Jack Pearce was recently nominated as ‘Member of the Month for organising the IFST Education Forum in September and doing such a great job!
How does it feel to be recognised as ‘Member of the Month’?
It was a big surprise and a great honour. In any organisation I have been a member of I have always considered that what you put in is more important than what you take out but never-the-less I was very pleased that my inputs on behalf of IFST were valued.
Why is it important to be a member of a body like IFST?
IFST is the professional body that supports and promotes the food profession. In my view, it is important to be a member of body of like-minded professionals. This has many spin-offs but an important one for me is raising the profile of the food profession with key opinion formers in a wide range of sectors and with the public.
Recently you organised IFST’s Education Forum. What do you see as the major challenge in educating young people for a career in the food industry?
I think there are a number of challenges which could be addressed; some of them can be addressed in a parallel fashion. The main overall challenge is bringing food science and technology "onto the radar" for young people. I am always disappointed that the food profession, which is always going to be there since food is essential to life and because most people have an interest in food especially in relation to nutrition, does not excite the curiosity of young people to pursue a career in that area. What is needed is better information for parents, young prople and careers teachers about the opportunities, two-way interaction between schools and the food industry, including industrial visits, to inform teachers and pupils about the challenges and careers in the food profession and information for school science teachers, including practical sessions to illustrate chemistry, biology, microbiology and physics using food science examples. These would at least enable young people to make an informed choice about a possible future career in the food profession when they are deciding their post-school pathways.. None of the above is new and IFST, as well as other bodies, have been doing work in these areas. It seems to me that what is needed is better "joining up" of these initiatives so that things can be better co-ordinated. One positive way of addressing this would be through the establishment of a "portal" to lead into these various sources of information and perhaps this is the overall key challenge.I know this is something under consideration in IFST. When established this would be an extremely valuable resource for young people.
How do you keep up to date with the latest food science and technology news?
This is not as easy as when I was working when I had the resources of a university library available to me. However, I have a natural curiosity in scientific matters and my "antennae" generally pick up on matters of current interest. I also read popular scientific journals. The internet is also a great source of information and allows me access to scientific journals and reports if there is anything I particularly wish to pursue.
