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Utah State University Wins Ocean Spray Competition

The food science student team at Utah State University won this year’s Ocean Spray Student Product Development Competition, marking the third consecutive year the school has taken home first place, reports Utah State Today. The team presented Cran Pop, a product featuring cranberry byproducts in environmentally friendly packaging.

Cran Pop is a snack leveraging cranberry press cake, the mix of cranberry skin, pulp, and seeds that remain after cranberries are pressed for juice. The team created two flavors for the competition: Sea Salt and Cheesy Chive.

"We began working on Cran Pop in November of 2022 and diligently met two or three times a week to continuously improve our product,” said team captain Melissa Marsh. "The theme this year was sustainability, and we were asked to focus on all parts of sustainability—upcycling waste, packaging, transportation, and consumer usage."

For their efforts, they were awarded a prize of $3,000. Full Story

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