Kodagoda (pictured)

University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI)  

Impact of storage on phytochemicals and sugars in Queen Garnet plum

2020 Equal second: Indee Hopkins, RMIT University

Australian experience and willingness towards edible insects.

The effect of different casein to whey protein mixtures on the properties of double emulsions prepared using ultrasound-assisted emulsification

People's Choice Award

Sophie Selby-Pham, Monash University 

A Novel Method for Predicting Human Absorption of Phytochemicals  

Minoli Aponso, Monash University

Formulations including an Essential oil can produce hydrogen peroxide and potentially disinfect food-contact surfaces

Does timing influence the recovery of post-meal oxidative stress by phytonutrients.  A systematic literature review.

Guidelines 

The Student Product Development Competition 2020

SPDC Will be now held in conjunction with the 2021 Summer School.

The SPDC was created over 15 years ago to provide students with a chance to create a new product and demonstrate their skills, knowledge and creativity. Each year students are asked to create a product based on a brief and submit the development of their product at various stages to the judges. The competition culminates at the annual convention, where teams must present their final product to the judges and submit it for tasting. 

The purpose of the competition is to:

• Encourage student involvement in AIFST.
• Provide a platform for students to demonstrate their talents in innovative thinking and design, food product development, written and oral communications and the application of theory and teamwork.
• Provide students with an opportunity to gain greater exposure to the food industry and food industry professionals.
• Provide an opportunity to experience implementing against a real industry product development brief.
• Promote and foster innovation and entrepreneurship amongst students.
• Allow food industry representatives the opportunity to identify talented students for potential future employment.
• Allow an avenue to explore the concept of continuous improvement by the provision of feedback about team entries.

Previous Winners