Welcome to a special summer bonus episode of The Food Professor podcast recorded live in our on-site podcasting studio at the SIAL Food Innovation show in Toronto.  Over three great days in May, Sylvain and I met dozens of food innovators and thought leaders; these are their stories.  We're sure you will enjoy hearing these incredible interviews as much as we enjoy hosting the conversations. Stay tuned for season four of The Food Professor podcast, Canada's top food industry and Canadian-produced independent management podcasts, when we return live on the mic Thursday, September 21stOn this episode meet Birendra "Jopy" Perera, Marketing Director at Mlesna Ceylon Ltd & Gail Gastelu, Owner, Publisher at The Tea House TimesIf you like what you heard, please follow us on Apple, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform so that you can catch up with all our great interviews, including celebrity chef, restauranteur and entrepreneur Chuck Hughes from Montreal.Have a safe summer, everyone.About Birendra As a director of Mlesna Group, Birendra leads the marketing and export of tea; actively participates in the procurement of tea at public auctions; procures unique flavours and ingredients; and expertly carries out daily tea tasting and blending activities ensuring all Mlesna products match their tagline, “Naturally the best!” since 1983; a family tradition of producing specialized tea products for connoisseurs the world over.Sharing his expertise of tea and international marketing within niche markets, Birendra has worked with major universities; is a regular presenter at the Mel’s Tea Academy of Sri Lanka; and works closely with the Colombo Tea Traders Association and the Sri Lanka Tea Board on promotion, authenticity and the global marketing of Pure Ceylon Tea from Sri Lanka.About GailAlways looking for that next great opportunity to advance everyone in the tea industry and also working with members of my family on businesses they own. We are entrepreneurs at heart and want to help you succeed! If I can dream it up, it will happen. ~ If you dream it up, ask me to help. Yes, my "experience" list is accurate with dates. It looks like a lot at once, but I am holding down several roles and positions in the tea industry through several companies I personally own and manage; at the same time advising or leading in other businesses with similar marketing and promotional goals which are also owned by family members. True, I am a workaholic! It's all good! https://www.linkedin.com/in/ggastelu/ About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois