Food Product & Innovation Presentations 2025
Students from our Higher Diploma in Food Science and Technology presented a series of innovative food products at our annual food project showcase last Saturday, 26th April. This year’s event was run in association with BWG Foods, one of Ireland’s leading food retail and wholesale companies.
The judging panel was treated to an outstanding display of presentations featuring creative new food ideas, developed as the highlight of the class’s Food Product Innovation and Development module. This was the culmination of weeks of collaborative work, blending creativity with industry-standard practices to address current food trends and market gaps.
Working in teams, students were tasked with navigating the full product lifecycle, designing unique offerings from initial concept through formulation, packaging, pricing, and launch strategies. The presentations featured a diverse range of products from tasty savoury options such as seaweed tortillas and a combava infused piment rouge pasta sauce, to sweet treats including gluten-free vegan churros, collagen protein bites, melt-in-the-mouth almond biscuits and cottage cheese chocolate bars. All of the concepts demonstrated a keen understanding of evolving market demands and a growing public appreciation for nutritional innovation.
The panel of industry experts reviewing the products this year included guests from BWG Foods’ Innovation Team, Orla Kelly Head of Food and Beverage Innovation and Lisa Garrett Range Development and Implementation Manager, along with programme lecturers Michael King and Elizabeth Russell and Programme Lead, Jennifer Campbell. Rigorous feedback was provided by judges after each pitch, with questions challenging students on areas including market viability, production scalability and safety compliance.
Lecturer Michael King was impressed with the standard of the concepts, stating “the students showed some great understanding of the whole process of developing a food product and bringing it to market. Some of these ideas were completely innovative but they were presented as ideas ready to go on retail shelves.” The Higher Diploma in Food Science is a great opportunity for food entrepreneurs to develop their idea into a commercial product. King added “at Innopharma Education, one of our core aims is to strengthen the connection with industry. The inclusion of industry professionals in this year’s process underscored the programme’s commitment to bridging academic learning with real-world industry expectations.”
BWG Foods awarded the “Best Food Product Innovation” prize to the CCB group, that produced delicious chocolate covered cottage cheese bars, with blueberries and chia seeds. The group, consisting of Inese Kravcuka, Lucimara Brito, Shane O Brien & Vincent Broderick, were commended on their success in meeting the brief by delivering an innovative, shelf-ready retail product with strong market potential. The panel emphasised how the team transformed cottage cheese, an often underutilised ingredient, into a nutritious, market-ready snack, highlighting its ability to address gaps in Ireland’s health-conscious confectionery sector while excelling in taste and texture. The product’s combination of shelf-ready packaging and consumer-centric innovation positioned it as a standout of the day.
Annually, this event highlights the programme’s success in fostering skills critical to modern food manufacturing, including product development, innovation as well as HACCP and regulatory compliance. All in attendance remarked on the professionalism of the presentations and the students’ ability to articulate their product concepts with clarity and confidence.
This presentation day not only celebrated student achievement but also demonstrated the evolving landscape of food innovation, with an emphasis on sustainability, functional ingredients, and consumer-centric product design. Innopharma’s partnership with industry leaders like BWG Foods ensures graduates are equipped to drive progress in Ireland’s thriving food and beverage sector.
