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Food Sciences professional body appoints Prof Arno Hugo as Vice-Chair

19 October 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

Arno Hugo_web read more — Prof Arno Hugo was recently elected as Vice-Chair of the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) for Food Science in the SACNASP.

Prof Arno Hugo from the Department of Animal Science at the University of the Free State (UFS) was recently elected as Vice-Chair of the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) for Food Science in the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP).

SACNASP, similar to other professional bodies, is the registration, regulatory and enabling body for natural science professionals. The Natural Scientific Professions Act, 2003 (Act 27 of 2003) mandates SACNASP to register practising natural scientists in one of various fields of practice. Food science is one of 26 fields of practice gazetted for natural science.

Acknowledged as experienced professional

As Vice-Chair of the PAC, Prof Hugo – who is familiar with the processes – is acknowledged as an experienced professional to evaluate applications in this field of practice, where candidates apply for professional registration in Food Science.

He explains that the Advisory Committee ensures that candidates have adequate and relevant training in the natural sciences and in the field of food science. “For registration as professional natural scientist in this specific field, the appropriately qualified candidates must also have one to three years of working experience in the food industry, depending on the level of their food science qualification,” he says.

Prof Hugo is also involved in interviewing candidates who want to register as professional food scientists via the route of recognition of prior learning (RPL). “Candidates with relevant qualifications can also register as professional food scientists via RPL if they have 10 years of working experience in this field,” he states.

Furthermore, he also evaluates the qualifications and work experience of foreign nationals applying for critical skills visas to work as food scientists in South Africa, due to a shortage of food scientists in South Africa.

Food safety – a basic human right

According to Prof Hugo, consumers should not have to hope and trust that their food is safe to consume.

Food safety is internationally regarded as a basic human right. Prof Hugo says people must have access to clean (meaning safe) food and water at all times. “When food processing and preservation activities are performed at commercial level, or food – including processed food – is traded to consumers who have no control over the process, the consumers should not only ‘trust’ that their food is safe to be consumed after processing.

“There need to be processes in place to ensure that consumers are served safe food and water.”

He believes that in order to achieve this, only sufficiently trained and registered scientists should be responsible for ensuring that food safety and quality principles are always applied and adhered to during the manufacture of food products.

“Individuals who want to work in this space must therefore show training and competency to take responsibility for risks such as food spoilage or food poisoning. We all remember the 2018 outbreak of Listeria in the meat processing industry, which caused the death of 200 consumers,” he adds.

Importance of quality education and lifelong learning skills

Prof Hugo is of the opinion that it is very important that education and lifelong learning skills, through continuing professional development (CPD), are of a high standard and are available to scientists who are contributing to the country's growth, as well as social and economic development.

“The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology consults a statutory body such as the SACNASP for input on the science professions. SACNASP is also mentioned in the White Paper on Science and Technology as the custodian of CPD, through which additional skills/re-skilling of scientists are conducted,” he explains.

He says some of the advantages of being registered as a professional natural scientist with SACNASP include that you are recognised as a professional; there is public confidence in you as a scientist, you are more marketable; and you adhere to a code of conduct (you are trusted for ethical values).

Regarding the work he is doing as the Vice-Chair of the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC), Prof Hugo says: “I consider this voluntary work as a privilege and part of my community service to the industry that employs our students.”

News Archive

Fight against Ebola virus requires more research

2014-10-22

Dr Abdon Atangana
Photo: Ifa Tshishonge

Dr Abdon Atangana, a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS), wrote an article related to the Ebola virus: Modelling the Ebola haemorrhagic fever with the beta-derivative: Deathly infection disease in West African countries.

“The filoviruses belong to a virus family named filoviridae. This virus can cause unembellished haemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman monkeys. In literature, only two members of this virus family have been mentioned, namely the Marburg virus and the Ebola virus. However, so far only five species of the Ebola virus have been identified, including: Ivory Coast, Sudan, Zaire, Reston and Bundibugyo.

“Among these families, the Ebola virus is the only member of the Zaire Ebola virus species and also the most dangerous, being responsible for the largest number of outbreaks.

“Ebola is an unusual, but fatal virus that causes bleeding inside and outside the body. As the virus spreads through the body, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes the blood-clotting levels in cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding.

Since all physical problems can be modelled via mathematical equation, Dr Atangana aimed in his research (the paper was published in BioMed Research International with impact factor 2.701) to analyse the spread of this deadly disease using mathematical equations. We shall propose a model underpinning the spread of this disease in a given Sub-Saharan African country,” he said.

The mathematical equations are used to predict the future behaviour of the disease, especially the spread of the disease among the targeted population. These mathematical equations are called differential equation and are only using the concept of rate of change over time.

However, there is several definitions for derivative, and the choice of the derivative used for such a model is very important, because the more accurate the model, the better results will be obtained. The classical derivative describes the change of rate, but it is an approximation of the real velocity of the object under study. The beta derivative is the modification of the classical derivative that takes into account the time scale and also has a new parameter that can be considered as the fractional order.

“I have used the beta derivative to model the spread of the fatal disease called Ebola, which has killed many people in the West African countries, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, since December 2013,” he said.

The constructed mathematical equations were called Atangana’s Beta Ebola System of Equations (ABESE). “We did the investigation of the stable endemic points and presented the Eigen-Values using the Jacobian method. The homotopy decomposition method was used to solve the resulted system of equations. The convergence of the method was presented and some numerical simulations were done for different values of beta.

“The simulations showed that our model is more realistic for all betas less than 0.5. The model revealed that, if there were no recovery precaution for a given population in a West African country, the entire population of that country would all die in a very short period of time, even if the total number of the infected population is very small. In simple terms, the prediction revealed a fast spread of the virus among the targeted population. These results can be used to educate and inform people about the rapid spread of the deadly disease,” he said.

The spread of Ebola among people only occurs through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a person after symptoms have developed. Body fluid that may contain the Ebola virus includes saliva, mucus, vomit, faeces, sweat, tears, breast milk, urine and semen. Entry points include the nose, mouth, eyes, open wounds, cuts and abrasions. Note should be taken that contact with objects contaminated by the virus, particularly needles and syringes, may also transmit the infection.

“Based on the predictions in this paper, we are calling on more research regarding this disease; in particular, we are calling on researchers to pay attention to finding an efficient cure or more effective prevention, to reduce the risk of contamination,” Dr Atangana said.

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