Nearly every year, Cornell dominates at the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association product development competition, an annual event where student teams develop a new food idea and carry the concept through to marketing and production.

This year was a record-setting performance. Multiple food science student teams walked away with top honors at IFT FIRST, which stands for Food Improved by Research, Science and Technology, July 13 to 16 in Chicago.

Team NoriNom took first place for its sushi-roll inspired snack in the 35th Annual IFTSA-Mars Product Development Competition. A Cornell team also took first place in the American Egg Board Eggcelerator Lab Student Competition with “Eggsential Cereal,” a high-protein egg-based flaked cereal. In the Smart Snacks for Kids Product Development Competition, Cornell took both first and second places, the former with IamFan, a pineapple-fried rice inspired snack, and the latter with Blueberry Brain Bar, a chickpea and blueberry snack bar. And, finally, Cornell took first place in the 40th annual College Bowl Competition, with a 26-20 win over University of Arkansas in the finals.

In addition to winning all the firsts at IFT FIRST, the undergraduates and graduate students had an opportunity to interact with the Chicago expo’s 16,000 attendees, said Viral Shukla, M.S. ’24, Ph.D. ’25, a postdoctoral associate in food science and technology at Cornell AgriTech and president of the IFTSA.

“IFT is the convening of the entire global food system, with a huge number of international attendees,” Shukla said. “From people just starting in careers to those who’ve been in the industry for 40 years, you meet everyone in every single career path related to food.”

Shukla is a veteran in the competition, having competed in various IFT events as an undergraduate. As part of the Smart Snacks for Kids team this year, the challenge was complex.

“We wanted to develop a product that really speaks to kids but is informed by what parents need: something convenient, shelf stable and healthy. Kids are looking for something fun and with unique flavors,” he said.

The competition requires teams to make products based around the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines for smart snacks in school, he said. So they came up with a freeze-dried puffed rice snack with dried carrots, bell peppers and peas, as well as pineapple chunks and jackfruit floss to resemble meat, the whole thing offered with a pineapple fried rice sauce.

“We tell consumers to ‘sauce, seal and shake,’” Shukla said, adding that the fun package is compostable and shelf stable, and that the product is vegan as well as allergen- and gluten-free.

Annika Madler, a graduate student in food science and technology, was co-captain of this year’s winner of the IFTSA-Mars Product Development Competition. With NoriNom, her 10-member team developed a fortified rice cake with a sticky soy sauce glaze and nori sheet, packaged with an edamame mash and dehydrated oyster mushrooms on top, designed to mimic the experience of sushi in a shelf-stable product.

“We wanted to make a layered product where every layer served a purpose,” Madler said. “Moisture migration was the main challenge, and we worried about oxidation of the edamame.”

Mars Wrigley now has the option to manufacture the winning product.

“They have our 25-page proposal and it’s up to them to do what they please with it. The point of this was for learning and it gives team members a lot of confidence,” Madler said.

Mark Nisbet, Ph.D. ’13, director of product development for Mars Wrigley, said the competition is a great opportunity for students to translate what they learn in the classroom to solving real problems. Nisbet participated on student teams as an undergraduate and was a judge for the competition last year. “It’s the flagship product development competition and Cornell has a great legacy” he said, “with a playbook on how to organize your team and how to do your problem-solving.”

Peer mentoring is also a key to Cornell food science teams’ success, according to Gavin Sacks, professor of food science and chair of the Department of Food Science (CALS).

“The students are teaching each other, then the new ones go on to mentor other people. For 17 years straight Cornell teams have qualified for the finals,” Sacks said. “We have a hallway in Stocking Hall with posters from winning teams. The students walk past that and they know it could be them next.”