Tasty award for Northern Irish "El Nacho' snack product

'El Nacho', an innovative snack developed by food students in Northern Ireland, has won a major prize in an EU-wide competition for original products.

The product - marinated and slow cooked pulled turkey in a hot enchilada sauce with chunky nachos in tear and share biodegradable packaging - was developed by students at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) in Northern Ireland for the 'Ecotrophelia UK 2016 Awards'. It gained a silver award and a £1,000 prize in the UK-wide competition. The product is low in fat, salt and sugar. It was among six finalists for the awards.

The six-strong team of students, all girls, set up a small company, Eco Chic, has been taking part in CAFRE's popular food course, which is provided on the college's Cookstown campus.

Ecotrophelia gives students a taste of new product development. From idea generation through to the final packaged product, the teams get a hands-on experience of what it takes to bring an eco-friendly food or drink product to market.

Derek McDowell, CAFRE's head of food technology branch, says: "I am delighted that our students took silver in the competition which provides them with a taste of new product development, from generating ideas to the final packaged product.

"They obviously impressed the judges with their product's commercial viability, biodegradable packaging and excellent nutritional qualities - low in fat, salt and sugar - plus great taste and flavour," he adds.

Judges from top names in the food and drink industry including Coca-Cola, M&S, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Warburtons, as well as Innovate UK heard pitches from team taking part and tasted the products before carefully considering each entry for its industrial feasibility, taste, eco-innovation, originality, creativity and innovation, and market credibility.

Andrew Gardner, Operations Director with the Institute of Food Science and Technology, one of the organisers of the event, continues:

"We're delighted to see interest in Ecotrophelia UK continuing to grow. We received a record nineteen entries from across the UK this year, with exceptionally high quality submissions again. We are also happy to have so many high-profile names supporting Ecotrophelia which continues to attract the brightest and the best young talent to the food and drink industry".

The UK heat of this Europe-wide competition was organised by UK food and drink research organisation, Campden BRI, in conjunction with the Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST), the independent qualifying body for food professionals in Europe.

Pic Caption: The winning 'Eco Chic' team of Judith Alderdice, Samantha Craig, Laura Jackson, Gillian Knipe, Siobhan Parks and Jay Price.