Reimagining the future of food through embracing tradition and fostering innovation

Ling Zhi Cheong is a Professor in Food Science at the University of Melbourne. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has vast experiences working and collaborating with food and agribusiness companies worldwide. Ling Chi will be accompanied by Cai Shen also from the University of Melbourne

I am hoping to begin with the triple challenge of today’s food system:

• Food and nutrition security: the need to feed our growing population, not just feeding but also feeding nutritious food

• Environmental sustainability: the need for production & consumption of food in a more sustainable way

• Livelihoods: the need to work with solutions that can offer long term viability and sustainability of our food system

Following that, I would like to speak about what have worked in the past and why we cannot rely just on the past food production system. An emphasis on the importance of understanding the full potential and limitation of our natural food products/ingredients and responsibly use the current natural resources. And why there is a need to complement traditional food natural resources with new technologies (biomanufacturing, fermentation etc) to produce new ingredients.