AIFST State Branches

Cass graduated in 2007 from Charles Sturt University with B.  Applied Science in Food Science. 

Over the past 15 years, Cass has worked in primary industry and fast-moving consumer goods across a range of roles including Quality, Continuous Improvement, Operations, New Product Development. 

She has spent the last 22 years working in the food industry.  Starting out at 14 in a pie shop.  Food certainly is a passion!  But beyond that Cass has a vision for the world where no food is wasted, and no-one is hungry.

Her mission is to create and commercialise products that eliminate food waste and provide food for hungry people.

Cass believes it’s exciting times for Food Technologists globally.  There is a big focus on fighting food waste and with primary production contributing to more than 30% of Australia’s food waste, it’s a terrific opportunity to make a difference – particularly in the agricultural sector. 

Cass hopes are to engage the future leaders in food science though the AIFST and create a support platform to raise the profile of Australia’s talented food scientists.  

Dr Polly Burey graduated from the University of Auckland with a BE (Hons I) in Chemical and Materials engineering in early 2001 but grew up in the horticulture industry.  In late 2001 she came to Australia to do her PhD on an industry-linked confectionery project and never looked back.

Polly’s main passion in life is solving problems and sharing knowledge.  Many of the problems she has worked on have all come back to the food industry.  She likes communicating complex ideas simply, and this has translated into an almost 20-year career in academia teaching many food science and engineering graduates, along with industry-focused research. 

Polly’s recent focus is on rescuing ‘food waste’ and turning it into other useful products.  This involves working on not only the technical and practical processing aspects, but also the economics of doing so (technoeconomics). 

Polly greatly enjoys putting students in contact with people working within the food industry and guiding their development; she is still in contact with students she taught over 15 years ago and now they are guiding her recent graduates.  She also likes bringing industry contacts together when there is benefit to solving larger problems.  If you have a problem, or want to find information Polly is always happy to try and point you in the right direction.   

Annesley Watson 

Belinda Hanson-Kenny