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MSU researchers partner with La Tinga to serve edible weeds in Bozeman December 12, 2023 Montana State University researchers—including Roland Ebel, Fabian Menalled, Wan-Yuan Kuo, and Tim Seipel—have submitted a project proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the market potential for edible weeds. Purslane is a common weed in the area that is highly nutritious and is consumed as a vegetable in other parts of the world. It could provide new revenue streams for farmers while promoting sustainability by reducing herbicide use and utilizing organic matter. The research team is partnering with the local Mexican restaurant La Tinga to create purslane dishes and solicit consumer feedback. |
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MSU Food Product Development Lab explores possibilities for Montana pulsesOctober 24, 2023 The Prairie Star journalist, Jamie Henneman, interviewed the Food Product Development Lab's Media and Program Manager to learn about the lab's programs and projects. |
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IFTSA Student Competition Winners: IFT announces winners of student product development and other competitions that took place at IFT FIRSTAugust 7, 2023 The FPDL's PATH team students (Chidimma Ifeh, Olivia Schwintek, Hannah Kempf [not pictured], and Lynn Weeks) took 3rd place among finalists in the Developing Solutions for Developing Countries competition at the Institute of Food Technologists' Annual Event & Expo with their presentation of “Frutta-Sorgho: An Instantly Nutritious Blend of Indigenous Knowledge and Western Technology Co-Developed with Senegal Women Farmers” |
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Mars celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Heritage Chocolate Society, honoring the legacy of its founder, Forrest E. Mars, Jr.February 9, 2023 Chidimma Ifeh, FPDL master's student, received the 2023 Forrest E. Mars Jr. Grant. She will be working with a USDA-funded team to incorporate Indigenous voices in creating learning resources for a sustainable chocolate value chain for the food science community. |
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FFAR Announces New Innovator in Food & Agricultural Research AwardeesApril 13, 2022 FPDL Lab Director, Dr. Wan-Yuan Kuo, received FFAR's New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award. The award provides early-career scientists with funding to conduct audacious food and agriculture research. |
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Sioux Chef Sean Sherman mentors MSU students about food and resiliencyMarch 7, 2022 International celebrity chef Sean Sherman—A.K.A. Sioux Chef—visited MSU to cook and mentor and inspire Native American students as well as those studying in MSU’s culinary arts program. Student members of the FPDL gave presentations on their Indigenous food product research and shared product samples. |
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Governor Gianforte and Director Clark tour MSU's Food Product Development LabFebruary 24, 2022 Greg Gianforte and Christy Clark toured the FPDL's test kitchen and food extrusion lab where they learned about the state-of-the-art technologies that researchers are using to add value to Montana crops. The visitors sampled test products including chickpea puffs, lentil muffins, and cold-hardy berry smoothies. |
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Student entrepreneurs win $10,000 in MSU’s annual Big Idea ChallengeJanuary 19, 2022 MSU-FDPL graduate lab member Genesis Chavez Reyes won the MT Impact Award for her Youth Novus Indigenous and Tribal Entrepreneurship (YouNITE), a food incubator that helps improve food security. |
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Bring back salmon to the River of No ReturnDecember 15, 2021 Graduate lab member Mattie Griswold calls for restoring wild salmon migration routes by emulating traditions of Native American environmental stewardship. |
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Fourteen ventures selected as finalists for second annual MSU $50K Venture CompetitionApril 2, 2021 Bonbon Bouye is a children’s peanut nutrition bar co-developed by Team PATH and Senegalese women farmers in efforts to boost children's nutrition and local economic development. |
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Three Montana State faculty members named 2020 MUS Teaching ScholarsSeptember 30, 2020 FPDL Director, Wan-Yuan Kuo, assistant professor in Health and Human Development at MSU, was selected to take part in the Montana University System’s 2020 Teaching Scholars program, which seeks to help students succeed at Montana campuses. |
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Photo credit Rebecca Soule |
Montana State students win top honors in international food science competitionsJune 2 and September 8, 2020 Team PATH, led by doctoral student Edwin Allan, won first place in this year’s Institute of Food Technologists’ Developing Solutions for Developing Countries Competition. They were honored for their work with Bountifield International on co-developing a culturally sensitive peanut nutrition bar with smallholder women farmers in the west African nation of Senegal. The team also won the Judges’ Choice Award in an earlier venture pitch competition held at MSU in May. Sharon Li won first place in the institute’s graduate student poster competition in the sensory science division. Li’s poster examined how consumers’ perceptions of Montana-made lentil crackers are affected by their sensory quality, as well as by their made-in-Montana and low carbon footprint labels. The project will be expanded into developing lentil snacks using food extrusion technology. |
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Creating a better crackerDecember 9, 2019 Students in MSU's food lab develop a low-glycemic cracker made from Montana-grown lentils. |
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Students take charge of crumbly gluten-free granolaApril 11, 2019 Gluten-Free Prairie, a Montana producer of gluten-free grain products, was struggling to achieve the perfect gluten-free granola. They reached out to MSU’s Culinary Services’ for help. FPDL student researchers experimented with the granola recipe in their test kitchen and recruited volunteers to participated a sensory test. |
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MSU students help improve local food productsDecember 17, 2018 The MSU Food Product Development Lab helps local food companies produce better products and provides students with real-world learning experiences. |
