An Indian-origin young scientist, Kirtiraj Kundlik Gaikwad has been awarded the prestigious IAFP Young Scientist scholarship award worth $2000 and award plaque for his work on ‘development of novel oxygen absorbing package in the field of active packaging for oxygen sensitive food products’.

Gaikwad was presented the award in the annual meeting of International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) in St. Louise, USA by the IAFP foundation, USA focused to encourage young outstanding food safety scientist from all around the globe.

The young scientist, Gaikwad, who is associated with Department of Packaging, developed novel oxygen scavenging package from the natural source. The feature of this package is it can extend the shelf life of food as well. It is also suitable for microwave, liquid food packaging such as juices. Additionally it is also metal detector friendly at processing line.

Kirtiraj, who have received his MS in Packaging from Michigan State University in USA in 2013, is a MTech (Food Safety and Standards) holder from Allahabad Agriculture University, India in 2011. Gaikwad, who has written and co-authored 15 research papers in reputed international journals, received his BTech in Food Science at Dr. PD Agriculture University, India in 2009.

By Prajakt K.