Food students lured by £2,000 innovation prize

03-Feb-2017 - Last updated on 03-Feb-2017 at 08:23 GMT

Food innovation winners last year were Ryan Clifford and Dominic Urban. They received a Eotrophelia UK cheque for £2,000 from M&S's Sue Bell

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UK food science and technology students are being urged to take part in Ecotrophelia UK, a prestigious food development competition promoting innovation, creativity and sustainability to students pursuing a future career in the food sector, with the chance of picking up £2,000.

The encouragement comes from the Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST), the qualifying body for food professionals, and research organisation Campden BRI, which run the UK leg of the EU-wide competition.

Nottingham Trent success in 2016

It follows the success of the team from Nottingham Trent University, which last year won Ecotrophelia UK and then went on to scoop the bronze prize at the Ecotrophelia European finals held at the SIAL food show in Paris last October. The students picked up the prize for their sustainable and indulgent non-dairy alternative to traditional ice cream, which uses algal protein to replace dairy protein.

Now in its fifth year, Ecotrophelia UK is open to teams of undergraduate or postgraduate students, including teams from different universities on industrial placements. Last year a record 19 teams entered from across the UK.

Shortlisted students will be invited to pitch on June 6 2017 to the ‘dragons’, a distinguished panel of top food industry specialists, which will include representatives from Marks & Spencer, Coca-Cola, Food Manufacture, Mondelēz, PepsiCo, Sainsbury, Tesco, Unilever and Warburtons. The winning team will pick up the top prize of £2,000.

The winners will be announced the following day (June 7) at Campden BRI’s open day and will go forward to represent the UK at the European final in November 2017.

‘Showcase talent’

“Ecotrophelia UK provides an excellent opportunity for students to showcase their talent and gain an insight into the whole food and drink industry, from product development through to marketing and finance,” said Andrew Gardner, operations director at IFST. “They are our future food scientists and technologists and this experience will be invaluable for their careers in the industry.”

Last year’s finalists, Ryan Clifford and Dominic Urban, added: “We are delighted our hard work paid off and to have brought home bronze for the UK. We strongly encourage food science students to take part.”

The closing date for entries is March 29 2017. More information is available here.