The Deputy Minister of Research of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology together with the Director General of the Policy and Planning Office of the same Ministry visited the Research Institute of Food Science and Technology, the laboratories and an exhibition displaying RIFST’s products.
During this visit, Dr. Salehi had a meeting with Prof. Ghadir Rajabzadeh and other RIFST’s directors in which they exchanged their opinions. The President of RIFST, while presenting a report on the performance and achievements of this institute said: "Identifying national challenges in food safety and security and presenting exit strategies using the existing potentials, as well as meeting the research and innovative needs of the country's food industry are the main focuses of the this Institute."
He continued "Signing research and technological contracts with 251 domestic industrial companies in the field of food and 13 research contracts with universities and research centers abroad in the last three years, establishing the permanent secretariat of National Network for Research and Technology of Food Science and Technology, compiling the National Food Security Document and compiling the general framework of the national saffron development document have been among the most important measures taken by the Research Institute of Food Science and Technology."
He pointed to the implementation of the global market studies project of gums and vegetable juices and the development of their roadmap and stated “Considering that in 2020, for the first time in the last 10 years, the country's trade balance in the field of vegetable gums and juices became negative, the main approaches in formulating this roadmap have been to reduce dependence on gums and to create export infrastructures and technology development with the aim of increasing production and improving productivity.
Prof. Rajebzadeh also said that in the "National Biotechnology Labor Division", a project developed by Biotechnology Development Council, the production of antibacterial packaging based on recombinant strains capable of producing bacteriocin as an alternative to synthetic preservatives and optimizing the production of synbiotics lactic based on local dairy products, designing engineered lactic starter with industrial applicability are the responsibilities of this Institute which are underway.
Following this visit, "Dr. Peyman Salehi", Deputy Minister of Research of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, said “Networking in order to properly use the existing capacities, equipment and capabilities in the country will be one of the priorities of the Deputy Minister of Research.
He positively assessed the achievements of the Research Institute of Food Science and Technology "Considering the platforms made as well as the valuable scientific and technological achievements in the Institute, the commercialization of the achievements should be considered more than before in order to generate a stable income for the institute."