Gunnar Sigge of South Africa’s Stellenbosch University Is New IFT President

He succeeds Peggy Poole as president of the Institute of Food Technologists; Jeffrey Varcoe of J.M. Smucker Co. is president-elect.

Gunnar Sigge, an associate professor and head of the Dept. of Food Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, on Sept. 1 took over as president of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the organization of food scientists. He succeeds Peggy Poole.

Sigge has been an active volunteer at IFT for many years, including serving on the IFT Board of Directors from 2021-2024. In addition to the affiliated South African Assn. for Food Science and Technology, he has also been involved with such scientific organizations as the International Water Assn., the Institute of Packaging South Africa, the Water Institute of South Africa and the South African Society for Dairy Technology.

Jeffrey Varcoe, senior vice president of science and technical excellence at J.M. Smucker Co., is president-elect and will begin his term on Sept. 1, 2027. All IFT presidents serve for one year.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro

Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.

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