The Graduate School of Biosphere Science organized the 8th International Symposium on Food and Environment on 13 November, 2015. The symposium was co-hosted by the Research Center for Animal Science and the Research Center for Japanese Foods, Hiroshima University. The focus of the symposium this year was “Sustainable Safe Food Production”.



Previous to the international symposium, the formal announcement and exchange of MOU documents took place between the Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University and the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada.

At the opening, Professor Kazumasa Uematsu, Dean of the Graduate School, delivered his welcome message.

This year, speakers were invited from sister universities of Hiroshima University such as University of Alberta (Canada) and Kasetsart University (Thailand).



The topics and speakers in Part 1 were “A novel approach to mitigate methane emission from ruminants” presented by Dr. Masahito Oba (University of Alberta) and “Pre-Columbian horticultural practices of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas” presented by Dr. Noreen Willows (University of Alberta).

In Part 2, Dr. Masubon Thongngam (Kasetsart University) presented “Roles of gluten in food system and development of gluten free products”, while Dr. Taketo Obitsu (Hiroshima University) presented “Evaluation and utilization of rice as alternative feeds for cattle”.

Living in a sustainable world today presents an urgent and tremendous challenge for humans in their effort to provide safe and secure food supplies to feed the rapidly growing global population. Foods have supported the survival of humankind in the form of crops, farmed livestock as well as products of aquaculture and marine natural resources. However, traditional crops in each region are threatened with extreme weather changes, global warming and environmental pollution in recent years with desertification and pollution of farmlands and coastal areas becoming common around the world. We are confronted with questions on how to achieve sustainable and eco-friendly food production targets to protect human health. This symposium presented current situations and issues as well as future prospects of sustainable and safe food production.



At the symposium, an active discussion on the current state of healthy food production in Canada, Thailand and Japan followed with sharing of ideas from each country. About one hundred participants composed of students and university staffs enjoyed the discussion on this important issue.

During the break time, three studies supported by the 2014 Grant-in-Aid for Research from the Graduate School of Biosphere Science were reported.