Practical Ethics for
Food Professionals

This volume was inspired by a symposium, ‘Everyday ethics for the food scientist: Ethics
in research, education and the workplace’, co-sponsored by the student programming
and the education divisions of the Institute of Food Technologists at the 2009 Annual
Meeting. Additional topics and authors with an international perspective have been
introduced to produce a comprehensive treatment that, it is hoped, will serve a wide
audience.
Ethical considerations are involved in every aspect of a food professional’s education
and career, but the subject is rarely taught explicitly. Unfortunate examples of ethical
lapses abound in news reports. Large issues of strategy have ethical components, but
guiding principles are sometimes difficult to articulate.
Some business and engineering colleges have adopted an emphasis on values and
ethics, but these need to be communicated to food professionals who have the opportunity
to apply them in a practical sense.