Food Science students fighting hunger

04 Sep 2014

The 17th World Congress of Food Science & Technology held in August 2014, kicked off with the inaugural Food Science Students Fighting Hunger - Global Student New Product Development Competition (undergraduate category). Aimed at encouraging food science and technology undergraduate students to develop innovative food product projects, this competition offered DFST students opportunity to display their passion to serve the community.

Six Food Science and Technology students, Chua Jiaxuan, Muhammad Azmeran Ong bin Muhammad Imran Ong, Ong Yi Jie Elaine, Pang Wei Shan and Tham Hui Ping Valerie, Tham Qin Lin undertook this challenge to spend 5 months formulating, evaluating, shelf-life testing and developing the packaging concept for an Okara Vegan Patty. Wei Shan and Valerie then travelled to Montreal, Canada, to exhibit the mock-ups and presented to an international panel of judges comprising food scientists and technologists. Their competitors included undergraduate students from Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. For their efforts, they were awarded the Special Mention Award, coming in fourth out of nine finalists.

A jubilant Valerie had this to say, “IUFOST 2014 was a great experience for me as I got to learn not only about how the other international teams approached the competition, but also to have a glimpse of Canada’s food culture. The competition theme also raised my awareness and motivated me to work towards developing more nutritious food that can contribute to fighting world hunger. Thank you SP for giving me a chance to enter this competition!”