Year 11 students Flynn Sefo-Cloughley, Reuben McArley and Thomas Wilson were successful in securing their Silver CREST Award this year. The Student Product Development Challenge is run by The New Zealand Institute of Food Science and The Royal Society.

These Year 11 students were matched with Industry Mentor, Michael Gin, who is the New Product Development Manager at Harraway and Sons, a well-known Dunedin company. Following the first meeting on site at Harraways in March the students, guided by Michael, began their research into exploring the nutritional value and uses of oats in food manufacturing.

Students worked towards their aim of creating a breakfast or snack food that was nutritious for athletes and teenagers who are short on time and need a high intake of carbohydrates and protein. Trialling recipes and variations of ingredients was time consuming and lead to problem solving and much modification of an original base recipe.

Site visits to Harraways with Michael encouraged and resourced the students as they pursued creating a product that was protein enriched. Michael sourced and supplied product to make this happen.

Davis Food Ingredients, a Christchurch based firm visited us in June and Neil Pearce presented sponsorship money to assist the boys with carrying out their product trials.

Analysis of product trials and many lunchtime and after School hours lead to a final product named Proateam. An oat based waffle mix that was protein enriched was submitted as the final product design.

Students presented their final product, packaging, marketing and research portfolio at The University of Otago for judging in late September. They also presented by video conference to Massey University for final placement in the nationwide competition. Proateam were the only South Island students to complete the 2017 CREST Challenge and were commended in final judging.

Flynn, Reuben and Thomas took on this challenge as an extension program at Otago Boys’ High School this year as an inaugural co-curricular activity with outstanding results.

Jacqueline Irving