New technology and a strong emphasis on quality are driving the future of food technology, according to Rubin and his colleagues at the Rubicons’ food-technology group.
But they also worry about what happens when those technologies become dominant.
For the first time, Rubicon’s researchers and a panel of industry experts will convene in Los Angeles on Jan. 14 for the second annual Global Food Summit.
Rubicon CEO Steven Rubino talks about the future for food technology at the Global Food Forum, Jan. 21, 2018, in New York.
The panelists include the chief executives of the top food companies and major food processors; senior executives from the food industry’s top companies, including DuPont, Monsanto, Kellogg, Unilever and Tyson; and senior executives at food processing companies.
For a more detailed look at the technology trends in food, watch the video.
Rubino, the former head of DuPont’s technology lab, will be joined by his deputy, David Czajkowski, former president of Tyson Foods, and Robert Ritter, president of the food processor Mondelez.
Rubin will be the keynote speaker.
A panelist at the forum, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will discuss the future risks and opportunities of food products, Rubino said.
“The FDA is very focused on food safety and quality.
We need to get into that.”
The panel is not an official forum, but it does represent a consensus among Rubinos experts and Rubinos team, said Ritter.
He will be a co-chair of the forum.
Rubin, 56, who grew up in rural Virginia, was born in St. Louis but grew up working in a chemical plant.
In his 20s, he became a food technologist and worked for DuPont for 25 years, before moving to the Silicon Valley to run the food processing company, where he now heads up the food technology division.
“My dream was to be in the industry,” Rubino told a panel at the annual industry forum, “and now I’m here.”
The Rubicons focus on innovation has been underlined by the rise of the digital revolution.
A report released this month by food security experts at the U,S.
Department of Agriculture found that the number of children who were living in households with digital devices increased by 50% in 2016, with a similar rate in the next decade.
Rubins team has focused on improving technology that helps protect consumers from foodborne pathogens, such as viruses like SARS, to help the FDA manage food and foodborne disease outbreaks.
That is particularly important, the panelists said, because more than 100 million people worldwide live with an outbreak of SARS.
In the U-S., food safety has been a priority for Rubinos family for more than 50 years.
He helped create the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response Team at the FDA in the 1980s.
The agency uses technology to detect and respond to outbreaks.
The Rubins group, with some 200 employees, is based in Southern California and has a network of about 10 companies in more than 30 countries.
The group has also developed a system for identifying foodborne illness and outbreaks that helps consumers prepare and control food.
It has been widely adopted in other industries and is the backbone of the FDA’s food safety program, Rubinos said.
The FDA has been working with the Rubins on this and other initiatives to improve food safety.
“They are doing it in the most responsible and thoughtful way possible,” said John P. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Rubinos goal has always been to help Americans live better lives, Sullivan said, “which is why we have an industry with the best reputation for excellence.”
Food and Nutrition Board Chairman Jeffrey Solomons, also of the University of Virginia, said Rubins work in food and nutrition “has been the hallmark of the company for many decades.”
Rubinos focus on quality and innovation, he said, is a key element of Rubinos mission.
“We have a very strong group of people who are driven by the science, driven by our mission,” Solomans said.
Rubiins group has worked to address problems in food manufacturing that affect millions of people around the world, he added.
For example, Rubiinos team has developed a “food safety system” that helps farmers identify food-borne pathogens and helps companies reduce the number and size of the factories that make their products.
In addition, Rubis team has designed a tool that helps food processors assess the risk of food-related illnesses.
In one recent example, the group developed a tool to help food processors detect and control the spread of foodborne illnesses in the U.-S.
It was created as part of a collaboration between the company and the U Food Safety and Inspection Service (USFSIS), a federal agency that oversees food safety, and the FDA.
In 2015, Rubicons researchers discovered
