How to create a nutritious, innovative, and delicious product incorporating hearts of palm fiber as a raw material? That was the question on the minds of Alicia Vega (Class of 2021, Costa Rica) and her classmates who joined the Griffith Challenge, a contest promoted by Griffith Foods in conjunction with EARTH University’s Development Unit, as part of the Food Processing course.
Griffith Foods specializes in making high-quality food products while focusing on innovation and developing a more sustainable world. That’s why it has become a strategic partner for EARTH and a promoter of education and new professional experiences for our students.
The challenge took place during the third quarter of 2021, and its main objectives were:
- Create a dairy product based on the students’ creativity. Dairy products were chosen as the category since EARTH has experience creating these products.
- Take advantage of the hearts of palm fiber since it is mainly the heart of the hearts of palm that is consumed. The fiber is commonly wasted in the food industry despite its excellent nutritional properties. The main innovation challenge was to use an uncommon raw material to create a dairy product.
- Consider one of Griffith Foods’ core values: create a functional product that meets a real need. Students had the opportunity to choose any population niche to measure and work on those needs.
- Apply design thinking to focus on the consumer, the problems to be solved, and possible solutions. Based on this analysis, each team proposed the product to be made.
“It was very inspiring for me that we had the opportunity to participate because we are agronomy students, and this process opened us to new knowledge. I think this is something that happens a lot at EARTH thanks to partners like Griffith – they allow us to develop in very diverse areas,” Alicia says. “I think it’s important that as agronomists, we learn more about the food industry, about making food that can be replicated using all resources without generating waste. It was very satisfying to know that we were contributing and to see how EARTH prepares us for much more than just the agricultural world.”
Together with her teammates, Roly Williams Choque Quisbert (Bolivia), Martín Gutiérrez Maldonado (Colombia), and Elvis Fabricio Carranza Vera (Ecuador), Alicia won second place in the contest thanks to a dulce de leche they created with three different percentages of hearts of palm fiber.
Together with her teammates, Roly Williams Choque Quisbert (Bolivia), Martín Gutiérrez Maldonado (Colombia), and Elvis Fabricio Carranza Vera (Ecuador), Alicia won second place in the contest thanks to a dulce de leche they created with three different percentages of hearts of palm fiber.
Overall, seven teams made products like yogurt, powdered drinks, and atole. Griffith Foods provided continuous support to each group. So did Professor Aracelly Cordero the staff of the Guacimo Campus Food Processing Laboratory. Whenever a student had doubts about any objectives, meetings were held to clarify each necessary point. In addition, Griffith Foods provided the hearts of palm fiber.
“Sometimes, as professionals in the food industry, we find it hard to get out of the box we put ourselves in, but the EARTH students are extremely creative and open, coming up with unique and effective ideas. We wanted to give them the opportunity to participate in a challenge like this so they could put their academic knowledge into practice in a real project,” says Professor Aracelly Cordero.
Marcela Vargas, Director of Development for Latin America, stresses the importance of generating strategic alliances with the private sector and facilitating spaces to exchange solutions for the sustainable development of our communities. Thanks to this, the Class of 2021 had the opportunity to grow even more professionally, acquire new knowledge, and be part of a process of actual, necessary innovation for the world.
We look forward to the next Griffith Challenge!