Harper Adams green meat pie scoops award
The More than Meat Pies team from Harper Adams University has been awarded gold prize at Ecotrophelia UK 2013 for their product, Hearty Meal, a ready meal offal pie.
Along with a £2,000 cash prize, the team will receive a one-year membership of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and a number of Elsevier food science publications.
The IFST, the independent qualifying body for food professionals, organised the UK heat of this Europe-wide competition in conjunction with food and drink research organisation Campden BRI.
The event challenges young people pursuing a career in the food industry to design an eco-friendly, innovative food or beverage product with commercial potential.
Silver prize
The team from the University of Nottingham took silver prize and £1,000 with Kombu Nations Sausages for their Chinese-style sausages made with toasted sesame and shiitake mushrooms.
The bronze prize and £500 was awarded to a cross-student team representing King’s College London, Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Leeds for Vejects, a snack made from sub-standard vegetables.
Natalie Saxton, who is studying Food, Nutrition and Wellbeing at Harper Adams University, accepted the gold prize on behalf of the More Than Meat Pies team.
‘Amazing experience’
“We are delighted to win gold prize,” she said. “It’s been an amazing experience. One of the best things has been working as a team to bring everyone’s creative ideas together in one product. The judges have been really supportive and we are now looking forward to the European finals.”
The awards were presented by Brett Warburton, the competition’s chief judge and executive director of Warburtons, and Alec Kyriakides, head of product quality, safety and supplier performance at Sainsbury, at Campden BRI’s annual open day on June 6. Judges also included Rick Pendrous, editor of Food Manufacture.
After listening to the team pitches and tasting the products, the ‘dragons’ – a panel of top food industry experts – carefully considered each entry for its industrial feasibility, taste, eco-innovation, originality, creativity, innovation and market credibility.
‘Hard work and creativity’
“The judges were all impressed by the excellent standard of the entries,” said professor Margaret Patterson, IFST president and Ecotrophelia judge. “The hard work and creativity of the students was evident. These young food scientists and technologists should be a real asset to the future of our profession.”
Ecotrophelia UK has attracted sponsorship from big industry names including Sainsbury, DEFRA, Coca-Cola, Elsevier, PepsiCo, Warburtons and Genius Gluten Free, as well as the Farncombe Cotswold Conference Centre.
The Harper Adams team will go on to compete against the other 15 gold-winning national teams from across the whole of Europe for the chance to win up to €8,000 in the Ecotrophelia Europe competition, which will be held in October.
Teams of students interested in entering a team for Ecotrophelia UK 2014 can register their interest with Jane Emery at J.Emery@ifst.org .
