News – Food Sustainability Group

The Food Sustainability Group is one of the campus’s Certified Sustainable Labs. Thanks to Seung Hyun for leading the efforts!

Ajinkya presented ‘Strategies to improve animal-sources food’ at the 2024 IPAC Fall meeting.
The Food Sustainability Group received funding support from the Department of Energy to explore the costs and environmental impacts of waste utilization pathways – integrated biogas upgrading and carbon capture and sequestration.

First group meeting this semester! And a big thank you to all my students for the wonderful birthday gifts!
Dr. Yang presented ‘Challenges and Opportunities of LCA in sustainable proteins’ at the Bright2Food EcoSystem session: From Farm to Fork, Exploring the Environmental Impact of Sustainable Protein Choices.
We are excited to collaborate with Alamance Foods on the food industry sustainability project.

Dr. Yang presented ‘LCA and cost analysis of non-thermal food technologies’ at CoFE.
Dr. Yang co-instructed the LCA/TEA pre-conference workshop at the 16th Conference of Food Engineering (CoFE) in Seattle.
Two new graduate students: Millena Cruz (Ph.D) and Seung Hyun Yoo (M.S.) joined the Food Sustainability Group. Welcome!
Dr. Yang presented ‘Advancing sustainability in dairy industry’ at the 2024 Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center (SDFRC) annual meeting.

The Food Sustainability Group received funding support from the USDA NIFA to perform the life-cycle sustainability assessment of alternative proteins.
Robert presented his findings on food loss and waste at IFT FIRST 2024 and received great feedback!
We attended IFT FIRST 2024 in Chicago and had a great time!

In collaboration with UC Berkeley and UC Davis, our new paper on plant-based food has been published in Nature Food, check out here.
In the news: Sustainable Agri-Food Technology Summit Gathers a Variety of Voices

Congratulations to Ajinkya for winning the ‘People’s Choice’ poster award at the SAFTS!
The Sustainable Agri-Food Technology Summit (SAFTS) has brought a passionate group of participants to advancing sustainability in agri-food systems. The workshop featured a series of insightful presentations and discussions on diverse topics around emerging agri-food techs.
The Food Sustainability Group was funded by the Center of Advanced Processing and Packaging Studies (CAPPS) to perform a comparative sustainability analysis of food waste valorization pathways.

Ajinkya was awarded the 2024 FBNS Graduate Scholarship – Robert H. Hartman Graduate Endowment. Congratulations, Ajinkya!
Robert and Ajinkya presented the LCA/TEA projects to the IPAC members and received great feedback. Way to go!
Dr. Yang presented ‘Sustainability assessment of food systems’ at the Industry Partners Advisory Council (IPAC) meeting.
Register by April 30th for the Sustainable Agri-Food Technology Summit (SAFTS) and secure your spot! We are also calling on students and postdocs at NC State to showcase your great work! More details can be found: go.ncsu.edu/safts

Registration is open for the Sustainable Agri-Food Technology Summit (SAFTS)! We aim to bring together scientists, industry experts, advocates, and policymakers to explore diverse perspectives on sustainability, share real-world innovations, and identify collaborative opportunities for the future!

Ajinkya Atkare joined the Food Sustainability Group as an MS student. Welcome aboard, Ajinkya!

The Food Sustainability Group received funding support to explore the environmental impacts of animal-sourced food via nutrition-based LCA (nLCA).

Call for papers: Advance in Bioprocessing Design for Platform Chemicals and Biofuels Innovations in Frontiers in Industrial Microbiology. We welcome research topics in bioprocessing design, biomass valorization, and novel process modeling. Submission deadline: March 31st, 2024.
The Food Sustainability Group presented the poster entitled ‘Life-cycle assessment (LCA) and cost analysis among non-thermal food technologies‘ at the 2023 IFT-EFFoST International Nonthermal Processing Workshop in Minneapolis.
Dr. Yang presented ‘LCA and TEA in food processing’ at the University of Idaho (virtual seminar).

Dr. Yang presented in the Food and Climate session at the KIETS Climate Leaders Program Fall Symposium.
Check our new paper entitled ‘Plant-based production of diverse human milk oligosaccharides‘ on bioRxiv. Our group analyzed the cost feasibility of producing diverse human milk oligosaccharides from model plants.

Robert Wine joined the Food Sustainability Group as an MS student. Welcome aboard, Robert!

The Food Sustainability Group attended IFT FIRST 2023 in Chicago.
Dr. Yang presented ‘Comparing in planta accumulation with microbial routes to set targets for a cost-competitive bioeconomy’ on 2023 ASABE Circular Bioeconomy System (CBS) day.

The Food Sustainability Group attended the 30th International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology – ISSST 2023.

Dr. Yang was invited as the panelist on the NC Biotech Animal Health & Nutrition Sustainability Panel.

Dr. Yang gave a guest lecture on ‘Technoeconomic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) of bioprocessing’ at the Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dr. Yang presented at the CALS Emerging Research Showcase on ‘Long-term carbon sequestration‘. Watch the event recording here.