A vegan, low allergy frozen dessert and instant millet noodles have won the top prizes in the 2011 Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) Student Food and Beverage Product Development Awards.<\/p>\n
The awards aim to recognise and encourage food science and technology students to create innovative food products with Western Australian ingredients.<\/p>\n
Now in its third year, the awards are the result of a collaboration between Â鶹ֱ²¥\u2019s food science and technology program and the DAFWA food technology unit.<\/p>\n
Dr Mark Sweetingham, Director of Grain Industry Development at DAFWA, who presented the awards to the winning student teams, said he was impressed with the students\u2019 creativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is inspiring to see Curtin\u2019s food science students pushing the boundaries by developing products that are not only unique, but also consider the needs of future customers,\u201d Dr Sweetingham said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018I Scream Oats Frozen Dessert Sandwich\u2019 is ideal for the allergen-free market, as it contains no dairy ingredients, eggs, nuts or gluten. The \u2018Milletilicious Instant Noodle\u2019 is a low-fat, nutritious product that can be easily cooked in two minutes for people that are on the run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Ranil Coorey of Curtin\u2019s School of Public Health said he was delighted with the variety of new products the students had developed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom desserts, noodles, jams, cakes and healthy snack foods, the students have been very original with their product ideas, many of which could be taken further and commercialised,\u201d Dr Coorey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have also shown a great level of skill and maturity over this semester and will perform extremely well in the food industry as professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team winners of this year\u2019s Undergraduate Award for the \u2018I Scream Oats Frozen Dessert Sandwich\u2019 were Gary Tan, Kahyen Lam, Novia Rahardjo, Yasmin Yusuf and Priscilla Pedersen.\u00a0 Each student was presented with a $150 cash prize.<\/p>\n
The recipients of the Postgraduate Award for the \u2018Milletilicious Instant Noodle\u2019 were Aneth Msemwa and Shaoyuan Wang, who each received a $300 cash prize.<\/p>\n
Other pioneering products reviewed for the Awards included a chia and honey breakfast bar, lupin muesli bites, sorghum cake, carrot jam, red bean ice cream dim sims and a banana and date fruit leather.<\/p>\n
The Awards are proudly sponsored by DAFWA and were held on Thursday 20 October at Curtin\u2019s Bentley Campus.<\/p>\n