The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a nonprofit scientific association dedicated to advancing food science and its application across the global food system, is hosting a webinar series moderated by IFT Chief Science and Technology Officer Brendan Niemira. The series will preview some of the individual scientific sessions at the upcoming IFT FIRST Annual Event and Expo, which is being held July 12-15, 2026, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Free and open to the public, the webinar series Talking Science with the Chief Science and Technology Officer will feature four virtual sessions devoted to the following topics:

• Science Meets Circularity: Ingredients, Packaging, and the New Rules of Sustainability
• What’s New in Plant Protein?
• Next-Generation Processing: Nonthermal Technologies Shaping Food Safety and Quality
• Hot Concepts in Food Science

“Each scientific presentation at IFT FIRST delivers more than research—it provides actionable science that professionals can take back to their labs, plants, and classrooms to drive real-world impact across the food system. From breakthrough research to emerging technologies, the individual scientific presentations at IFT FIRST showcase the breadth and depth of food science, sparking new ideas and accelerating progress toward creating a healthier future for food,” said Niemira.

“These intimate Q&A sessions will not only provide a rare preview of these invaluable discussions taking place at IFT FIRST but allow the global food community to connect with some of our leaders who are improving food through research, science, and technology,” Niemira continued.

Science Meets Circularity: Ingredients, Packaging, and the New Rules of Sustainability

The session titled Science Meets Circularity: Ingredients, Packaging, and the New Rules of Sustainability is set for May 26 at 12 p.m. Central and will feature speakers Nandika Bandara, associate professor at the University of Manitoba, Kevin E. Mis Solval, associate professor at the University of Georgia, and co-founder and chief scientific officer for JellyCoUSA, and Colin Preston, managing consultant for Ramboll Management Consulting.

Bandara’s session, titled, How Do Circular Economy Principles Reduce Food Loss While Strengthening Supply Chain Stability?, will focus on his research on the complete upcycling of oilseed meals (canola, hemp and sunflower), and pulse processing byproducts (hulls, stems and starch) into functional protein ingredients, lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose to produce food ingredients, biopolymer-based materials such as food packaging materials and wood adhesives, and platform chemicals and additives such as cellulose nanocrystals and lignin nanoparticles.

Mis Solval will host an individual presentation titled Developing Next Generation Marine Collagen from Seafood Waste for Functional Ingredients, which will highlight current research on the extraction, digestion, characterization and commercialization of marine collagen-based food ingredients.

Preston will address the Impact of Extended Producer Responsibility on Food Science and Food Packaging, which will explore how packaging developers and food scientists must converge to develop safe and sustainable solutions that meet these new regulatory requirements.

“The expansion and evolution of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws across North America and Europe is transforming how food and beverage packaging must be designed, manufactured, and validated,” said Niemira. “These policies place new obligations on producers to meet recyclability criteria, minimize packaging, and incorporate post-consumer recycled content for primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging. While these requirements are typically viewed through a sustainability lens, they also have profound implications for food safety, food quality, and packaging performance—areas central to food science.”

What’s New in Plant Protein?

The session titled What’s New in Plant Protein? is set for June 3 at 10 a.m. Central and will feature José Bonilla, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, Samira Feyzi, assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, and Renske Janssen, senior project manager for NIZO.

In his presentation titled Machine-Learning Based Quantitative Characterization of Plant Protein Hydrogel Microstructure, Bonilla will explore how machine learning-based image analysis of microscopic plant protein hydrogels can reveal the relationship between microstructural and macroscopic properties of sustainable foods.

Feyzi's individual presentation is titled Moving Towards Clean Label Plant Protein Ingredients, which will focus on leveraging natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) to produce clean-label plant protein ingredients.

“With the growing global population and increasing consumer demand for healthy, clean label, sustainable, and functional plant protein ingredients, it is essential to develop processing strategies that enable food scientists to incorporate or upcycle underutilized plant protein sources and agricultural by-products,” said Niemira.

Next-Generation Processing: Nonthermal Technologies Shaping Food Safety and Quality

The third webinar, titled Next-Generation Processing: Nonthermal Technologies Shaping Food Safety and Quality, is set for June 9 at 12 p.m. Central and will feature speakers Mario Gonzalez Angulo, HPP applications manager at Hiperbaric, Deepti Salvi, associate department head at North Carolina State University, and Anubhav Pratap-Singh, associate professor for food, nutrition and health (food processing) at The University of British Columbia.

Angulo's presentation, titled High-Pressure Thermal Processing (HPTP): Overcoming Technical Barriers to Industrial Application, will showcase how HPTP combines pressure and heat to achieve spore inactivation with reduced thermal load compared with conventional retorting. Attendees and they will be able to identify product categories where HPTP can unlock new shelf-stable or refrigerated foods with extended shelf life while preserving sensory and nutritional quality.

“To reduce chemical contaminants and preserve nutritional and sensory quality, the food industry seeks processes that achieve microbial safety with reduced thermal load compared to traditional heat treatments,” said Niemira. “High-Pressure Thermal Processing offers this potential, and recent engineering advances now enable its industrial-scale implementation.”

Salvi's presentation, The Current State of Cold Plasma Technology in Food Processing, will focus on the current state of cold plasma technology for various applications in food processing. The talk will also cover challenges and future directions for this novel technology.

Pratap-Singh's topic is Unlocking Red Seaweed Phenolics With Cold Plasma-Treated Water and Enhancing Antioxidant Activity.

Hot Concepts in Food Science

The fourth and final webinar leading up to IFT First is titled Hot Concepts in Food Science and is set for June 30 at 12 p.m. Central and will feature speakers  Chico Qike Li, Ph.D. student at Cornell University, and Dilek Uzunalioglu, founder of Agora Food Solutions LLC.

In collaboration with Cornell University Associate Professor Alireza Abbaspourrad, Li will address “Structurally Tuning Phycocyanin: From Blue Chromoprotein to Natural Emulsifier” at IFT FIRST, which presents a molecularly resolved framework showing how controlled dissociation and denaturation tune phycocyanin’s color, antioxidant activity, and emulsifying performance. By integrating the urea-shifting strategy with protein modeling, it was revealed how structural transitions directly enhance the interfacial behavior of phycocyanin as a natural blue emulsifier.

Meanwhile, Uzunalioglu will discuss “Fermentation Enabled Ingredients: From Technical Performance to Metabolic Potential,” which will highlight how precision, biomass, and solid-state fermentation can be leveraged to develop ingredients with different functionalities including ingredients with technofunctional benefits, ingredients with enhanced protein fiber content and improved digestibility, and ingredients with gut and metabolic benefits.

Source: Institute of Food Technologists