Packaging technology’s contribution to the fight against world hunger
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- Published on Tuesday, 28 February 2012 00:18
ITALY – Italian processing, packaging and material handling exhibition IPACK-IMA is hosting the International Conference for Africa developed in cooperation with FAO and other UN agencies, on Thursday, 1 March 2012.
IPACK-IMA is the standard-setting global exhibition for processing, packaging and material handling technology and materials. The technology on display from 28 February to 3 March at Fiera Milano includes food packaging and processing, which play a crucial role in the development of disadvantaged countries especially in connection to ensuring access to food for the entire population and enabling its effective preservation.
This problem is particularly severe in Africa; for this reason, the continent is the main target of the programme started by Ipack-Ima and the United Nations in 2009 and culminating with the global EXPO 2015.
Titled “Enhancing Food Safety and Food Security in Africa – Processing and Packaging Technologies from Farm Gate to the Consumers Table”, the international conference has been developed by Ipack-Ima Spa in partnership with FAO and involves world experts from UN food agencies UNIDO, WFP and IFAD under the direction of Prof. Claudio Peri.
The conference will be officially opened by high-ranking institutional representatives such as Richard Sezibera, Secretary General of the East African Community, and UNIDO director general Kandeh K. Yumkella, in charge of “The Food Safety and Food Security Policy of UNIDO in Africa”. Industrialist Paolo Barilla, president of IPACK-IMA 2012, will introduce both speakers.
“The topics discussed at the International conference are entirely in tune with the East African Community’s commitment to speeding up agricultural development and improving the value chain in the food industry”, says Secretary General Mr. Sezibera in his message to the organizers.
Introductory speeches and the coordination of the different sessions of the Conference are entrusted to prominent academics from the African continent. Afam Jideani, manager of the Food Science and Technology Department at the South Africa University will coordinate the first session and speak on “Processing and Packaging Innovation in Cereal Foods”, while Bendantunguka P.M. Tiisekwa, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, will direct the second session with a speech on “Processing and Packaging Innovation in Fruit & Vegetables”. The two sessions on technology will be followed by a third session developed in partnership with IFAD and focused on “Financing and Funding”. The Conference will end with a concluding speech by Ipack-Ima Spa CEO Guido Corbella.
The event will host over 50 international delegates from Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
