Fil-Am food safety guru to get IFT award
Sydney-Australia
March 17, 2021
Dr Aurora A. Saulo, eminent Filipino-American food safety expert, will receive the prestigious Myron Solberg Award of the Institute of Food Technologists in July in what would be a deserving addition to her impressive achievements.
A Fellow of the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists, Dr Saulo was informed of her latest recognition in an email 8 March 2021 from IFT president, Dr Noel Anderson.
“On behalf of IFT, I would like to personally congratulate you on being named the 2021 recipient of the Outstanding Partnership Award in honor of Myron Solberg. Your continued accomplishments, leadership, and commitment in the three primary sectors of the profession are tremendous accomplishments,” Dr Anderson’s email said.
The Myron Solberg Award, presented every two years, recognises significant contributions and collaborations in at least two of the following organisations: industry, government, and academia.
“Academicians at the University of Hawaii typically work in the areas of instruction, research, and service/outreach. The public is familiar with university professors as teachers or as researchers. As a former Extension Specialist in Food Technology, I also worked with the food industry to assist them comply with regulations, help them improve their process or product, and address their other technical areas of concerns,” Dr Saulo said.
“Regarding regulations, I had to work closely with the government regulators so that the food industry understands their responsibility and expected outcomes,” Dr Saulo added.
The email cited Dr Saulo’s “work at United Brands, the University of Hawaii, and your efforts on the global certification of a Better Process Control School (BPCS) with the FDA”, which comply with the tripartite engagement the Award required.
“I was a Flavor Chemist then later, Food Processing Engineer for the R&D group of the United Brands Company. I developed their first all-natural banana essence,” Dr. Saulo said.
The Better Process Control School (BPCS) was established by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for operating supervisors of commercial food canning operations.
“When conducted in countries outside the USA (except for a very few countries that have theirs recognized by the US FDA), the BPCS did not have any formal structure. I worked with the US FDA for several years to have written specifications so that the BPCS taught in other countries, including the Philippines, would be recognized by the US FDA,” Dr Saulo said.
“It was critical that the US FDA was involved in the establishment of the course specifications because the certificate awarded upon successful completion of all course requirements is a demonstration of complying with the training requirement mandated for manufacturers of certain types of foods for those foods to enter the US marketplace. There were originally eleven specifications that included qualifications for any instructor of the BPCS and the FDA monitoring of the course.”
Professor Emerita and the Extension Specialist in Food Technology of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dr Saulo, earned her Ph.D. in Food Science (advanced research under Dr. Fergus Clydesdale) and MS Chemistry (Fulbright-Hays scholar), from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, cum laude, at the College of the Holy Spirit Manila.
A food science professor at Rutgers University, Dr. Myron Solberg (1930-2001) founded the Center for Advanced Food Technology in 1984.
Dr Saulo chaired the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at UH and served as Committee Clerk for Rep. David Morihara (D-HI) as Chair, Higher Education Committee.
Among Dr Saulo’s accolades include the CHS Alumna of the Year award, being listed among the University of Hawaii’s 90 Fabulous Faculty and the Who's Who of American Women, and in January 2021, received the Teresa’s Achievement Award for Science & Medicine from the St. Theresa’s College QC Alumnae Association.
Dr Saulo writes compelling articles on food science and technology issues.