Posted: 06.17.2011

Pixie Dust was magic for a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison  
food science graduate students in New Orleans last weekend. That's the  
name of the drink mix that earned them first place in a Disney- 
sponsored food product development contest at the Institute of Food  
Technologists (IFT) annual meeting in New Orleans.

The contest invited entries of products that were healthy for kids and  
Disney themed. Pixie Dust is made from freeze-dried fruit and can be  
mixed with either milk or water. It supplies the equivalent of a full  
serving of fruit

It was a good year overall for UW-Madison students at the IFT  
conference. Another UW-Madison team earned third place in another IFT  
food product competition with a shelf-stable yogurt truffle called  
Blissful Bites. A third team won an honorable mention in the Disney  
competition with a product called Tangerine Dreams, a carbonated  
beverage the provides a full serving of low-fat dairy.

Just getting to compete in New Orleans was a big accomplishment. The  
judging at the IFT meeting was the final round for both contests. Each  
contest originally fielded about two dozen entries but advanced only  
six teams to the finals, based on proposals the teams submitted last  
spring for products they'd been working on since early last fall.

“As a side note, our food science club won second place in the Chapter  
of the Year competition, so it’s a very good year for the Department  
of Food Science,” said says Jackie Koch, captain of the Pixie Dust  
team and product development chairperson for the Food Science Club.

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