Veggie spread for astronauts earns Penn State team honors

Veggie spread for astronauts earns Penn State team honors

Eat your vegetables -- especially in space

Ames, Iowa -- A team from Penn State took home top honors this week in a space product development contest by designing a vegetable spread specifically for astronauts. The annual competition is sponsored by the NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center (FTCSC) at Iowa State University.

Penn State students Renee Britton, Supratim Ghosh, Rajesh Potineni and Vandana Totlani developed the winning entry, Veg@eez, under the direction of their adviser Koushik Seetharaman, assistant professor of food science.

Veg@eez is a three-layer vegetable spread for use during space travel. It is nutritious, shelf-stable, easy to prepare, convenient to eat, requires no additional water and has a tricolor appearance designed to increase the appeal of the product.

"The product is well-suited for space, as it utilizes vegetables that will potentially be grown on the Moon or Mars outpost," stated Cheryll Reitmeier, FTCSC education mission specialist and competition coordinator.

Veg@eez is made from minimally processed spinach, chard, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and radishes. The vegetables are combined with a blend of spices consisting of oregano, salt, vinegar and olive oil to make a delicious and nutritious snack.

While originally designed for space, Veg@eez also could be of interest in the terrestrial market. The product could be used as a sandwich spread, as a filling for tortillas or as a dip. This tri-colored product contains no saturated fat, cholesterol or sugars, and it is high in fiber and micronutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C and folate.

Seetharaman noted that the NASA FTCSC product development competition is a unique opportunity for students.

"The notion of working on a food product for space travel is very exciting to students," he commented. "The nuances of developing a product with specific dietary, shelf life and safety criteria for space travel allows the students to be creative in applying the knowledge they have learned as food scientists."

The NASA FTCSC Product Development Competition was established in 2001 by NASA FTCSC to increase awareness about foods and food-processing techniques required for long-term space travel among food science and technology students. Student teams from universities across the United States are challenged to design food products or processing systems to meet the criteria for missions to the Moon or planetary outposts. Specifically, the products need to be based on the crops grown in space, easily prepared, nutritious, safe to eat, have few crumbs and taste good. Food scientists from NASA and commercial food companies evaluate the student proposals and products.

The Penn State team will travel to the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Las Vegas, Nev., July 12-16 to showcase its product idea. The students also will have the opportunity to present Veg@eez to NASA scientists and NASA FTCSC commercial partners at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in November.

The NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center was established in 1999 to develop foods and food-processing technologies that enhance space missions and advance commercial food products. Anthony Pometto III, professor of Food Science at Iowa State University, directs the center. More information about the competition and the NASA Food Technology Space Center can be found at http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/ftcsc/