Diosady Named Fellow of CIFST

Professor Levente Diosady was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST) on May 7 in Montreal. Only one fellow is elected annually by the Institute, which is composed of more than 1200 scientists and technologists in industry, government and academia.

Diosady was recognized for his over 30-year career, in which he has established himself as one of Canada’s leading food engineers. His research has improved vegetable oil processing, edible-oil refining, micronutrient fortification and meat curing.

For the past ten years he has actively developed new techniques for fortifying salt with iron and iodine for the prevention of micronutrient deficiency diseases, which adversely affect 2 billion people worldwide. Tests in Ghana and India resulted in a 30-percent decrease in anemia in children after eight months simply by replacing household salt with double-fortified salt. Diosady is now focusing upon fortifying rice and developing salt that is triple fortified with Vitamin A, iron and iodine or folic acid.

Diosady, who is a three-time graduate from the University of Toronto, has previously been recognized by CIFST in 2007 with the William J. Eva Award for outstanding research contributions to food science. In 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and was inducted into the U of T Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction in 2004.

CIFST is a national organization established in 1951 that seeks to promote the quality, safety and wholesomeness of the food supply through the application of science and technology.