USSEC Technical Director – India Dr. Ratan Sharma was recently honored at the 4^th international soy food conference, held in Bhopal, India.  At “Soy Foods - Opportunities for Growth and Development,” Dr. Sharma received an award from the Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association (SFPWA) of India that recognized his help and support in promoting the soy food industry in India.
Dr. Sharma stated, “I am proud to be associated with USSEC, a world class soy organization with a very dynamic leading team,” and talked about why he chose to pursue soy foods as his career, discussing some of the motivations, challenges and high points of his career.
Dr. Sharma dedicated this honor to his father’s former school principal and his grandfather, both of whom influenced him to enter the field of soy foods.  He recounted that the principal had been involved with Mahatma Gandhi’s soy product development mission.  Gandhi felt that popularizing soy foods in India would require more technological innovations and interventions, and the principal recommended this field to Dr. Sharma.
He was also influenced by his grandfather’s book on soy, where his grandfather would try various recipes mentioned in the book and allowed his grandchildren to taste them.  Dr. Sharma remembers, “When I started with soy as my career, it was not a new subject to me.  I learned its physics and chemistry but had already experienced its functional qualities.  My grandfather tasted the products which I developed during my Ph.D. research and he also applied his experience to help me develop a better product which my Ph.D. Supervisor hadn’t thought of.”
Dr. Sharma also detailed how he influenced and helped a young engineer to start his own soy food business, which is now one of India’s top soy food ventures, Chetran Foods.
USSEC congratulates Dr. Sharma on this tribute.