Dear Members, 

As you know, SAAFoST is organising the first-for-Africa IUFoST world Congress being held from 22 to 26 August 2010 in Cape Town. The congress theme is,"Food Science Solutions in an Evolving World" and the venue is the International Convention Centre. You are invited  - both to attend and to assist!

Because this is a global event and of great importance to the country, the continent, ourselves and the Association, SAAFoST would like to involve every SAAFoST Member in the campaign to ensure that it is a runaway success. The scientific programme, with guest speakers such as Sir David King, former Scientific Adviser to the British Government, will be second to none. The social programme, including the historically significant SAAFoST 50th Anniversary Banquet, will be unique. Factory and wineland visits and tours will also be exciting and memorable. The Exhibition will surely be the grandest of its kind ever seen in South Africa and Africa as a whole. You have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of the action, the fun and the success of South Africa's world food science and technology congress.

Here's what you can do

:i) Be there! Start planning and budgeting now, for yourself and for your colleagues. If there was ever an event that every SAAFoST member should be present at, this would surely have to be it! Let's try for 2010 SAAFoST Members in Cape Town in 2010!  International events are expensive but SAAFoST will be addressing this issue by offering hugely preferential rates to members. Under the probable economic climate, other cost limiting measures are likely to be necessary so use your ingenuity to meet whatever budget you have to make do with  - by taking low cost flights, sharing transport, using public transport, sharing accommodation or staying with friends. All of this is preferable to missing this stupendous food science milestone. An estimate of the cost of registration will be circulated in due course but ultimately, it will depend on the number of delegates, exhibitors and sponsors that collectively, we can attract

.ii) Invite fellow professionals. Once you have printed out the attached invitation and pasted it in a place where you will see it every day, mail it to local and overseas fellow professionals, colleagues, suppliers and clients. Make sure that they all know about it and that we welcome them, with traditional SA hospitality, to Cape Town next year. Because SAAFoST is your Association, send them personal invitations if you'd like to. Non-SAAFoST members wanting to be kept up to date with congress mail and announcements, can be placed on the Congress mailing list by registering their interest via the official Congress website: www.iufost2010.org.za or by e-mailing a request to: info@iufost2010.org.za or by faxing a request to: 031-368 6623  - better still, do it for them! The Congress website will always have up-to-date information on the Congress plus downloadable forms and announcements  - it is well worth a visit.

iii) Promote the 2010 Exhibition and participate in it. There will be no other official SAAFoST exhibitions or SAAFoST sanctioned exhibitions leading up to August next year so avoid all other temptations and prepare for the big one by securing early, the best site in the exhibition hall to showcase your product or service for Africa and the world to see. NEPAD and the Regional office of the International Council for Science (ICSU) who, between them have excellent contacts in every country in Africa, feel confident of being able to attract 25% of the 2010 congress delegates from the countries to the north of us. IUFoST, the global voice of food science and technology, has sixty nation state members, all of whom will be interested in 2010 and regularly updated. SAAFoST is affiliated to the IFST in the UK and to the IFT in the USA and also has very good contacts with the AIFST in Australia. The Brazilians will be in Cape Town looking for ideas for their congress in 2012 and the Chinese, our hosts last year in Shanghai, will be here to compare notes.The business prospects of this gathering of nations are intriguing. You have a year and a half to develop new products and services and to strategise. Exhibition information will be appearing on the Congress website soon and will also be circulated to all members in due course. Put the information to work asap by sending it out to every possible exhibitor that comes to mind. If you are understandably impatient to know more about the 2010 Exhibition, contact the organiser, Upward Spiral, and talk to Sue Gannon on: 082 891 9918. Alternatively, call Rosie Maguire on 082 443 6303.

iv) Be a sponsor or help to find Congress sponsors. Don't let your company be unnoticed and unrewarded at the food science and technology event of the century! A sponsorship opportunities document will be forwarded to you within a few days, it will ensure that you secure the exposure, attention and interest that you deserve, want, expect and have been waiting for. Important sponsorship points to note are that:

i) the sooner your company sponsors, the more exposure it will enjoy,

ii) early sponsorship means more sponsorship options to choose from,

iii) a "development" category of sponsorship is available for corporate social responsibility or educational support programmes which can contribute towards BEE scorecards,

iv) sponsorship proposals customised to your specific company requirements are welcome and

v) if you'd like someone to talk to you about sponsorship or visit you to discuss it, just snap your e-mail or dialing fingers and contact: a) Morongwa Themba, tel: (021) 590 5800, e-mail: morongwa.themba@za.nampak.com or b) Nigel Sunley, tel: 011-467 3108, e-mail: nigel@sunleyconsulting.co.za  A list of sponsors to date appears below under, "World Congress Notes".

v) Deliver a paper or poster. Here's your chance to share your knowledge or research results with an international audience  - you have 18 months to prepare! Equally important is to draw up a list of the finest food science and technology specialists that you have come across and make certain that they receive the call for papers that will be e-mailed to all Members in June 2009.

vi) Don't go missing! Situations, addresses and contact numbers are constantly changing. Please keep us abreast of any changes, make sure that membership fees have been paid and remind colleagues on the move to do the same please. Contacts: Irene Burke, Membership Development Officer, tel: 012 349 2788 or Cindy Huyser, SAAFoST Secretariat, tel: 031 368 8000. 

vii) And finally. If you speak a foreign language and would not mind being "tagged", please let me know. You could be a great help during the Congress in making visitors feel at home, helping them with language problems and assisting with networking. All languages are of interest!

Look out for mail and updates bearing the 15th IUFoST World Congress logo shown below and feel free to contact me on absolutely any matter relating to Cape Town 2010. With all SAAFoST members enthusiastically doing their bit and pulling together, this event is going to be a blockbuster and a phenomenal success for members, delegates, presenters, sponsors and exhibitors. Who can possibly afford to miss it?

Owen Frisby
SAAFoST Executive Director

www.saafost.org.za
www.foodfacts.org.za
www.iufost2010.org.za