Preserving nutrients and buttressing healthy outcomes

By: Kyle Poorman

Dr. Olaniyi Fawole initially wanted to be a medical doctor and his dream has always been to support wellness. It turns out Dr. Fawole’s work, as a professor and researcher at both Stellenbosch University and the University of Johannesburg, has not strayed away from this idea, as it is firmly focused on how the preservation of nutritious food can ultimately improve health outcomes. Olaniyi is greatly fulfilled by his work on postharvest preservation and processing of horticultural and medicinal crops and is newly engaged in developing his own lab at the University of Johannesburg.

I reached Dr. Fawole via Zoom on July 7^th, 2020. He was in his office at the University of Johannesburg, and I was at my home in Iowa. Both South Africa and the United States are undergoing a surge in COVID-19 cases, something that is worrying both of us. We talked about the developments of COVID and also about his new lab, which was in the planning stages when I saw him in person last year in Addis Ababa. After chatting a bit, I asked him how he came to be in his profession. I knew that Olaniyi was focused on medicinal crops, but I did not realize that this focus on health and wellness was a childhood ambition. Like many young people being a doctor or lawyer seems to be a starting point. In Olaniyi’s case, his mother was in the healthcare profession, so the inspiration was within the family. The means and professional position about how to encourage healthy living and wellness changed, but his core goal stayed the same. He is totally devoted and engaged in researching how healthy foods can be preserved and made available so that individuals can live productive lives.

Dr. Fawole loves his profession and the research he is accomplishing in his dual capacity at Stellenbosch and Johannesburg. Having worked with Dr. Linus Opara at South African Chair in Postharvest Technology and now leading his own post-harvest research group, his specific program is focused on the development and application of nanocomposites and bioplastic for postharvest crop preservation and protection; maturity indexes and storage protocols for indigenous & horticultural crops; and investigating value-adding potentials of horticultural and medicinal crops using sustainable agro-processing technologies. Additionally, at Stellenbosch University, Dr. Fawole was involved in research that includes a new multilayer carton design that uses less cardboard material comparatively, allows to pack more fruit in a shipping container, cools pomegranates more uniformly and faster, and leads to savings in packaging material. Together, these allow for better utilization of both storage and shipping container space, save trees, and save energy required to cool and maintain the required fruit temperature. Globally, this is the first time that a multi-layer ventilated carton has been designed for the handling and export marketing of pomegranates.

Due to COVID-19, field research has been greatly disrupted, but Dr. Fawole’s work and lab development are still progressing. With a focus on health and developing robust food systems, Dr. Olaniyi Fawole’s Consortium research is sure to have wide-spread impact.