Students Showcase Food Product Development Projects
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Edible playdough. A tofu-based breakfast pudding. Alcohol-infused boba.
These were some of the products developed this fall semester by students in FST 4290L, the Food Product Development Lab.
With Coronavirus safety guidelines preventing most labs from meeting in person, the students couldn’t develop these products as they normally would in the Building 7 food processing labs. Instead, it was a conceptual exercise they conducted at home – but with strict, rigorous expectations.
“They had to justify the use and amount of each ingredient, as well as the processing steps. They used recipes and had to convert them into formulas,” Assistant Professor Gabriel Davidov-Pardo. “They had to do a lot of research.”
Among the areas that students had to explore were nutrition requirements and labeling, formulation and ingredient functionality, process design, packaging, cost, food safety, consumer research and marketing. The students presented their products during a Dec. 3 showcase on Zoom.
The products included:
- Drunken Popping Pearls: an alcohol-infused version of popping boba, the tapioca-starch balls that are included in bubble tea, which originated in Taiwan. These boba are infused with fruit juice and alcohol and are designed to pop in the consumer’s mouth. It can be used in juices, sodas, or as a base to a fruit smoothie. They can come in mango, kiwi, dragon fruit and strawberry flavor. (Jay Trivedi, Ashley Kearns, Phi Nguyen, Rosie Quoe, and Marissa Wong)
- Little Oats Frozen Chocolate Pops: a 100-percent, plant-based alternative to sugary chocolate popsicles, it is made with raw agave nectar for low-glycemic sweetness and avocado for good fats and fiber. Children can either consume it as a frozen pop or melted into a glass as a milkshake. It comes with a biodegradable bamboo straw in place of a popsicle stick. (Grace Murtidjaja, Tony Truong, Sebastian Valadez, Vanessa Valdes, and Manyi Yu Liang)
- Play & Eat: an edible playdough product made with natural coloring from beets, carrots, and purple yams and fortified with vitamin D, vitamin C, and calcium, which most U.S. children lack in their diets. The product comes in grape, orange, and fruit punch flavors, and is gluten free, allergen free and vegan. (Brieana Lewis, Benjamin Gonzalez, Charlene Piapugdee, Juan Sanchez, and Austin Ting)
- RiTE Packs: a nutritious ready-to-eat, vegetable and grain bowl designed to be sold in Burundi, a developing country in Africa. It was created as a solution for populations in developing countries that lack nutrients and makes use of drought-resistant crops that are common to the region: millet and sorghum. It is high in protein and low in sodium; it is a vegan product to accommodate local cultural requirements. (CeeCee Cade, Justin Huynh, Haley Lam, Derick Wong, and Hannah Zhuang)
- Sunday Morning Mimosa: an orange-flavored sponge cake with strawberry Champagne buttercream filling and vanilla candy coating. The cake is aimed at millennial consumers, who would pay more for eco-friendly products. The ingredients include Okara flour and orange pomace: Okara flour is high-fiber, gluten-free flout made of soy industry byproducts, while the pomace is the leftover material after squeezing oranges for juice. (Shelby Guillen, Richard Mai, Jovan Martel, Juan Rico, and Samantha Sharp)
- Tofu Bliss Chocolate Pudding: a creamy tofu-based pudding that is made with organic and sustainably-sourced ingredients. It is a vegan alternative to milk-based pudding. The students in this group chose silken tofu, which is made from soy milk. Soy milk has a significantly smaller environmental impact than dairy milk. (Karena Almanza, Benji Ho, Brittany Ly, Anabel Ortega, and Adrianne Wong)
- Wiggle Buddies: Mochi Ice Cream are Japanese rice cakes with ice cream in the middle. Wiggle Buddies are Mochi ice cream product made from an avocado base, which is high in Omega-3 fatty acids. (Arlette Flores, Yajaira Jaime, Janae Love, Karla Monroy, and Matthew Yu).