Projects and Competitions
Product Development
Build A Snowman Kit, Team Lead
Grand Prize, Disney IFTSA Product Development Competition, 2015
Build a Snowman Kit was developed as a fun, interactive snack containing a cracker, fruit and vegetable spread, and toppings featuring Olaf from Disney's Frozen. This multi-component snack was aimed at providing children ages 2-10 a fun way to incorporate whole grain and fruit into their daily diet. The project started with all the team members conducting a conjoint analysis with the help of our advisor Dr. Amy Lammert, and gained more insight into what consumers really wanted. Our goal was to incorporate interactive component to make a deliciously nutritious snack fun for the kids. The whole journey involved conducting multiple focus groups and sensory tests, formulating a shelf life testing process, and making sure our product was feasible to accomplish during production at an industrial level as well.
PRO2GO, Team Member
First Prize, IMPA Product Development Competition, 2016
PRO2GO was designed to be a protein-packed, frozen dessert perfect for anyone who needs a convenient and tasty solution for a healthy snack on the go. Formulated with 66% dairy ingredients, with cottage cheese being the first ingredient, PRO2GO was meant to be a delicious frozen treat that came in a neat, easy-to-use, plastic sleeve designed for consumers to grab and enjoy after a workout, between meals, or any other time as a refreshing snack. Each individual package contains 11g of protein; with a relatively low caloric load, PRO2GO is a refreshing and easy way to increase protein intake. Few high protein products on the market are positively known their flavors, and they often contain high content of artificial flavors and sweeteners to mask the distinctive whey flavor.We developed our original flavor which is tart and creamy, with subtle fruity flavors. Because of the versatility of the dairy base of PRO2GO, the possibilities for line extensions with additional flavors are endless.
Cauli Crust Pizza Bites, Team Member
First Prize, IFTSA Smart Snacks for Kids Product Development Competition, 2018
Cauli Crust Pizza Bites (CC Pizza Bites) was designed as a healthy twist on an original cheese pizza. It had a unique base of a nutrient-packed specialty cauliflower crust topped with tomato sauce and cheese. Its gluten-free formulation allows for children who have gluten-free diets to enjoy the pizza snacks as well. Each piece is a 1.5 inch square, making them the perfect building blocks to create a food fort or any other hands on activity for kids. Although it may not encourage table manners, the simple shape makes the eating experience fun and easy. The Pizza Bites are also a filling snack, as one serving size is 5 squares and is individually packaged for the consumer's convenience. CC Pizza Bites are designed to be frozen so that busy families can store this snack for an extended period of time, while being able to cook individual servings as they please. 66 % of CC pizza bites is made from cauliflower, and the crust by itself is made up of more than 89 % cauliflower so that kids will get a significant portion of their daily serving of vegetables from our lip smacking CC Pizza bites. CC Pizza Bites can serve as a delicious and tasty alternative to bland veggies all the while providing only 60 calories per serving and with only 10 calories from fat. CC Pizza bites provides 6 g of protein per serving along with many other essential vitamins such as A, K, C and B complex vitamins and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. Developing this product involved a lot of technical problem solving, from deciding what toppings to use, to minimizing use of flour like ingredients. The main technical hurdle we faced as a team was to get a crispier texture, so that children would enjoy the crunch and not be put off by a soggy texture. Our product started as a mini pizza, but to meet the texture requirements, we changed it to a pizza bite size product so it could get the crunch that we wanted.
SCOOPS, Team Member
First Prize, IMPA Product Development Competition, 2018
SCOOPs was formulated to be a delicious frozen dessert that is a good source of protein and contains phospholipids because it utilizes a low value by-product of whey processing called Whey Phospholipid Protein Concentrate (WPPC). WPPC contains a high level of polar lipids that can be beneficial to gut and brain health, and is currently underutilized. WPPC is available as both a powder and a liquid; in the current formulation, WPPC was utilized in a liquid form for ease of pasteurization. Along with high phospholipid content from WPPC this frozen dessert also contains approximately two times the protein concentration of regular ice cream. SCOOPs had two flavor extensions- sea salt caramel and chocolate fudge. Apart from forming the body of the frozen dessert, WPPC was used in making a caramel fudge sauce and chocolate fudge sauce in order to enhance the phospholipid content using an underutilized by-product.
Cosmic Crackers, Team Lead
First Prize, IFTSA Smart Snacks for Kids Product Development Competition, 2019
Cosmic Crackers was developed to add variety in the overgrowing market of lentil-based products, by using black caviar and black gram lentils and a zesty flavor from its use of Italian herb blend. The celestially themed crackers were dusted with cosmic ranch flavoring, a recipe created to make cosmic crackers taste heavenly. These crackers also met the consumer demand of a low-calorie snack that potentially will be well liked by children by providing only 80 calories per serving, no added sugars, and a low-fat content. Each serving wass 22 g (17 crackers per pouch based on comparable products). The crackers were shaped like stars and planets (circular), which children can use to play with their constellation card provided with the package. The crackers were colorful, made from natural coloring, to appeal to children. Cosmic crackers was designed keeping in mind to have a greater appeal for children because of colorful cracker dusted with some cosmic ranch packaged with a constellation card for interactive learning. CC utilize simple ingredients and has dairy as its only allergen.
Projects
Consumer Acceptance Panel for Chocolate, Team Lead
Graduate Student Team Lead, Utah State University, 2019
Aggie Chocolate Factory had its grand opening in Fall 2019. This panel was conducted to know how consumers perceive the chocolates made in the Aggie Chocolate Factory and see how it is compared to similar products on the market. The purpose of this research was to evaluate consumer acceptance in adults for chocolate samples. Two samples from Aggie Chocolate Factory were be used along with one sample each from Lindt and Amano companies for comparison. I was assigned with the task of conducting the sensory panel as a part of the sensory class project. I oversaw a team of 8 undergraduate students, where assigned different tasks, managed any technical or personnel issues that came up during the project. I was also responsible for writing a research proposal, getting approval from the Institutional Review Board by submitting an application and providing any necessary documents.
Oatmeal Extrusion Project
Senior Project, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, 2014-2015
The USDA School Breakfast Program is vital in ensuring children are well fed, properly nourished and prepared for a day of learning. As the program expands, there is a growing need for economical and nutritional breakfast foods that are simple to prepare and popular with children. Oatmeal is the ideal food system for quick service en-mass with minimal preparation, with numerous, well-studied nutritional benefits. Oatmeal processed through an extruder further expands the potential benefits to a national program. This unique system enhances the nutritional benefits of the oat grain, all while being economical, versatile and user friendly. This project explored the numerous benefits of school breakfast and oat consumption was explored in order to be applied to a vacuum fed dough extruder; with a main focus on the vacuum pump section of the system. Extrusion as a method of processing was defined, and all aspects of its potential benefits and drawbacks were explained. Structure functionality relationship of the ingredients in the oatmeal product were defined and discussed as well. The objective of this project was to analyze the effects that a vacuum pump has on various dough formulations consisting mainly of oats and water, with the addition of sugar and gum as variables. The response variables were moisture content, texture, water activity, starch gelatinization, sensory, and flow rate.
Other Competitions
•IFT College Bowl Competition,Team Captain (2017) and Team Member (2016, 2018, 2019).
•DEERTRAX, Team Lead, Disney IFTSA Product Development Competition, 2016.
•The Little Popping Sea, Team Lead, Disney IFTSA Product Development Competition, 2017.