IUH Successfully Hosts Two Prestigious International Conferences: APPFC2025 and MTFC2025 on Future Foods and Traditional Fermentation Technologies 18-09-2025
For the first time, the Asia-Pacific Probiotics and Future Food Conference 2025 (APPFC2025) and the Metagenomics and Traditional Fermentation Conference 2025 (MTFC2025) were hosted at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH), under the leadership of the Institute of Biotechnology and Food Technology.
From September 10 to 13, 2025, IUH, in collaboration with Saigon Technology University (STU), successfully co-organized these two major conferences. The events also welcomed the participation of organizations and universities such as the Asian Food Safety and Food Security Association (AFSA) and the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE).
Conference overview
Assoc chaired the conferences. Prof. Dr. Dam Sao Mai, Vice President of IUH, alongside co-chairs including Prof. Dr. Sci. Luu Dzuan (Vietnam, STU), Prof. László Friedrich (Hungary), Prof. Quang D. Nguyen (Hungary), Prof. Takashi Uemura (Japan), Prof. Alaa Eldin Bekhit (New Zealand), Prof. Hesham El-Enshasy (Malaysia), Prof. Mysoon Al-Ansari (Saudi Arabia), Assoc. Prof. Malik Altaf Hussain (Australia), Assoc. Prof. Francesca De Filippis (Italy), and more than 50 scientists from Australia, Japan, Italy, Korea, China, New Zealand, Qatar, Thailand, Lebanon, Bangladesh, and over 200 scholars from Vietnamese universities and research institutes.
APPFC2025 featured four thematic sub-sessions, focusing on:
Probiotics and gut microbiota
Probiotics technology and industry
Future foods, including safety and quality aspects, alternative proteins (plant-based and insect-derived)
Sensory studies and regulatory issues
MTFC2025 focused primarily on topics such as:
Metagenomics with next-generation sequencing, microbial community analysis, and new species discovery
Traditional fermentation with process optimization, standardization, new product development, and sustainable approaches
The conferences gathered more than 100 scientific papers from leading universities including Western Sydney University (Australia), University of Naples (Italy), University of Otago (New Zealand), Jinan University (China), MATE (Hungary), Chung-Ang and Kangwon Universities (Korea), University of Dhaka and University of Chittagong (Bangladesh), Taipei Medical University (Taiwan), Chulalongkorn and Siam Universities (Thailand), Notre Dame University – Louaize (Lebanon), Qatar University (Qatar), Innovation Center in Agrotechnology for Advanced Bioprocessing (Malaysia), as well as Vietnamese institutions such as STU, IUH, Vietnam National University – HCMC, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, and VAFoST.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dam Sao Mai, Vice President of IUH, together with the conference presidium, awarded certificates to the session chairs and speakers.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dam Sao Mai emphasized: "The co-organization of these two international conferences not only demonstrates IUH’s academic reputation and organizational capacity but also paves the way for pioneering research in future foods, microbial technology, and metagenomics. This is a crucial foundation for future international collaborations, contributing to the sustainable development of Vietnam’s food industry.”
Prof. László Friedrich (Hungary) also praised IUH’s efforts: “The conferences serve as a vital bridge between academic research and industrial applications, particularly in traditional fermentation and sustainable food production, generating a strong ripple effect across the Asia-Pacific region.”
Prof. László Friedrich (Hungary), Conference Chair, delivering his remarks
APPFC2025 was developed based on the Asia-Pacific Probiotics Workshop (APPW) series, which has been held over the past decade in New Zealand, China, Iran, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand, and online from 2020 to 2023. In 2025, the 11th edition took place in Vietnam, expanding its scope to include future foods and officially adopting the new name Asia-Pacific Probiotics and Future Food Conference (APPFC2025).
Meanwhile, MTFC2025 aimed to bridge culinary heritage with modern scientific knowledge, promoting research in metagenomics and fermentation technologies.
Together, the two conferences created a prestigious international academic forum that fosters research, technology transfer, and the development of innovative food products. They also offered IUH a valuable opportunity to strengthen connections with domestic and international institutions and enterprises, commercialize probiotic products, functional foods, and sustainable fermentation technologies, and enhance research capacity. Moreover, they provided IUH faculty and students with opportunities to publish in leading international journals such as Journal of Future Foods, Applied Food Research, and Food and Bioproducts Processing.
Some photos of the keynote speakers:
Và một số hình ảnh khác:
PGS.TS Đàm Sao Mai - Phó Hiệu trưởng IUH trao quà lưu niệm đến các nhà tài trợ chương trình gồm Công Ty TNHH Thực Phẩm Hữu Cơ Việt Nam Tiếng Anh (VINAORGANIC CO.,LTD), Công ty Cổ phần Vị Xanh TN và Công ty Cổ phần Nước Hoàng Minh – i-on Life
