RL20140828: Introduction to Food Product Development

My apologies, peeps! I didn't realise that it took me that long to write this post, as I was still in the midst of editing the post for my Korean trip. Anyhow, work is work, I don't think I should further procrastinate or else the work would never be done. *Sorry, once again*

So, if you guys haven't noticed yet, this would be the final year for my undergraduate studies. *Where have the time been??!!  Which also means that pressure is more as we are entering the phase of writing thesis for our final year project (FYP hereafter). LOL! but at the same time, I am really excited for this final year because we finally get to do what we are supposed to do! R&D!! *YAY! So, this module, Food Product Development is the gist of the entire course. It requires knowledge from other modules and it spans over 2 semesters. Over the course, we would experience the entire process of research and development, from the initial stage of market study, ideation, coming out with few beta concepts, to deciding the alpha concept, developing the product and finally launching the product. Whew, that's a lot of work! Haha, but I'm sure it'll be super satisfying to see our product launch at the end of the day. Now, aren't you curious what are we doing for our project?

Tadaa.. Project of the Year! Innovative school meals with functional ingredients

Okay, so our project was about creating a healthier food product for school kids. Why? because it's a problem now many of them are suffering from obesity. Malaysia topped the South East Asian countries for being the fattest nation, while ranking no.6 worldwide. (Okay, these data might be a bit outdated because the survey is conducted every 5 years and the next one is due 2015) But isn't it scary? It is reported in a 2013 news article that  Malaysia is facing a 'double-burden' syndrome, where some are still suffering from under-nutrition on one hand, while on the other hand obesity becomes more prevalent. The article also mentioned that obesity is mainly due to rapid economic growth and globalisation, hence the word "globesity". But for me, it does not matter whether if its because of globalisation, because obesity is prevalent across all social classes, be it poor or rich. Heard of the poverty-obesity paradox? Poor people couldn't afford nutrient-dense food, thus surviving with cheap foods which are high in fats, carbohydrates and sodium. In other words, this group of people are actually at a higher risk of suffering from obesity. I can't say that this situation is exactly what's happening in Malaysia, but I'm very much convinced that this is one of the reasons other than a mere globalisation. 

One in four children in Malaysia is either overweight or obese.. x目

Anyway, the problem still goes back to the food children consume and their eating habit. So, in our   

FYP, we're to develop a product that could correct this problem, in terms of nutrition, as well as their eating habit. At the same time, we should also expect to raise children and parent's awareness on healthy eating through our product. I'm really excited with this idea, not only because we are free to develop our own product (our seniors had very specific theme), but it is also very meaningful, if this project is successfully launched in schools at the end of the day. It made me felt like I could make a change, that all the things I've learnt before finally have a purpose.. xD

Taken from: http://sts-international.org/tag/nelson-mandela/

Okay, so on the frst lecture, we started working on collecting ideas for the product, of which the first step is to carry our a market study by conducting a questionnaire. I'll elaborate more on that on the coming post. What we basically did was setting up a questionnaire to collect data that could be used to generate ideas later on, at the same time also verify significance of the problem. After we're ready with the questionnaire, we are going on a field trip to a primary school to conduct the survey. After which, we would analyse the data collected and decide the direction we are heading to.

Aite, that's about it for today!

'til then,
Dong