Edible Oils: Looking Back Thinking Forward

Dear Colleagues,

The Australasian section of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AAOCS) held their 9^th biennial meeting in Geelong, Australia from 9 to 11 September, 2015, in collaboration with the Omega 3 Centre. Over 100 scientists, researchers, and industry representatives gathered for the conference and two industry focused workshops. The conference theme was “looking back, thinking forward”, which reflected on the history of the science and industry, while also predicting future trends and issues. Two pre-conference workshops were held on spreads and margarine formulation, and infant formula lipids. The AAOCS Award for Scientific Excellence in Lipid Research was awarded to Prof. Andrew Sinclair. Prof. Sinclair is an Emeritus Professor of Nutrition Science within the School of Medicine at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia. He has been a significant contributor to the AOCS and the AAOCS since 1995, as a chairperson, committee member, and as an editorial board member. The opening address was given by Prof. Thomas Sanders from King’s College, London, on dietary fat in relation to cardiovascular health. This kicked off a very interesting session on the role of omega-3 LCPUFA and other dietary fats in heart health. Dr. Peter Nichols from CSIRO talked about long-chain omega-3 oils: sources, ingredient quality and methods of analysis particularly in the wake of a recent controversial publication. Dr. Nichols showed that in follow up work on Australian and NZ oil supplements by different organisations, retesting of marine oil products gave satisfactory results for all products in relation to PV and content of omega-3 fatty acids, in contradiction to the previous report. A hot topic session on olive oil was a highlight of the conference. The continuing issues with adulteration of virgin olive oils, global challenges and opportunities, quality, standards, nutrition and processing were all covered in a series of keynote presentations. A goal of the Australasian section of AOCS is helping to develop future researchers and industry leaders. We had a number of student oral and poster presentations, which were of very high quality. Tim Walsh from Deakin University and Courtney Davis from University of South Australia shared the Bryce Bell student prize for best oral communication. The Rod Mailer student poster prize was awarded to Jessica Learey from Deakin University.

This Special Issue is a selection of presentation from the aforementioned conference.

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