Food Science and Humanitarianism

Alex Buchanan is a food scientist who has developed such products as infant foods and high-protein biscuits for use in developing countries and disaster relief. He is a former executive director of the Crawford Fund, a division of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering that promotes technological expertise and agricultural research to increase sustainable global food production. For over a decade he managed food research projects for the ASEAN-Australia Economic Corporation. Buchanan was named a member of the Order of Australia for his research supporting aid programs in the South East Asia region, and is the 2008-09 recipient of the Rotary Foundation Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award. He earned his MS from Iowa State in dairy bacteriology and agricultural economics and a PhD in biochemistry at the University of London. He is currently a consultant editor at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.