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Institute of Food Technologists
Chicago, Illinois

Contact:
Rosetta Newsome, rlnewsome{at}ift.org, 312-782-8424
James N. Klapthor, jnklapthor{at}ift.org, 312-782-8424 x 231

July 4, 2003

New Snack Food between Space Walks

Obstacles scientists overcome to make life in space attainable are
seemingly innumerable, and NASA believes food science students at
Chapman University in California may have the right stuff. Those
students, led by department chair and Institute of Food Technologists
food science expert Anuradha Prakash, Ph.D., have developed an
elusive super-nutritious pizza snack intended for the delectable use
by astronauts on future missions. 

As winners of this year's NASA food product development competition,
these students and their product, Pizza Poppers, will be attending
the 2003 IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo(r), at Chicago's McCormick
Place convention center, beginning July 13.

Pizza Poppers were developed after Chapman students researched
existing foods for astronauts and noticed a significant lack of
comfort foods, like pizza and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,
according to Prakash. She says impressive characteristics of the
product from the NASA perspective are its utilization of protein-rich
wastewater leftover from tofu manufacturing, and its ability to be
crispy while producing no crumbs that can adversely affect sensitive
electronics aboard space stations.

Prakash says the students subjected their product to extensive
microbiological, chemical, physical and sensory evaluation tests in
order to develop a pizza snack that has an attractive texture and
taste and is safe for consumption even with a one-year shelf life.
Like other products originally used for space flight, students
foresee Pizza Pops becoming a popular item in grocery stores, too. 

NASA is picking up the tab for the Chapman team to attend the meeting
and exposition. They will be on the expo floor with 1,000 other
companies presenting the latest in food science, research, product
development, safety, and other related topics. Later this year, the
students will be offering their pizza to scientists at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston. 

The IFT Annual Meeting + Food Expo(r) delivers comprehensive,
cutting-edge research and opinion from food science-, technology-,
marketing- and business-leaders. Scientific perspective and solutions
to world food issues proceed beyond this five-day event, when IFT
co-hosts the 12th World Congress of Food Science and Technology, July
16-20, at Hilton Chicago. More information on these events is
available online at http://www.am-fe.ift.org. 

Founded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is a
not-for-profit international scientific society with 28,000 members
working in food science, technology and related professions in
industry, academia and government. As the society for food science
and technology, IFT brings sound science to the public discussion of
food issues. For more on IFT, see www.ift.org . 

*****

Office of Public Relations
Chapman University

April 23, 2003

Chapman Students Win First Place in NASA Competition

They create pizza for NASA astronauts to enjoy during space travel.

ORANGE, Calif. -- Five Chapman students have solved the outer space
pizza delivery problem and garnered first prize in the 2003 NASA Food
Technology Commercial Space Center Product Development Competition.

Gerrie Adams, Pei Chen Chen, Wan Lin Chou, Akua Kwakwa, and Heather
Pe designed a proposal for "Pizza Poppers," a tasty snack that
ensures distance will not prevent astronauts from enjoying a favorite
treat. The winning submission was Chapman's first entry in the
contest.

NASA will send the students and their advisor, Chapman Professor
Anuradha Prakash, Ph.D., to present the project in July in Chicago at
the Institute of Food Tech-nologists' Annual Meeting and Food Expo
and at the Johnson Space Center in November.

To qualify for the competition, entries must be easily prepared,
generate minimal waste, yield no crumbs, provide high nutritional
value, be based on crops grown in space, and taste good.

Students initially created the product for a Chapman food product
development course, which allows students to cultivate new food
products from conception to market introduction. Four teams of
students created products for the shelf-stable foods division of Con
Agra. At the end of the semester, students decided to further
develop "Pizza Poppers" to meet the NASA contest criteria. 

Chapman's Department of Food Science and Nutrition is accredited by
the Institute of Food Technologists an international organization
devoted to all aspects of the food industry. Through the program,
students and faculty regularly conduct sensory evaluations for major
Southern California food companies, testing products ranging from
burritos to yogurt. Orange County is adjacent to the third largest
concentration of food industry companies in the nation.

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