Center for Food Innovation: Feeding a Fickle Future
Consumers are a finicky bunch, and rarely is that more true than in the food industry. Food manufacturers are not only expected to weather economic downturns and maintain operational efficiency, they’re also expected to be innovative. Today that means turning out tasty food options to satisfy an increasingly health-conscious-and picky-public. That’s where the Center for Food Innovation comes in.
“Even consumers who stop at fast-food restaurants along the highway have higher expectations for food that’s nutritious but still tastes good,” says Dr. Peter J. Bordi, director of Penn State’s Center for Food Innovation (CFI). “When I was growing up, food products that were good for you usually didn’t taste good. Taste was secondary. It’s a different story today.”
A Bridge Between Industry, Government, Academia
Housed on Penn State’s University Park campus, CFI sees itself as the bridge between industry, government and academia to develop great-tasting food that is healthy and nutritious. Within the past year alone, the center:
- Produced a soy-based exercise-recovery drink called “Lionade”
- Completed consumer taste-testing of a sugar-free, low-calorie ice cream
- Developed healthy, soy-based fast-food pizzas for the Sheetz convenience store chain and McDonald’s
- Worked with the Bedford School District to develop healthier vending machine options.
“Our goal is to help Pennsylvania companies develop new products, provide consumers with better food choices and increase the number of food industry jobs in the state,” says Bordi. “I want to give our children a reason to stay in Pennsylvania.” To create and test its products, the center draws on the faculty from the university’s hospitality school, as well as the departments of nutritional sciences, food sciences and economics.
This kind of thinking is right up BFTP’s alley, which is why they committed $200,000 in financial support to help get the center started. The seed money will be distributed over the three-year period that started in 2004.
Plenty of Opportunity
There’s plenty of opportunity for CFI to continue making a real contribution. Pennsylvania is now the fourth-largest food manufacturing state in the nation. Food manufacturing ranks second among all manufacturing sectors in the state in terms of employment.
Throughout CFI’s initial development process, Bordi says, BFTP had enormous influence. “They’ve just been great to work with,” Bordi says. “Every step of the way, no matter what we needed, BFTP was there. They were patient, very understanding of the governmental aspect of our work and able to see the common threads that allowed us to partner with others throughout the state.”
Bordi considers the center’s most significant asset to be the ability to attract more players to the table, literally and figuratively.
“We were able to pull together about 28 different companies in the food industry who typically compete against each other, and we discussed how to all work together to improve our products,” he says. “It’s wonderful to sit down every six months and get that broad perspective, to say, ‘Let’s figure out how to do this right.’ “
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