Jack Kefford Research Publication Award

The AIFST Jack Kefford Research Publication Award 2026

This award recognises the publication of an outstanding original research paper judged to have provided the most significant contribution in building knowledge in the field of food science and technology. 

The Award is named in honour of Mr Jack Kefford who provided enormous input to the science and technology of food as Officer-in-Charge of the CSIRO Food Research Laboratory, Assistant Chief of the CSIRO Division of Food Research, as a scientist of international repute, as AIFST President (1971-1973) and as a Technical Editor of food australia. 

The 2026 award winner is 'Recovery of sustainable yeast proteins: a mechanistic study of autolysis and enzyme proteolysis as pretreatments for mechanical cell rupture', Authors: Nobukhosi P. Moyo, Zlatan Trifunovic, Nic Roberts, Sally L. Gras, Gregory J. O. Martin.

The Jack Kefford Research Publication Award recognises the contributions of Institute members to food science and technology through the publication of research and technical papers. ​

The results of this multidisciplinary study have the potential to contribute to the development of new processing strategies to improve both yield and quality parameters in the industrial extraction of protein from yeasts. These new insights will be of interest not only to yeast processing but also to the burgeoning field of alternative protein research and development, in general. This thorough and well-presented paper was published in The Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry (2025) and covers collaborative research undertaken by University of Melbourne and Bega Foods, funded by an ARC Linkage Project.

Guidelines