CHICAGO -- Purdue University students won the Institute of Food Technologists' (IFT's) 1999 Student Product Development Competition with their food invention "SOY-PRO," a high-protein, ready-to-eat cereal made with soy ingredients. The Purdue team placed first out of six finalists based on written reports, oral and poster presentations, and taste tests at IFT's Annual Meeting in Chicago July 25-26.
Designed for health-conscious consumers, SOY-PRO was made with soy flakes (crushed, defatted soy beans) and soy protein to give the cereal a high-protein content in addition to being fortified with standard nutrients. The students used soy as the base of their product because of the plant's nutritional profile and potential health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol with regular consumption.
"Using soy ingredients in the cereal was challenging because of the off-flavors commonly associated with soy's taste," said team leader John Gray, a food science graduate student at Purdue. "However, we overcame this problem by toasting the soy flakes to inactivate the enzyme in them that causes off-flavors and by adding a little sugar, honey flavoring and sodium bicarbonate to mask residual soy flavors.
"We chose cereal as our product because the cereal industry needs innovation in order to recapture some of the breakfast food market that it has lost in recent years," he added. "We felt that a soy-based cereal would have a lot of market potential, especially if the pending health claim for soy foods is approved by the Food and Drug Administration this fall."
The Purdue team's problem-solving skills and innovativeness in developing SOY-PRO obviously impressed the judges, who are industry food scientists working in research and development. Student inventions were judged on their originality, large-scale production feasibility, innovativeness, and market potential as well as on the students' presentation skills.
In addition to winning IFT's competition, SOY-PRO developers plan to pursue a patent on their cereal formula. A few major U.S. cereal and soy ingredient manufacturers have already contacted the students about their invention. Should SOY-PRO become commercialized, it will be much easier to create in a manufacturing plant than in a test kitchen, Gray noted.
Last year's winner, Cornell University, took second place this year with "Sweet Spots," apples filled with vanilla ice cream and coated with caramel and oats. Students from the University of Minnesota placed third with "Sunrise Dippin' Duos," hand-held versions of the classic Denver omelet - oblong English muffins filled with egg, diced ham, onions, and green peppers - with a cheese sauce for dipping.
Other finalists in the 1999 contest included North Carolina State University with "Jammm Singles," individually wrapped servings of solid fruit spread; the University of Wisconsin at Madison with "Smoothie Pies," graham cracker crust pies filled with chocolate and strawberry yogurt fortified with probiotic (friendly) bacteria and nutrients; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with "Tater Stuffs," cheese-filled french fries.
Founded in 1939, IFT is a non-profit scientific society with 28,000 members working in food science, technology and related professions in industry, academia and government. As the society for food science and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of food issues.