Media Release
Mangaluru, Oct 18: The departments of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Food Science and Food Processing & Engineering jointly celebrated World Food Day on October 17 at Fr L F Rasquinha hall, LCRI block.
H R Jayaram, vice-president, International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA), was the chief guest and delivered the keynote address.
Surya Shastry, managing director, Phalada Agro Research Foundation Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru was the guest of honour.
Fr Dr Praveen Martis SJ, principal, St Aloysius College (autonomous) presided over the programme.
Dr Richard Gonsalves, director of LCRI block, Dr S N Raghavendra, HOD of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Food Science, Dr Adarsha Gowda and Shilpalekha, the convenors were present on the dais.
H R Jayaram, in his address applauded the management and staff for organizing such a meaningful programme. He explained the importance of World Food Day which came into practice in 1980 with a theme to elevate hunger from the world. 30% of the population goes hungry due to insufficient supply of food. He further said, "Nowadays, food has become poisonous due to the use of chemical and pesticides during preparation. We must understand and sensitize this issue seriously and cultivate the habit of organic farming."
Surya Shastry in his speech explained about organic agriculture. He said "Nowadays, people suffer from obesity and malnutrition and both are very dangerous for health. This is a sustainable issue and we must think about this and try to eradicate it. We must adopt organic farming and cultivate the habit of consuming healthy organic food."
Principal, Fr Dr Praveen Martis congratulated the PG departments for organizing such a wonderful programme. Due to the inventions of scientists, food production growth rate has been raised, but we do not share the food, instead we waste it. In many places food is wasted and does not reach the needy. We could make it possible to reach food to the needy and eliminate hunger." He also urged the students to become entrepreneurs and join hands in this great movement.
During the programme, there were two sessions - 'Food security' by Dinesh Yadav, research scientist I, MDRU, Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad and 'Eat Right: Power a Healthy Planet' by K Thiru, principal, Welcome Group Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal University, Manipal. Besides this, collage competition and photography competition were also held for the students.
Dr A M Narahari, registrar, Dr Alwyn D’Sa, controller of examinations, Dr Dennis Fernandes, director, admin block and staff of Food Science department were present for the programme.
Aparna Jose, II MSc compered the programme. Dr Richard Gonsalves welcomed the gathering. Convenor of the programme, Shilpa Lekha briefed about World Food Day. Dr S N Raghavendra and Jenisa Sinora D’Souza introduced the guests. Dr Adarsha Gowda, DDU Kaushal Kendra, proposed the vote of thanks.