Four fundamental APAC nutrition and food trends shaping 2017…and our Food Vision Asia summit

The programme for the 2017 Food Vision Asia event, being held in Singapore between April 25-27, calls on the food industry to take a stand for responsible nutrition as the region’s battle against obesity and related metabolic diseases escalates.

Some of the big issues set to be debated include:

The double burden of malnutrition​

Dr Jacques Bindels, scientific director at Danone-Nutricia, will challenge the industry to address the double burden of malnutrition and over-nutrition among Asia’s children and infants.

Diabetes​

Professor Christiani Jeyakumar Henry, Director of Singapore’s Nutritional Research Centre, will describe the unique phenotype that makes Asian populations susceptible to metabolic disease and will call for sensitive innovation from the global food industry. Watch our video of Prof Henry discussing Sngapore’s war on diabetes here​.

Personalised nutrition​

Asia might be lagging behind the US and Europe when it comes to personalised nutrition, but that won’t be the case for long. A number of Asia-based players are entering the market and the event will hear from Tan Mei Yi, medical officer of Imagene Labs, who will highlight the potential for personalised nutrition based on DNA testing.

Sustainability​

The UN Sustainability Development Goals aim to eliminate hunger by 2030, and the food and nutrition industries will need to step up to the plate to help achieve this. The event will hear from Fraser Thompson, director of sustainability consultancy AlphaBeta, who will describe how Asia’s food industry could be the world’s biggest winner if the United Nation’s sustainability goals are met.

Asia’s food industry leaders, including members of Food Industry Asia (FIA), the ASEAN Food & Beverage Alliance (AFBA) and the Asia Roundtable on Food Innovation for Improved Nutrition (ARoFIIN), have backed Food Vision Asia’s commitment to confront the nutrition challenge head on. 

Matt Kovac, executive director of FIA, said: “By focusing on Asia’s growing nutritional health issues Food Vision Asia will support our members’ search for viable solutions that can protect consumers’ health and ensure a sustainable future for regional and international food businesses operating in the Asian market.”​ 

FIA will hold its Annual General Meeting on the first day of Food Vision Asia and invites all delegates to attend a debate on The Future of Food that evening. On the final day of Food Vision Asia ARoFIIN will host its annual roundtable, bringing government, academia and industry leaders from across Asia together to plan initiatives to enhance the region’s nutritional health.

“Food Vision Asia has become the unifying event for the Asian food industry and is the stage from which its future is being shaped,”​ said Gary Scattergood, editor-in-chief, FoodNavigator-Asia and NutraIngredients-Asia.  “Our expert speakers and panellists will deliver regional and global insights to help meet Asia’s nutritional challenges.”​

Find out how to attend at www.foodvisionasia.com​

Food Vision Asia 2017 is supported by high profile industry partners including DSM, DuPont, Beneo, Cosucra, Jennewein and Novozymes.