Food Product Concept Competition 2011

By Wong Yoke Teng, Year 2, Diploma in Food Science & Nutrition

Recently, my team and I took part in the Food Product Concept Competition, a competition organised by the Singapore Food Manufacturers' Association’s (SFMA) and held on 4 Nov 2011 at the Restaurant Association of Singapore.

The results were announced at the Opening Ceremony of the Asia Pacific Food Expo 2011 on 17th Nov 2011 and the awards were presented by Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade & Industry and National Development.

“Otah Delight” looks delicious!

“Otah Delight”, an otah-based dim sum platter, created by the NYP team of Cheong Jie Lin, Yap Xin Yi, Tan Su Shan and Pang Shi Ning, won the “Grand Winner Award” and “Best Design Thinking Award”.

“Best Design Thinking Award” and the Overall “Grand Winner Award”. (From left to right) Tan Su Shan, Pang Shi Ning, Dr Cindy Soh (Project Mentor), Mr Rodney Ang (Defu Pte Ltd.), Cheong Jie Lin and Yap Xin Yi

My team won the “Best Marketing Potential Award” for our creation, “PUMato Kaya” - an eggless coconut spread made of pumpkin and sweet potato eggless.

Here’s our product, “PUMato Kaya”!

Our win would not have been possible without the help and guidance of our lecturers including our project mentors Ms Gan Heng Hui and Ms Lin Liang.

Working with our industry partner, Fong Yit Kaya Pte Ltd, really helped too. :)

“Best Marketing Potential Award” winner. (From left to right) Mr Richard Khaw (Manager of Food Science & Nutrition), Ms Gan Heng Hui (Project Mentor), Lwe Kai Wen, me (Wong Yoke Teng), Audrey Tan, Tan Chui Choo, Project Mentor Ms Lin Liang and Ms Goh May San Fong (Yit Kaya Pte Ltd)/

It took our teams four months to develop the new food product concepts for this year’s competition.
This year’s competition was stiff with a total of 20 teams taking part including schools like NUS, Singapore Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and the Institute of Technical Education. Each team was paired with an industry partner. This yearly competition was started in 2007 and this year’s judging panel consisted of regulatory agent representatives, food journalists, nutritionist/dieticians and chefs.

A total of 7 awards given out at this year’s competition including: Most Innovative Award, Most Nutritious Award, Best Packaging Award, Best Marketing Potential Award, Best Design Thinking Award, First Runner up, and Grand Winner. We are proud that NYP bagged 3 of them, including the top award!

We really want to thank all the lecturers that had helped us along the way. Without their guidance, we would not be able to overcome the challenges and problems we faced during product development and the preparation for final presentation. Their help was a huge contribution to our success. We are extremely glad that we have a great team to work with and more importantly we had a great experience!