Students at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences win TROPHELIA ideas competition

‘Flexi-Nuggets’ made from chicken and beans win over the jury

Meat substitutes are on trend. More and more vegan alternatives to schnitzel, sliced meat and bratwurst are filling supermarket shelves. What's missing: ready-made products for people who want to limit their meat consumption but don't want to give it up completely. Franziska Diebel, Pauline Hoffmann and Yusuf Toprak, students on the Master's degree programme in Food Technology, have developed ‘flexi-nuggets’ made from chicken and white beans. They won this year's TROPHELIA ideas competition with this idea. In October, they will be travelling to the European final ECOTROPHELIA in Cologne. The team was supervised by Prof Dr Ramona Bosse.

Franziska Diebel came up with the idea for an alternative to chicken nuggets that does not completely dispense with meat. The student has been a vegetarian for around ten years and has heard the phrase ‘I couldn't give up meat completely!’ over and over again. At the same time, many people realise that eating too much meat is unhealthy. "It would be good to have products with a reduced meat content instead of giving it up completely. But there isn't anything like that at the moment," says the student. In addition, the long lists of ingredients in vegan substitute products are often criticised. 

The ‘Flexi-Nuggets’ could fill a gap here. They consist of just five ingredients and fit in well with the Planetary Health Diet. In this form of nutrition, mainly plant-based foods are consumed, while animal products are seen more as a supplement. The ‘Flexi-Nuggets’ consist of 50 per cent chicken breast meat and 50 per cent white beans. The breading is also made entirely from beans. This makes the nuggets particularly high in protein. "We initially tested other recipes, for example with seitan flour and other ingredients. Our professor then challenged us a little and asked if we could manage to use fewer ingredients," recalls Pauline Hoffmann. The different dietary preferences of her fellow students, who were the first to test the finished nuggets, also helped with the further development.

A particular challenge for the student team was to prepare their ‘flexi-nuggets’ fresh and serve them warm during the TROPHELIA ideas competition. "We took half our household with us. However, there was only one power socket on site. Fortunately, a free kitchen was made available to us. The preparation was then a precision landing: We had to present immediately after we had finished frying and serving the nuggets," reports Franziska Diebel. Nevertheless, they impressed the TROPHELIA jury across the board. Not only did they receive the highest number of points for their dossier, but they were also able to prevail against 5 other teams in the final in Bonn. This means they have succeeded in defending the title for Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. "I am very happy for the students. They made the most of the idea and presented a well-rounded concept. This not only includes a very tasty product, but also a plan for how such a product can be marketed and whether it is economically viable. The three of them have mastered this task brilliantly. They can be very proud of themselves and their product. Now it's time to look ahead and start preparing for ECOTROPHELIA," says Prof Dr Ramona Bosse.

Taking part was a special experience for the students. "I did my bachelor's degree at another university and didn't even know that such competitions existed. It's definitely a great offer from the university that participation is directly an objective of the course," says Yusuf Toprak. Franziska Diebel and Pauline Hoffmann did not study in Bremerhaven either. With their Bachelor's degree specialisations - biotechnology, food technology and technology of renewable raw materials - they complemented each other perfectly when it came to product development. They are currently writing their Master's theses at various companies.

The TROPHELIA ideas competition is aimed at food science students and was organised for the 16th time by the Forschungskreis der Ernährungsindustrie e. V. (FEI). The Bremerhaven team will represent Germany with ‘Flexi-Nuggets’ at the European ECOTROPHELIA competition, which takes place on 7/8 October in Cologne.

(Translated with DeepL.com (free version))