Viral
Shukla
Ph.D. Candidate,
Padilla-Zakour Lab (https://cals.cornell.edu/olga-padilla-zakour)
Department of Food
Science and Technology
Cornell University
Innovation in a Time of Crises: Our Pieces of the Puzzle
Speaker Bio
Viral Shukla is a self-described “science of food activist”, a role in which he strives to showcase and demystify the food system. Shukla conducted his PhD work at Cornell University, where he studied technical, economical, nutritional, and sensorial implications of upcycling fruit and dairy side streams. Before joining Cornell, Shukla worked in quality assurance at Kerry, and was a research associate/ fellow at California State Polytechnic University. He currently serves as an IFT Board member and President of the IFT Student Association and has previously served as a past advisory board member of the Cal Poly Pomona College of Agriculture, the American Association for Precision Medicine, and several startups.
Abstract
Are
we living in a time of crises? The world is constantly changing
environmentally, socially, economically, and politically. Through this, the
food system must remain resilient to feed the billions of people inhabiting
this planet, without causing greater environmental devastation. The job of
providing nutritious, safe, and wholesome food to the world belongs to all food
scientists, one whom each provides their own piece of the puzzle.
With
the need to feed 8.2 billion people, food production produces ~25% of global
greenhouse gas emissions and is becoming harder to produce due to a changing
climate, all the while, 30% of calories are lost. Almost all food production
creates byproducts which are often discarded for the higher economically
valuable main product. Novel technologies and valorization through product
development of these byproducts are a piece of the puzzle towards feeding the
future.