USSEC was among the sponsors at the first Asian World of Healthy Flavor conference, organized by the Culinary Institute of American (CIA) and Harvard School of Public Health (SPH). Collaborating in the event was the Singapore Health Promotion Board and the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
This is the first time that the event was held outside of the U.S. and will be the first in a series to be conducted in Asia. As part of the U.S. FAS/Cooperators’ support for the three-day event in Singapore, USSEC participated through a soy food display and sampling at the exhibitors forum.
The invitation-only event attracted participation of eminent scientists from both Harvard and Singapore schools of public health led by Prof. Walter Willet and Prof. Chia Kee Seng respectively, and leading chefs from the CIA and its Singapore Campus. Others in the audience included opinion leaders and trendsetters in various sectors of Singapore's food service and hospitality industries as well as select leaders in the country's medical, healthcare and public health community. The Guest of Honor was Dr. Amy Khor, Minister of State for Health and Manpower in Singapore.
The conference aimed to engage and educate leaders in the culinary, fine dining and mass catering personnel on the importance of promoting healthy recipes in line with the public health needs of the country. Although Harvard’s SPH is famed for developing and promoting the Mediterranean Diet in the U.S. and Europe, the consensus reached from the conference noted that Asia would need to find its own dietary niche to promote to chefs and health promoters, with the involvement of multidisciplinary professionals in the food and health sectors.
CIA has been a leader in promoting healthy food ingredients such as soy and soy oil in the U.S. and the institute hopes to continue working with USSEC in joint efforts in Asia.   Feedback also indicated that USSEC should continue to work with the group in the future to provide more extensive guidance in the conference's content.
Other sponsors were American Pistachio Growers, American Soybeans Association International Marketing, the California Table Grape Commission, Colavita, Kikkoman, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Raisin Administrative Committee, Unilever Food Solutions, and USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.