Dr. Joyce I. Boye is the Director General (Prairie Region) of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Science and Technology Branch. She has a Ph. D in Food Science from McGill University. Her Bachelor’s Degree was in Chemical Engineering. Dr. Boye worked as Senior Research Scientist at the AAFC Food Research and Development Centre (RDC) in St. Hyacinthe from 1997 to 2014, where she led a variety of research projects focused on developing techniques for the isolation, extraction and characterization of proteins and other bioactives from plant sources (e.g., pulses, soybeans, canola, hemp, canaryseed), and identifying areas of application for the food industry. Prior to her current appointment, she was the Director of AAFC’s two Research and Development Centres in Summerland and Agassiz, and also served as Acting Director of the RDCs in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Internationally, she served as a member of the World Bank Agricultural Pull Mechanism Initiative Working Group on Nutrition; as a Visiting Expert for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO); and, in 2016, she was appointed Special Ambassador for North America for the International Year of Pulses by the UN FAO. Dr. Boye is a former Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. She has co-edited three books and has written and presented over 320 scientific and technical papers/reports/lectures and is senior author/co-author of 28 book chapters.
Proteins are a critical component of the human diet providing the essential amino acids needed to sustain health. As global population increases and the world reels in the wake of the pandemic, ensuring adequate supplies of high quality, affordable and sustainably sourced protein globally will be increasingly important. Canada’s new Food Policy provides a roadmap for building an agriculture and food value chain that is sustainable and ensures adequate supplies of safe, healthy, nutritious and culturally-diverse food for all Canadians. The Food Policy recognizes the need for improved capacity and resilience to food-related challenges, the inter-connectedness of the food supply chain and the need for collaboration across communities, cultures and partners, including Indigenous communities. It also acknowledges that the food Canadians consume is a key determinant of health outcomes. The Policy however underscores that in addition to health, environmental and economic outcomes are important in order to ensure that the Canadian food supply remains resilient and sustainable. The protein landscape in Canada has continued to evolve as demands have grown for sustainable and healthy proteins. Protein production and processing systems that are diversified, inclusive, environmentally- sustainable and which reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting competiveness and economic growth are in demand. These demands are driving research and innovation in both plant and animal protein production and processing and in regulation and policy. This talk will look at the current trends in protein production, processing and innovation in relation to the evolving regulatory and policy landscape.