UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Three teams of food science students from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences came out on top in national product-development competitions and a trivia bowl in June.
At the American Dairy Science Association's annual meeting in Pittsburgh, six student teams participated in the National Dairy Council's New Product Competition to come up with a high-protein dairy beverage targeting consumers between the ages of 15 and 25. According to the National Dairy Council, this demographic combines young millennials with the oldest members of Generation Z and represents "ethnically diverse, socially connected young people who enjoy exploring authentic, global food experiences and new flavors."
Penn State's team, composed of Michelle Tran (team captain), Lisa Caprera, Manpreet Cheema, Mitchell Culler, Jacob Ginn, Devin Koenig, Abigail Peleschak, Taylor Thomas, Gloria Wang and Michael Zaffuto, competed against top teams from California State Polytechnic, Kansas State, Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell and North Carolina State universities.
The Penn State team took first place and an $8,000 prize. Their product, FüZen, is a dairy-based beverage with unique dual-bottle packaging designed to support the on-the-go, healthy lifestyle of moderately active young adults. Each package of FüZen comes with 8 ounces of two flavors — chocolate-coconut and vanilla-cardamom — which can be consumed together or separately depending on consumer needs and preferences. Consumed alone, the chocolate-coconut flavor provides slightly more protein and less added sugar and fewer calories than the vanilla-cardamom flavor.
FüZen is 90 percent dairy ingredients, including 2 percent milk, whey protein isolate and micellar casein. The beverage is an excellent source of protein, calcium and vitamin D and a good source of potassium and vitamin A.