Natural Coloring Competitions for Students (2011 – 2012)

Overview

Have you ever heard the expression “we eat with our eyes”? We all love eating great-tasting food, but first, we gravitate to those foods and drinks that catch our eyes. At D.D. Williamson, we are proud to help the food industry make great-looking foods and beverages. We have even made it our mission to improve the allure of foods and beverages through visual appeal.

We would like to share our enthusiasm for naturally derived food coloring and the impact it has on the industry. We have commenced our second annual food and beverage coloring competition to spread the excitement of working with color to create more alluring foods and beverages. The competition will also encourage the use of technical problem solving skills, learned in food science, with the challenges of working with naturally derived colors.

Two winners (1 for food application, 1 for beverage application) will receive a trip to the 2012 IFT Annual Meeting in Las Vegas and have their project poster displayed at the D.D. Williamson booth in the IFT Food Expo.

Purpose

The purpose of the two competitions is to:

• Encourage learning about natural colors and their use in food applications.
• Promote innovative thinking and use of technical problem solving in product development
• Link food science students with the food ingredient industry

This competition is open to all current members of the IFT Student Association.

Timeline

General Competition Rules

Phase I Abstracts: Entries to consist of an abstract describing the use of naturally derived colors in an innovative food or beverage application. This can include, but not limited to, matching a current marketplace food or beverage or formulating a new food or beverage with D.D. Williamson natural colors. Judges will evaluate the technical problem solving skills used in product development and the potential success of product in today’s market.

Phase II Finalist Competition: Entrants/Team Captains will receive a set of naturally derived colors from D.D. Williamson for use in their food or beverage development process. Judges will evaluate the technical problem solving skills with three criteria: 1) Product Development Report 2) Food or Beverage Product Sample 3) Poster.

Eligibility

1. Each entrant must be enrolled in a full-time in a Food Science/Technology or related undergraduate or graduate program. through spring term 2012
2. Each entrant must be a current member of the IFT Student Association (IFTSA).
3. Each entrant/Team Captain may only submit one (1) entry per year.
4. Entries must be students’ work. Professors or industry experts may be consulted and referenced, but they may not be a major contributor to the actual work.
5. Industry support such as donation of ingredients or use of equipment is allowed and encouraged, but should not be acknowledged by any entrant in the abstract.
6. Projects from product development classes are eligible for submission.
7. MS, Ph.D., or summer internship projects are not eligible for submission.
8. There is no limit on the number of team members; however, only the Team Captain of the winning team will receive the award.