FST Students Shine in Competitions

Cal Poly Pomona food science and technology students are continuing to shine in national collegiate product development competitions.

Jacqueline Thach took second place in the Research Chefs Association (RCA) Food Evolution Competition, which was part of the association’s March 23-25 conference in Atlanta.

The competition challenged students to create and formulate new commercial food products while repurposing byproduct ingredients historically considered food waste.

Thach submitted a vegan pistachio French macaron: a reformulated plant-based product, inspired by traditional French macarons.

“The magic behind O’Macaron is its replacement with egg whites and heavy cream from traditional ganache fillings in exchange for its plant-based substitutes: chickpea broth (aquafaba) and oat milk,” Thach wrote in a description.

“It is a baked confection that not only exemplifies being an inclusive dessert product for vegan individuals but embraces the concept of food evolution by utilizing upcycled ingredients (i.e. Hearts of Palm Flour (HPF) and Green Banana Flour (GBF)) that were originally discarded as waste or as animal feed,” she said.

In addition to reducing industrial food waste, the macaron production process would include sustainable production practices to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Thach was part of a second-place team in an RCA competition last year. Her advisor for this year’s competition is Associate Professor Gabriel Davidov-Pardo.

A team from Taylor’s University in Malaysia took first place in the competition. The event was one of three food competitions at the RCA conference.

The RCA is a professional community for food research and development and a source of culinary and technical information for the food industry. It is committed to the advancement of Culinology – the integration of culinary arts and food science – that is offered as a minor at Cal Poly Pomona.

Meanwhile, two teams of Cal Poly Pomona food science and technology students were selected as finalists for prestigious national competitions.

The first team qualified for the finals of the National Dairy Council New Product Competition. Participants must develop new dairy-based products for young people who are gamers.

The finalists must submit a report and enough product for 18 servings to the National Dairy Council. They will then make a presentation online to a panel of judges in late April.

The top three teams will be invited and honored at the American Daily Science Association Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Mo., in June. The first-place team will receive $8,000, second place will earn $5,000, and the third-place team gets $3,000.

Another team was selected for the prestigious Institute of Food Technologists Student Association and Mars Product Development competition.

The competition requires students to develop a new food idea through marketing and production. Cal Poly Pomona team was one of six chosen to appear in the finals at the IFT Annual Event and Food Expo in Chicago, July 10-13.

The participating teams must submit a final proposal and make an oral presentation to a panel of judges. The first-place team will earn $3,000, second place, $1,500, and third place, $500.