Research awards: A bread product, low in carbohydrates and particularly appropriate for the Atkin's diet, was awarded 1st prize at UCC's Faculty of Food Science and Technology New Food Product Development Showcase.
The showcase is an annual exhibition of new food products developed by students from the BSc Food Technology and BSc Food Business degree programmes at UCC as part of their final year research projects.
The winning entry, Gift, is produced from a range of low glycemic index (GI) ingredients, including prebiotic substances which are known to have many health benefits.
Students Fiona Gaffney (Portlaoise, Co Laois), Susan Healy (Ballincollig, Co Cork), Louise Hodnett (Bantry, Co Cork), Alan Humphreys (Farranastig, Co Cork), Grace O'Brien (Youghal, Co Cork), Joanne O'Callaghan (Crookstown, Co Cork), Sinead O'Connell (Tralee, Co Kerry), Shane O'Sullivan (Castlemartyr, Co Cork) and Garret Sheehan (Douglas, Cork), who had been working on this project for the past five months, celebrated their win at a reception in the UCC staff restaurant which was sponsored by Beamish and Crawford.
The trophy was presented by Dr Tim Roche of the biotransfer unit at UCC, one of the judges, who praised the winners for their originality and product design, and emphasised that such innovation and creativity were cornerstones of the future development of the food industry.
He said all the products on display exhibited great potential.
Gift also won the alimentary pharmabiotic centre (APC) award for best functionality.
The APC, launched in November 2003, is a multidisciplinary research centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland and Industry. The scientific focus of the APC is to study how gastrointestinal (GI) bacteria interact with the human host to either maintain or improve health or to cause disease.
The research is motivated by evidence that implicates GI flora in conditions such as sporadic colon cancer and inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. There is also evidence of the therapeutic efficacy of probiotic bacteria in these conditions and in the prevention of GI infections both in humans and animals.