NetGuido

The Confucian saying “When you drink water, please remember the men who dug the well” has helped Florentinus Gregorius Winarno learn about many important things in life.

Born in Klaten, Central Java, on Feb. 15, 1938, Winarno was brought up in a destitute family. His father, R.M. Mitrorekso, worked as warden, and his mother was an illiterate housewife. As his parents were very poor, life was hard at that time, and the young Winarno had to struggle in order to be able to go to school.

“When I was a child, I dreamed of being a great teacher. Ibu Sri, my elementary school teacher, played an important role in my early education. I admired her very much,” Winarno said.

After leaving St. Joseph’s senior high school in Surakarta in 1956, Winarno entered the University of Indonesia. He graduated in 1962 with a degree in veterinary science.

Winarno then began his career as a vet. However, he could not stand the sight of blood and his interest shifted from animal health to dairy hygiene.

During the New Order era, Winarno, who worked as a teacher at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), was awarded a scholarship by the U.S. government to study at the University of Massachusetts, majoring in food science.

As a brilliant student with straight As, Winarno had no difficulty studying in Massachusetts where academic competition was very tough at that time.

He soon caught the attention of C.R. Stumbo, a novelist and expert on thermo-bacteriology, who then became his PhD supervisor.

Winarno said he was very proud to study under Stumbo whose thermo-bacteriology theory had laid the foundation for the canned-food theory.

“Much of my work has been inspired by Stumbo’s novel Clouds over Destiny. The most valuable lesson I learned from his novel is that if we have a dream, we must also be aware of the barriers we are facing in fulfilling it,” he said.

Known as a top scientist in food science and technology, Winarno has produced 100 scholarly works published in both national and international journals. He has also written 30 books mainly on food science, nutrition and post-harvest technology. His latest book — Bogor, Hari Esok Masa Lampau (Bogor, Tomorrow and Past Time) — is devoted to Bogor city.

In addition, he is on the editorial boards of internationally refereed journals such as the Food Hydrocolloid, the International World Food Regulation Review and the International Food Information Service.

Winarno was invited to lecture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Tokyo University, Osaka University, and Deakin University, Victoria, Australia in the 70s.

In 1988 to 1998, he served as the advisor to the Agriculture Minister and the Food Affairs Minister. And in 1991 he was appointed as the vice president of the Federation Institute of Food Science and Technology Association for ASEAN (FIFSTA).

He was also the first Asian scholar to be elected the president of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), an intergovernmental study established by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Rome to implement the joint FAO/WHO Foods Standards Program, for the period of 1991-1993, and was reelected in 1993 for a second term.

As a world-recognized food scientist, Winarno sees food safety as an issue to be seriously taken into account by the Indonesian government. He is very concerned about food, particularly the ubiquitously sold street food here, in terms of its safety. His concern has prompted him to open a national training center in Bogor for those who are interested in food safety.

According to Winarno, the most important quality of food doesn’t lie in its nutrition, taste, color or shape, but rather in whether it is safe to consume. Food safety, he added, must become a vital parameter in selecting food to be consumed.

“The food we consume may be highly nutritious, but if it isn’t safe it will be hazardous to our body,” he said.

Winarno’s scientific contribution has led him to win numerous national and international awards. In 1994 he was awarded the Distinguished Star Honorary Award by the President of Indonesia.

Five years later he became the first Indonesian to win the Fellow International Academy of Food Science and Technology Award, which honors the world’s top food scientist.

In commemoration of World Food Day in the same year, he was also honored with the Pharma Boga Nugraha by the Indonesian government for his active involvement in conceptualizing the food bill, which was eventually passed into the Food Law in November 1996.

Finally, he was named the winner of The Bogor Heritage Award for his international and national scientific achievements in 2006.

In 2004 Winarno was appointed as the president of the International Dairy Federation (IDF). In cooperation with the FAO and WHO, this world organization will hold an international symposium on Revolution in Food Safety Management in Nusa Dua, Bali from Feb. 13-15 this year.

To show his commitment to education, Winarno helped establish the Department of Biotechnology of Atma Jaya Catholic University Jakarta, where he is rector.

When asked what scientific contribution he had not yet realized, Winarno said he wanted to write a set of 36 encyclopedias about Indonesian traditional food, two volumes of which he is in the process of completing.

At the age of 70, Winarno remains prolific as a scholar and active in attending world conferences on food issue. He plays tennis every weekend to stay in shape.

“Though my `calendar age’ is already 70, my `biological age’ is still below 30,” he said jokingly.