April 25, 2008
Purdue students stir up success in Sara Lee competition
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
The team's winning entry, Tuscan Essentials Biscotti, provides caramel or raspberry flavoring when stirred into hot drinks and can then be eaten as a snack
Team members included Patti Tanner, a first-year graduate student in food science from Bonners Ferry, Idaho; Kayleen Wichlinski, dietetics and business nutrition major from Valparaiso, Ind.; and Matt Wolf, a biological and food process engineering major from Evansville, Ind.
Connie Weaver, distinguished professor and head of Purdue's Department of Foods and Nutrition, said she and the other judges struggled to decide between the biscotti and the creation entered by the second-place team, an on-the-go snack that featured bagel sticks packaged with a yogurt dipping sauce.
"This was a very close decision, but the up side is that Sara Lee has asked both teams to present their products to the company later this year," Weaver said. "It's very exciting that both the products created by our Purdue students could potentially be commercialized."
Students on the second-place team were Allie Clemons, a food science major from West Lafayette; Jessica Lee, a food manufacturing operations major from Kankakee, Ill.; Stephen Morrison, a hospitality and tourism management major from West Lafayette; Mindy Quinn, a foods and nutrition major from West Lafayette; and Erin Rosswurm, an agricultural and biological engineering major from Columbus, Ind.
The teams began working last fall on the projects, which were scored by a panel of judges composed of Sara Lee executives and Purdue professors. In addition to criteria meant to evaluate each item's innovation and originality, products were judged on potential marketability.
Students from the sophomore to graduate level in four departments were eligible, including agricultural and biological engineering, foods and nutrition, food science, and hospitality and tourism management.
Products were limited to Sara Lee's current product lines of bakery items, meats, sauces, dressings or coffee.
Weaver said students were encouraged to form teams that represented as many of the eligible disciplines as possible.
Writer: Tanya Brown, (765) 494-2079, tanyabrown@purdue.edu
Source: Connie Weaver, (765) 494-8237, weavercm@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION:
Patti Tanner, a first-year graduate student in food science at Purdue, and Matt Wolf, a biological and food process engineering major, set up the display for their biscotti entry in the Sara Lee Innovation Award competition Thursday (April 24). Tanner, Wolf and teammate Kayleen Wichlinski, a dietetics and business nutrition major, won the $10,000 top prize in the competition, which encourages students to create new food products that could later be developed by Sara Lee and end up on store shelves. The team's entry, Tuscan Essentials Biscotti, provides caramel or raspberry flavoring when stirred into hot drinks and can then be eaten as a snack. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
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