Product innovation delivers at showcase
Students have been working hard to prepare for their annual Student Product Development Showcase, which will be held on Monday 17 June.
Last year's event featured new chocolate flavours created by Diploma of Food Science and Technology (FBP50118) students.
Students developed innovative products which they presented to a panel of industry experts. Products developed ranged from tapioca chips, hemp butter and beef spreads to the range of new KitKat flavours some students worked with Nestlé to develop.
The overall winner and People's Choice award was Farrah Megson's chocolates with native Australian ingredients.
Runner up was Danielle Bouchier with her peppered beef spread, and third prize was awarded to Nicco Pucci with rosemary snacks with parmesan dip and to Simona Mauriello coconut and cherry KitKat Chunky.
Three students worked with nestle to develop new flavours for the chunky Kit Kat including Reilly Alkemade who sampled a Rocky Road flavour and Sibel Tural- Akal who made a caramel and spiced apple flavour.
Farrah said she was inspired by the local native Australian ingredients and worked very hard to develop a different flavour and result with her chocolates.
"I achieved my project in an eight- week timeframe and the process was very interesting learning about all the different aspects which need to be considered when designing a product for market," Farrah said.
All final year students from the Diploma of Food Science and Technology participated in the student product development showcase which is a major assessment piece.
Students displayed their products, offered samples and talked about the process of developing their product from idea through to final delivery.
They were assessed based on the entire scope of the project, including whether the product had the potential to succeed in the marketplace and if they had delivered sufficient description of the manufacturing equipment and well as completing as a shelf-life test. They also had to complete a cost analysis and a mock-up of the package with labeling requirements to meet FSANZ standards.
During the launch event, industry judges then assessed the products on innovation, sensory acceptability, market potential, presentation and packaging.
