Held at Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur from 18th to 19th November 2017, the Food and Society International Conference 2017 was organized by the Asia-Pacific Food Studies Network, the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), and the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
With topics based on themes such as taste, culture, education, and communication; the conference aims to encapsulate and explore the causalities that shape the culinary world in regards to food supply, transformation, and consumption chain as well as the role of corporate communication and advertising.
The CEO of TFNet, Dr. Mohd. Desa Hassim was invited as a keynote speaker and delivered his presentation on “Food Innovation and Socio-economic Impacts in ASEAN Countries: A Focus on Fruits”. Highlighting the rising global trade for tropical fruits among ASEAN countries, he also underlined the issues affecting the tropical fruit industry. One of the ways for the industry to grow is by capitalizing on the current food trends such as superfruits, exotic fruits, and using fruits as meat alternatives. He also reiterated that daily intake of fruits should be slowly inculcated and evolve from habitual to a “fruit culture”.
Written by Arifurrahman Rusman