Food is central to many of society’s human and environmental challenges in the 21st century. The growing numbers of affluent, aware consumers has meant:
- a steady increase in the global average income
- an expanding middle class
- resource depletion
- limited arable land and landfill availability.
These issues present us with many new research needs and opportunities to create a healthier and more sustainable future. The Australian Research Council Food Processing Training Centre, with its multidisciplinary and industry-facing research program, is well placed to access and maximise these academic and commercial opportunities.
The centre partners with industry to boost Australia’s competiveness in the global agrifood market, particularly in the production of nutraceuticals (food products fortified with vitamins or minerals that provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of chronic and acute diseases), the recovery of high-value products from waste streams, and the optimisation and transformation of food processing technologies and methodologies. The centre draws on the expertise of academics from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies as well as the: