OSIFT November 2025 Meeting — Speaker and Dinner

The Oregon Section of IFT (OSIFT) invites you to our November dinner meeting at the Northwest Wine Studies Center located at Chemeketa Eola.

This month’s program features Kristen Penner, Regional Value Chain Coordinator for the Oregon Ocean Cluster and co-founder of Winter Waters, who will share insights and inspiration from Oregon’s blue foods movement.

In her talk, "100% Fish, 100% Opportunities: Exploring Oregon's Blue Foods Economy," Kristen will highlight recent takeaways from the Blue Foods Forum and the Local Catch Network Summit—including how blue tech, pilot-scale R&D, and collaboration with food scientists can accelerate new product development for schools, retailers, foodservice, and biomedical tech. Expect an approachable discussion, show-and-tell props, and a few fun tastes that bring the ideas to life.

This month’s program will feature a guest speaker (to be announced soon) and plenty of time to connect with colleagues old and new. Whether you’re a long-time OSIFT member or attending for the first time, we hope you’ll join us for good food, great company, and meaningful conversation about Oregon’s food processing ecosystem.

Why attend:

• Reconnect with peers and colleagues across Oregon’s food and agriculture community.

• Enjoy dinner, networking, and an engaging program in a relaxed setting.

• Learn how blue foods fit into Oregon’s food processing ecosystem

• Support OSIFT’s mission to connect and advance Oregon’s food science and technology community.

Schedule

• 5:00 pm - Social + no-host bar

• 6:00 pm - Dinner

• 6:30 pm - Program begins (speaker presentation)

Who it’s for:
Open to anyone working in or supporting Oregon food & ag: producers, processors, food scientists/technologists, operations, retailers/foodservice, agencies, educators, and community partners. Students and first-time attendees are warmly encouraged to attend.