George F. Stewart
George F. Stewart was an American food scientist who was involved in processing, preservation, chemistry, and microbiology of poultry and egg-based food products. He also became the first president of the International Union of Food Science and Technology after it was formed at the 1970 conference in Washington, D.C., from the International Congress of Food Science and Technology.
Early life and college
Born in Mesa, Arizona, Stewart developed an interest in the southwestern U.S. and the environment that never left him. He would earn a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1930 and a Ph.D. in Dairy chemistry from Cornell University in 1933.Industrial career
Stewart worked as a chemist for Ocoma Foods in Omaha, Nebraska, for five years. This gave him early experience in the dynamics of the food industry. The experience Stewart gained in the food industry would prove valuable when he returned to academia.University of California involvement
In 1951, Stewart joined the University of California, Davis faculty as chair of the Department of . He would lead the transition of the department between the University of California, Berkeley and Davis between 1951 and 1958 and expand the department in faculty and building size. Taking a sabbatical year in Australia as a Fulbright scholar in 1958, Stewart played a key role in modernizing Australia's poultry industry.In 1959, Stewart returned to UC-Davis as chair of the where he would serve until 1964. At the university's request in 1964, Stewart was named director of the food protection and toxicology center and became chair of the newly formed, a position he would hold until 1970.
Stewart returned to the FST department in 1970 as a teacher and researcher, including serving as coordinator of the Food packaging program from 1969 to 1974. He would retire from UC Davis in 1975.