The overall goal of this workshop is to drive transformative innovation by bringing together a diverse group of researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders from academia, industry, and government agencies to identify gaps and research needs in the area of transformative food technologies, which will enable all of these stakeholders to develop methods to improve food safety, reduce the amount of water and energy consumed, reduce the waste produced by the food processing industry, and enhance the sustainability of the FEW system. To bring this goal to fruition, the objectives of the workshop are to:
- Describe the state-of-the-science in food sanitation, waste reduction technologies, and transformative technologies using process design and modeling;
- Identify the technological, socioeconomic, and behavioral barriers that must be transcended in the food and bioprocessing industry; and
- Provide a process and venue for scientists, engineers, and stakeholders to creatively and collaboratively generate research ideas for transformative technologies to enhance sustainability in the industry and associated FEW systems.
The results of this workshop will create a foundation for understanding how the FEW systems meet and are connected with the food processing and bioprocessing industries and will identify potential research areas focused on transformative technologies designed to enhance the sustainability of the food processing system. Based on these designated research needs, stakeholders will develop proposals for consideration by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), and other funding agencies.
