World Food Prize 2021

• 17 May 2021

Leading nutrition expert Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted was announced as the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate for her achievements in pioneering fish-based food systems to improve nutrition, health and livelihoods for millions around the world.

• Dr. Thilsted was the first to establish that many small fish species commonly eaten across Southeast Asia are an important source of essential micronutrients and fatty acids and improve the absorption of nutrients in plant-based foods, reshaping scientific understanding of the benefits of fish in diets.
• This breakthrough has helped prioritize increases in fish consumption and production, transforming the diets and incomes of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
• Dr. Thilsted is the seventh woman to be awarded the World Food Prize and the first woman of Asian heritage.
• Now a Danish citizen, Dr. Thilsted descends from a family of Indian migrants to Trinidad and Tobago, and she began her career as the first and only woman stationed in Tobago’s Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries.
• World Food Prize is presented by the World Food Prize Foundation located in Des Moines, USA.
• Indian-American soil scientist - Dr. Rattan Lal was the winner of the World Food Prize 2020.