Alimendra®, nutritional beverage created by students Pilar Mora and Gustavo Guerrero, award-winning of Ecotrophelia Spain 2015

Gustavo Herrero and Pilar Mora won the second prize of the competition Ecotrophelia Spain 2015.
Gustavo Herrero and Pilar Mora won the second prize of the competition Ecotrophelia Spain 2015.
Research
(29/04/2015)

“It is an opportunity to show creativity, applicability and quality of acquired knowledge”, affirm Pilar Mora and Gustavo Guerrero, students of the master's degree in Food Research, Development and Innovation of the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Torribera Food and Nutrition Campus of the University of Barcelona (UB). They have won the second prize of the competition Ecotrophelia Spain 2015, aimed at designing eco-friendly innovative food or beverage products with strong commercial potential.

Gustavo Herrero and Pilar Mora won the second prize of the competition Ecotrophelia Spain 2015.
Gustavo Herrero and Pilar Mora won the second prize of the competition Ecotrophelia Spain 2015.
Research
29/04/2015

“It is an opportunity to show creativity, applicability and quality of acquired knowledge”, affirm Pilar Mora and Gustavo Guerrero, students of the master's degree in Food Research, Development and Innovation of the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Torribera Food and Nutrition Campus of the University of Barcelona (UB). They have won the second prize of the competition Ecotrophelia Spain 2015, aimed at designing eco-friendly innovative food or beverage products with strong commercial potential.

Alimendra®, a nutritional beverage created by Pilar Mora and Gustavo Guerrero, is one of the award-winning products of the new edition the food innovation competition. “The beverage combines nutritional benefits of almond milk —rich in unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids— and natural fruit juice refreshing character with cookies made of almond flour and dried food. Moreover, almond flour obtain from milk production is mostly used for animal feeding”, explain Pilar Mora and Gustavo Guerrero, Ecuadorian students at the UB who are planning future projects to enlarge their professional and academic career as nutrition experts.

 

Vegetable beverage and snack

“So far, there wasnʼt any product that combines a vegetable beverage and a snack”, highlight Mora and Guerrero. “The new product —they add— includes a by-product elaborated with Mediterranean ingredients which has less than 200kcal per portion, does not contain animal fats, is lactose free and non-genetically modified. Cookies are also eco-friendly as they are elaborated with the part of almonds that others do not use”.

The new beverage responds to the increasing demand of free lactose and healthy products. According to Inforetail®, the consumption of vegetable beverages is increasing; particularly, the consumption of almond milk has increased by 30% in a year. “This beverage —they stress— is a healthy snack to eat while you are walking as it can be easily carried”.

 

Food innovation awards

Ecotrophelia Spain 2015 is a competition organised by the Spanish Food and Drink Industry Federation (FIAB) to recognise innovative and organic food products. This year, the first prize has been conferred on Veggiebo, a snack created by the Universitat Politècnica de València.

The final, which gathered twelve out of thirteen proposals submitted by students at different Spanish universities, took place on 20 April at the Alicia Foundation, located at the Món Sant Benet cultural heritage centre (Sant Fruitós de Bages, Barcelona).

This year, students of the master's degree in Food Research, Development and Innovation, coordinated by Francesc Guardiola, professor in the Department of Nutrition and Bromatology of the Faculty of Pharmacy, submitted two shortlisted products: Alimendra®, second prize winner, and Donak, a doughnut made of okara, a by-product obtained from soy milk production, elaborated by students Adrián Sánchez, Mónica Serrano and Valentina Sotomayor.

Products development took place in the academic year 2013-2014 within the subject Final Project, in the category of Innovative Food Products, and coordinated by Joan Pere Bosch Llopart and Albert Montferrer, professors in the Department of Nutrition and Bromatology of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the UB.

Pilar Mora and Gustavo Guerrero are not the first UB students who have won the competition. Peelcuits, a snack made up of tomato skin, created by Sandra Fernández and Gabriel Pérez, won the first prize on Ecotrophelia Spain 2013. Moreover, Crequis and Troncholate, two food products created by Mireia Godoy and Anna Simon, and by Sara Figueroa, Lucía Maroto and Aida Riera, respectively, won the first and second prizes on Ecotrophelia Spain 2012. XoveT, a food product created by the students Mireia Godoy and Anna Simon, also won the Ecotrophelia Europe 2012 Innovation Award.