INDIANAPOLIS — The American Society of Baking (ASB) selected three finalist teams for its annual Product Development Competition (PDC), sponsored by the National Honey Board.
The PDC, now in its 11th year, is designed to help food science students gain exposure and showcase their innovations to industry experts. More than $200,000 in scholarships have been given to the next generation of baking talent through the competition.
“The competition provides a prestigious platform for these rising stars to engage directly with industry leaders and showcase fresh ideas, creating ‘real world’ product concepts that push the boundaries of baking science and technology,” said Devanshu Mehta, current PDC committee chair and member of the winning 2022 team.
This year, teams were challenged to develop an innovative, on-the-go product featuring honey as the primary sugar ingredient. Finalists were selected by a panel that evaluated their proposals on key criteria, including product and process description, technical problem-solving, food safety and shelf life.
The 2024 product submissions include Cornell University’s prOATS!, the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s HoneyCrunch and Oregon State University’s Garden Box Cookies.
The three teams will compete for a share of the $20,000 scholarship prize, with the winners announced during the finals at ASB’s BakingTECH 2025, set for Feb. 15-18 in Orlando, FL. At the event, the finalists will present their products on the main stage to attendees — along with a distinguished panel of industry judges — during the Future Forward Luncheon on Monday, Feb. 17.
Until then, the finalist teams will write a final report and prepare product samples for the judges to test.
Visit the ASB website for more information on the competition.
