Internationally renowned food scientist speaks during FAPC symposium
By Kylee Willard
FAPC Communications Graduate Assistant
(Stillwater, Okla. – Feb. 28, 2012) Distinguished scientist, international food industry representative, published scholar, Dr. Roger Clemens, captivated an audience of more than 100 students, research enthusiasts and industry representatives during Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center Research Symposium.
Clemens, president of the Institute of Food Technologists and chief scientific officer at Horn, has been cited and interviewed by more than 500 domestic and international print and broadcast journalists on contemporary health, nutrition and food safety issues. Additionally, he has published more than 50 original manuscripts in nutrition and food science and participated in more than 250 invited domestic and international lectures.
“Dr. Clemens was very engaging with the symposium participants, especially the students,” said Chuck Willoughby, FAPC business and marketing relations manager and co-chair of the symposium. “His presentation was invigorating and offered the attendees a wealth of information.”
With appointment by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the food scientist for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, Clemens gave an interactive presentation titled “The Role of Food Science & Technology in Dietary Guidelines.”
Clemens discussed the need for basic research at the university level and how that research translates to public policy and human behavior.
“One of the issues we have in academia is transferring clinical research, if not basic research, to understand the implications and what it means in terms of public policy and public health,” Clemens said. “We need to learn to understand the dynamics of research.”
He further explained criteria used to evaluate research studies.
“We evaluate studies with five criteria of quality of work, consistency of findings across studies, quantity – does one study support the hypothesis, clinical impact and relevance, and generalization,” Clemens said.
The distinguished scientist also touched on the value of research to the food and agricultural realm.
“It is important for us to understand the continuum of learning,” Clemens said. “We need to understand the spectrum of food. We need to understand what happens from the farm to the fork, how we metabolize, what happens in the gut, how everything goes on in the G.I. tract. After all, we consume the food.”
Clemens also distributed IFT embossed gifts to the Feb. 22 event that captured more than 100 registrants.
“We were privileged to have the opportunity to spend time with Dr. Clemens and get him acquainted with FAPC’s food science industry activities, especially at a time when we are trying to establish accreditation with IFT for our department of animal science’s food science undergraduate curriculum,” Muriana said. “This could lead to thousands of dollars in additional scholarship monies to our food science students and venues for professional development. Dr. Clemens was very anxious to help us in this regard and offered an invitation to contact his staff to accommodate our pursuit to achieve IFT accreditation.”
In addition to speaking during the symposium, Clemens had the opportunity to meet with students and guests of OSU’s department of animal science’s Introduction to Food Science class.
“You are fortunate to have wonderful faculty and a great FAPC facility,” Clemens said as he addressed the class. “Most universities dream of having a facility like this. You are quite fortunate.”
Video of Clemens’ presentation and his presentation material are available online at http://www.fapc.biz/researchsymposium.html.
The FAPC Research Symposium was held in conjunction with OSU Research Week. Sponsors of the symposium included Institute of Food Technologists – Oklahoma Section, National Steak and Poultry, 21st Sensory, Click’s Steakhouse and major sponsor, Clements Foods Co..
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