ADHERING BODY PROFILE:
Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology - Golden Jubilee
Swiss National Committee to IUFoST
PROF. FELIX ESCHE

On March 28, 1952, a small group of graduates of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) gathered in Zurich to lay the foundation of what is now the Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology (SGLWT - Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft und Technologie). They had all passed their education in a curriculum of Food Technology, which had been newly established in 1946 at the College of Agriculture at ETH. At that time the curriculum was called Agrotechnology, and accordingly the alumni organization was called Agrotechnology Association. At the beginning of its activities, the association had a club-like atmosphere as the number of graduates remained small for quite some time. The goal of the alumni was to promote exchange of professional experience by regularly editing a newsletter, and later by organizing extension courses. The association also participated actively in further developing the curriculum of food science and technology at ETH Zurich. An annual general assembly was always combined with a visit to one of the Swiss food companies, a tradition that has been carried until today.

In the late 1960s several developments led to the transition of the Agrotechnology Association into a professional society to which food specialists other than the alumni of the agrotechnology curriculum were also welcome. It was felt that Switzerland needed a society that would represent the scientific and technological issues of food processing in a larger context. Also, the Forster Publishing Co. Zurich was looking for a group that would support the international scientific journal lwt Lebensmittelwissenschaft und Technologie - Food Science and Technology. Forster Publishing started lwt in 1968 on the initiative of a group of food scientists at ETH Zurich, at the Technical University of Karlsruhe and at the Federal Research Institute for Food Preservation (now Nutrition) in Karlsruhe, Germany. Finally, exploration started on the potential for Switzerland to join the newly founded IUFoST.

These were reasons enough to open up the Agrotechnology Association in 1970 and, in 1971, to give it its present name and its present abbreviation SGLWT. Membership and activities expanded as expected. In 1977 membership was up to 236, still small for international standards, but reasonable and relevant for a small country like Switzerland. Therefore, there was no hesitation to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the society with a two-day event in the area of Neuchâtel. In 1992 the membership passed the 500 limit, and by last spring, somewhat more than 800 members were registered. The 50th anniversary of SGLWT was celebrated on May 16 and 17 of this year again in the area of Neuchâtel. In fact, the evening program and the banquet took place in the very same castle as 25 years ago. And the celebrations even coincided with the start of expo.02, the Swiss National Exhibition, which is taking place this summer at the shores of Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Morat.

When SGLWT received its new statute and name in 1991, lwt became the official publication, and a fruitful cooperation between Forster Publishing and SGLWT started. lwt was complemented in 1973 by LT - Lebensmitteltechnologie, a journal which is mostly written in German, oriented more towards practical food technology, and now circulated as the second official publication of SGLWT. In 1986 SGLWT had the opportunity to acquire the propriety rights for lwt from Forster Publisher. In this transfer Academic Press, now an imprint of Elsevier Science Ltd., became publisher and producer of the journal on behalf of the society. This was a fortunate arrangement, and collaboration between the two parties has been of mutual benefit. The journal LT is still published in Switzerland by a local publishing house.

As for the membership of Switzerland in IUFoST, a Swiss National Committee to IUFoST was founded in 1972, and in 1973 Switzerland officially joined IUFoST. SGLWT had a leading role in the committee right from the beginning. Through the committee, stimulating contacts were built between IUFoST and SGLWT. Several members of SGLWT served to IUFoST, be it on the Executive Committee or in working groups. SGLWT and the national IUFoST committee organized two well-received international scientific IUFoST symposia, on in Einsiedeln in 1979 on "The Role of Food Components in Food Acceptance", the other in Zurich in 1987 on "Food Acceptance and Nutrition". And finally, negotiations between IUFoST, SGLWT and Academic Press succeeded in the nineties to declare lwt as one of the official publications of IUFoST.

On the occasion of the 1st International Symposium on Food Rheology and Structure, the Swiss National Committee to IUFoST hosted the annual Officers' meeting of IUFoST and celebrated its 25th Anniversary. At present, the committee represents four national societies active in food science and technology and nutrition with a total of approx. 2,300 members, i.e. SGLWT, Swiss Society for Food Hygiene, Swiss Society of Food and Environmental Chemistry, and Swiss Society for Nutrition Research.

Of course, SGLWT has established not only relationships with the world community of food science and technology through IUFoST, but also with its German speaking neighbor associations in Austria and Germany. So far, several successful advanced study courses were organized together.

By all these international contacts, SGLWT has opened up in a favorable way without losing the perspectives of its development in Switzerland. Since one year ago, it is member of the Swiss Food Net, an new organization that tries to reach all public and private partners interested in issues of food research and development. One is tempted to say that SGLWT, in getting ready for the next 50 years, wisely follows the slogan of the new millennium "Think globally, act locally".

Felix Escher, a member of SGLWT since 1967, is an IUFoST delegate and former member of the IUFoST Executive Committee and Chair of the IUFoST Finance Committee.