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Information on our speakers
Tuesday June 16th
Optional Pre-Conference Functional Food Tour
Your unique opportunity to participate in a full-day bus tour
that will visit processors and producers, focusing on the production and development
of functional foods. Facilitated/guided tour by
coach bus. Participants will see:
- A state of the art commercial feed mill manufacturing functional feeds for livestock
- A dairy farm producing functional milk
(DHA enriched) - An integrated operation producing and selling functional plant products and developing functional fowl (goose, duck)
- A pork producer and a fresh market retailer; an example of a functional pork value chain
- A diversified family farm featuring locally produced fruits, vegetables, meats and agri-tourism using product traceability
- Some of Ontario's finest rural scenery in Perth and Middlesex Counties
All Day Tour: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm departing the Food meets Function
conference hotel, Best Western Lamplighter Inn and Conference Centre. Includes
boxed lunch.
Wednesday June 17th
8:00 am Registration Opens
8:45 am Welcome Dr. John Kelly, Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
9:00 am Plenary Speakers
-
Dr. Ariel Fenster, Office for Science and Society, McGill University. Food or Pills for Your Nutritional Needs.
Speaker Profile -
Dr. Linda Tapsell, Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Functional Foods in Australia's Food: Vehicle for Public Health. Speaker Profile
-
Derek Nighbor, Food and Consumer Products of Canada. The Grocery Store Experience in 5 years: Health and Consumers' Shopping Patterns.
1:15 pm Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Session 1: Functional Foods for Dietitians. Chair Dr.
Judy Sheeshka-University of Guelph. Featuring: Liz Pearson, Registered Dietitian,
Pearson Institute of Nutrition; Dr. Gregor Reid-University of Western Ontario;
Dr. Bill Bettger-University of Guelph; Dr. John Cranfield-University of Guelph;
Dr. Bruce Holub-University of Guelph; Dr. Ronan Power-Alltech.
Breakout Session Speaker Profiles
Session 2: Creating Enhanced Products - Feeds and Formulas! Featuring: Dr. Martin Clunies-Grand Valley Fortifiers; Dr. Priya Mir-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Jennifer Elliot-Monsanto; Dr. Tom Wright-Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Breakout Session Speaker Profiles
Session 3: Successes in Retail and Processing When Food
meets Function. Featuring: Paul Hill-Willowgrove Hill; Iswar Saxena and Joe
Lanzino-Silani Omega 3 Cheese; Katie Wilman-River's Edge
Goat Dairy; Susan Ann Williams-Danone; Julie Arora-Mom's Healthy Secrets; Leanne
Cooley-Gray Ridge Egg Farms.
Breakout Session Speaker Profiles
6:00 pm Evening Banquet: A Feast of Functional Foods
featuring noted author and broadcaster, Anita Stewart.
Speaker Profile
Thursday June 18th
7:30 am Sponsored Breakfast
8:30 am Concurrent
Breakout Sessions
Session 1: Marketing Health Through our Food - Lessons for Success. Featuring:
Cristine Medford/Kent Cunnington-Farm Credit Corporation; Christian Garbe-Frankfurt
Biotechnology Innovation Centre; Kelley Fitzpatrick-Flax Council and Sharon
Rainey-Cohn & Wolfe. Breakout Session Speaker Profiles
Session 2: Top 5 Emerging Ideas in Functional Food. Featuring: Bill Bettger-University of Guelph; Jennifer Elliot-Monsanto; Steve Elliot-Alltech. .Breakout Session Speaker Profiles
10:30 pm Closing Plenary
Chair: Dr. John Kelly, Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
- Dr. Linda Tapsell, Professor of Human Nutrition at
the University of Wollongong, Australia, Making a Food for Health Policy Work
in Canada. Speaker Profile
- Dr. Al Mussell, Senior Research Associate at the George
Morris Centre. From Bench to Mainstream: A Strategic Approach to Move Functional
Foods Forward.
Speaker Profile
- Claire Cronier, Senior Director, Food and Health, Marketing Solutions and Corporate Strategies, Enzyme Canada. Speaker Profile
12:30 pm Lunch and Departure
1:00 pm Optional Post-Conference Networking Session
Interested in a chance to meet one-on-one with retailers, processors and marketers involved in functional foods? A facilitated networking opportunity will take place immediately following the conference. There is no added cost, but space is limited. If you plan to attend check yes on the registration form.
Tradeshow open throughout conference.
Program subject to change.
Speaker Profiles:
Dr. Ariel Fenster 
Dr. Fenster teaches at McGill University, where he is a founding member of the Office for Science and Society, an organization dedicated to disseminating up-to-date information in the areas of food, food issues, medications, and the environment and health topics in general. Dr. Fenster is well known as an outstanding communicator and an exceptional promoter of science with an extensive program, developed over three decades. In that period he has given well over 700 public presentations in English and in French across North America and Overseas. He appears regularly on TV and radio to discuss health, environmental and technology issues and has presented numerous science segments for children's television. His contributions to teaching, and to the popularization of science, have been recognized by numerous awards.
Anita Stewart 
Anita Stewart, M.A (Gastronomy), P.Ag (Hon) is the first Canadian to earn a Master of Arts in Gastronomy from The University of Adelaide in South Australia & Le Cordon Bleu (Paris). She is the first culinary journalist to be given a lifetime membership as a Professional Agrologist by the Ontario Institute of Agrologists for her “outstanding contribution to Ontario agriculture.” As a culinary adventurer she has been holding up a mirror to Canada and its people for over 2 decades since the publication of her first book in 1984. Her skills in research and in recipe development have enabled her to publish 14 books. Her most recent, Anita Stewart's CANADA ~ The Food, The Recipes, The Stories is a pan-Canadian odyssey tracing the history of our major ingredients while peeking into dozens of multi-ethnic home kitchens and hit the Globe and Mail's Best Seller List. Two of the recipes in that book were awarded The Toronto Star's Golden Whisk Award in both 2008 and again in 2009 for being among the top ten in their respective years. Anita began a broadcasting career with a summer series on Ontario Morning in 1999 which continued into a long association with Fresh Air, a weekend programme with an audience reach across the Province on Saturday and Sunday mornings of 350,000. For more information visit her website
Dr. Linda Tapsell 
Dr. Tapsell is a professor of human nutrition at the University of Wollongong and a Director of the Smart Food Centre in Australia. The University of Wollongong is considered the National Centre of excellence in functional foods. Linda is a fellow of the Dietitians Association of Australia, Editor of Nutrition and Dietetics, the Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia including the New Zealand Dietetics Association and is on the editorial board of Nutrition Today. Professor Tapsell has worked extensively in establishing links between science, practice and the commercial environment. She is uniquely qualified to bring the Australian experience to Canada.
Claire Cronier 
Claire Cronier, MBA, MSc, RD is currently Senior Director, Food and Health Marketing Solutions & Corporate Strategies with Enzyme Inc. Established in 1998 Enzyme is Canada's leading food and health marketing agency with offices in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Helping clients achieve greater presence and recognition in the marketplace while having a positive impact on the well-being of the population is key to Enzyme's mandate. Originally from Ottawa, Claire's diverse experience in food and health spans across various organizations in various sectors including public health (Ottawa Health Department, CLSC de Hull), academia (University of Ottawa, Université de Moncton), government (Agriculture Canada) and the food industry (Canadian Egg Marketing Agency, Canadian Sugar Institute) as a practitioner, consultant, technical advisor, professor, director of communications and executive director. Recently, Claire completed an MBA from the Telfer School of Management after 25 years in practice as a Registered Dietitian and was selected to join the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honour Society. She obtained her MSc from l'Université Laval and her BSc from the University of Ottawa.Her focus now - turning great ideas into sustainable food and food related product or service innovations, by combining scientific evidence with strategic business choices and marketing decisions to achieve commercial success - in response to market demands for greater health and wellness.
Dr. Al Mussell 
Dr. Mussell, PhD, M.Sc. is a Senior Research Associate at the George
Morris Centre. His areas of research expertise are farm management, agricultural
marketing, and farm income policies. He also teaches finance and marketing to
participants in the Centre's executive development and agricultural management
programs. Prior to joining the George Morris Centre, Al worked as an economist
in the milk procurement division of Land O’Lakes, Inc. in Minnesota. Al holds
Bachelors and Masters Degrees in agricultural economics from the University of
Guelph, and a Doctorate in agricultural economics from the University of Minnesota,
where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
Breakout Session Speakers
Liz Pearson
Liz Pearson is a Registered Dietitian, an Award-Winning Speaker,
and a National, Bestselling Author. Liz runs The Pearson Institute of Nutrition.
The mission of the Institute is to translate the often-confusing and ever-changing
science of healthy eating into practical, commonsense advice that people can follow
in their busy lives. Liz is the author of three books. Liz's second book, “The
Ultimate Healthy Eating Plan (that still leaves room for chocolate!)” was
a National Bestseller and won a North American, Independent Publisher Book Award
for best book in the health/nutrition category. Liz’s newest book, “Ultimate
Foods for Ultimate Health, and don’t forget the chocolate!” is another
National Bestseller and just won the prestigious Gold Award from Cuisine Canada
which recognizes excellence in food writing and food recipes. Liz appears regularly
on radio and television. She did a weekly segment on CBC News World and has been
featured in newspapers and magazines across Canada. She was the “Ask the
Expert” nutrition columnist for Chatelaine magazine for almost seven years.
Liz is also a regular consultant to the food industry. Liz completed her nutrition
degree at Ryerson University and her dietetic internship at Toronto General Hospital.
Liz Pearson has a passion for peanut butter sandwiches and an undying love for
chocolate. She also loves to dance!
Julie Arora 
Julie Arora is the founder of Mom's Healthy Secrets®; an award winning, locally-based health food company. Julie began her career as a management consultant after graduating with a degree in Business and Religion. Although she had never considered a role as an innovator in the food industry, a passion for health and wellness led her to launch a line of healthy cereals.
Julie grew up in Oakville Ontario, and has always made healthy choices a big part of her life -mostly thanks to her Mom's positive influence. Her mom is the inspiration behind Mom's Healthy Secrets®. Realising that not everyone had the good fortune of being raised by a talented healthy chef like her mom Julie became interested in spreading her mom's healthy secrets to others. Following in her mother's footsteps Julie became a yoga instructor, and developed a stress management program based on training from the Mind Body Medical Institute at Harvard University. The program quickly became popular among corporate personnel and professional athletes. Julie introduced her Mom's original cereal recipes into the program which became an instant success as a delicious, nutritious breakfast. This influenced Julie to start up her business; bringing her mom's philosophy "your body is your vehicle, food is your fuel" through ready-to-eat foods to people across the country.
With the support of her family and friends, and invaluable help
from mentors along the way, Julie has personally built Mom's Healthy Secrets®
into a nationally distributed brand. She has been featured on CBC's Fortune
Hunters in 2008 and 2009, and been recognized as one of the Top 10 Innovators
of 2008 by Food in Canada magazine. Julie continues to be motivated by her belief
that people are becoming ill in part due to poor food choices and her ultimate
goal remains to provide Canadians with options according to her mom's standard
of true health.
Dr. Gregor Reid 
Dr. Reid is currently Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at University of Western Ontario, Director of the Canadian Research and Development Centre for Probiotics, and Assistant Director International at the Lawson Health Research Institute. In 2001-2002, he was appointed Chair of United Nations - World Health Organization Expert Panel and Working Group on Probiotics. In 2006, he was appointed President of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics.
Dr. Priya Mir
Dr. Priya Mir, is a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Her current projects include CLA and unsaturated fatty acid enriched and low cholesterol meat and milk product development; CLA enriched meat and milk product development and whole body bio-impedance in beef cattle as a predictor of carcass lean meat.Jennifer Elliot
Jennifer Elliot is a Regulatory Affairs Manager for Monsanto Canada Inc. She manages the food quality traits portfolio and is responsible for gaining regulatory approvals of novel foods, feeds and plants with novel traits. She works collaboratively with industry associations on food and biotechnology policy issues and is leading Canadian scientific and industry outreach for nutritionally improved oils. Jennifer received her B.Sc. (Honours) and M.Sc. in Nutritional and Nutraceutical Science from the University of Guelph.
Dr. Bruce Holub 
Dr. Holub is Professor Emeritus with the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph. His research program is focused on dietary Omega-3 fatty acids from fish/fish oils, plant oils, and resulting nutraceuticals plus functional foods for human health and the prevention/management of cardiovascular disease and other chronic disorders.
Sharon Rainey 
Sharon Rainey is a Senior Vice President at Cohn & Wolfe Toronto, which she joined in January 2007 after merging her firm Courtney Rainey Group with the Canadian operations of Cohn & Wolfe. With over 20 years experience in agency, corporate and not-for-profit public relations, both internationally and in Canada, Sharon has provided strategic communications counsel for a variety of leading agribusiness, pharmaceutical and food manufacturers and associations including, Syngenta Crop Protection Canada, Inc., Unilever Canada, Schering Plough, AstraZeneca and Food and Consumer Products of Canada. Her areas of expertise include food/nutrition, healthcare, and marketing communications, as well as stakeholder relations, event and issues management. Sharon graduated from Laval University in Quebec City with a BA in political science, communications and public relations.