On June 4, DeepFoodTech 2024 guests witnessed the birth of a new industry, learned about the latest developments in the food industry, and tasted the future.

EFKO and Rusbase facilitated the third international conference on contemporary technologies changing the global food industry. Scientists, entrepreneurs, state representatives, international experts, technologists, and investors – in three years, DeepFoodTech has become a recognized event in the food innovation segment.

As far back as around 400 BC Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." The expression of the ancient scholar contains a deep wisdom we have dedicated to the third DeepFoodTech.

Obesity, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, autoimmune diseases – the numbers are increasing yearly. According to experts, by 2030 every tenth person on the planet will have diabetes mellitus. The main reason is food.

In his report Vadim Govorun, the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shared how people's eating habits have changed over time and how important it is to listen to your body.

Vadim Govorun,
Director of the Research Institute of Systems Biology and Medicine of Rospotrebnadzor, Doctor of Biology, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences

"As recently as 50 years ago, food was in short supply in almost every country. Civilization has removed all restrictions. Food has become an industrialized product. As a consequence, in addition to nutrients, other ingredients have been included: for preservation, flavor enhancement, and so on. Our physiology is arranged in such a way that we are adapted to starve, but we have no limiting mechanisms. As a result, overeating displaced malnutrition. We treat food as entertainment, a source of emotion. Our habits and stereotypes play a huge role – it's important to realize not what we're used to, but what we want.

In addition to ourselves, we listen to our friends and communities, watch TV, and read Telegram posts – everywhere they tell us something, including about food. A network of statistical statements is created that directly influence our consciousness and behavior. The foundation of health is the balance between the inner voice and what we hear from the outside.

Health is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not just the absence of disease and physical defects. Therefore, to achieve health, you should be in harmony with yourself and the outside world."

MSU professor Vyacheslav Dubynin spoke about the connection between the brain, food, and emotions.

Vyacheslav Dubynin,
neurophysiologist, Doctor of Biology, and Professor of Biology Faculty at MSU named after M.V. Lomonosov

"Food is the most reliable and accessible source of positive emotions. Our gustation system is a chemical laboratory. It performs a crude analysis of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates from food. Each of the components pleases us. The saying "appetite comes while eating" is explained by the stimulation of emotional centers in the brain: you ate one candy, the second one – and did not notice how you ate the whole pack. The frontal cortex conflicts with the posterior parietal lobe over the "legitimacy" of choices. The former insists on getting pleasure here and now, while the latter considers the consequences of the choice and its benefits. We can reprogram ourselves from this zone to get pleasure not from sweet things, but, for example, healthy things."

Speakers addressed genetics and personalization of nutrition, the microbiome and its impact on cognitive ability, climate- and culture-specific food fortification, and neuro-nutrition and brain health.

At the end of the event, Mr. Sergey Ivanov, Executive Director at EFKO, announced the long-awaited certification of sweet protein in the Eurasian Economic Unionref. The conference participants were among the first to taste chocolate candies containing an innovative sweetener.

Aleksandr Makarov,
Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology named after V. А. Engelhardt

"EFKO is a good example of how to use what exists in academic science and universities appropriately. A specific task is set, and performers are sought, funded, and audited almost every month. Everyone knows that scientists want to work in an applied field, but we are usually told: "You shall do something, and if you do something good, someone will come and pick it up. But this model is quite difficult because finding a big company that's willing to pick up what you're doing is extremely rare. "EFKO approaches the issue differently. It organizes the process."

Andrey Fursenko,
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Science Foundation

"Congratulations to our colleagues. We love to talk about innovation. We could demonstrate something much rarer. I want to thank EFKO. Today we mentioned the Russian Science Foundation, and EFKO has just entered a pilot project where each party has assumed a certain system of responsibility, and, by all accounts, things are going well so far. But it's not easy. Because scientists, too, are sometimes suspicious and skeptical of doing anything for practical application. Unfortunately, businesses are also suspicious and skeptical of collaboration with scientists. That's why specific examples of things working out are so important."

Videos of all DeepFoodTech 2024 reports will be gradually published on EFKO's YouTube channel.