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Maties team comes second in international competition with their nutritious sweet potato and chocolate spread
Author: Engela Duvenage
Published: 26/08/2016

S'coolBeans, a nutritious chocolate spread containing sweet potato and sugar beans, came second in the international Food Science Students Fighting Hunger product development competition. The low-cost spread is the brain child of a group of food science students from Stellenbosch University (SU). They travelled to Dublin in Ireland to compete against nine other teams from Costa Rica, Singapore, Indonesia and South Africa.

The competition was held at the 18th World Congress of Food Science and Technology of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFOST). It encourages undergraduate students to use their knowledge and skills to develop innovative food products to fight hunger.

According to Cenette Bezuidenhout, S'coolBeans is much more than just a way of stealthily incorporating vegetables into a tasty sandwich spread for children. It is high in protein and contains the necessary vitamins and minerals needed to ensure the development and growth of children, especially those from low-income environments. She therefore believes it could be well suited to use in for instance school feeding schemes.

S'coolBeans is a low cost chocolate and hazelnut flavoured spread made from fermented red speckled beans (also known as sugar beans) and sweet potato. It's potentially provides a good way by which parents can sneak more vegetables into their children's meals.

S'coolBeans was developed in 2014 by Cenette Bezuidenhout, Carin-Marie Engelbrecht, Nicholas Grobbelaar, Taryn Harding, Shannon Howell and Megan Kleyn, as part of product development, a final year BSc Food Science module. Cenette, Shannon and Megan are furthering their studies this year as masters degree students at Stellenbosch University, while Carin-Marie, Nicholas and Taryn have started working in the industry.

According to Cenette Bezuidenhout, S'coolBeans is much more than just a way of stealthily incorporating vegetables into a tasty sandwich spread for children. It is high in protein and contains the necessary vitamins and minerals needed to ensure the development and growth of children, especially those from low-income environments. She therefore believes it could be well suited to use in for instance school feeding schemes.

The whole team travelled to Dublin to present their product to the panel of judges and attendees of the conference. "People the world over were very excited about S'coolBeans, and just wanted to know when it will be made available on the market," says Bezuidenhout.

The team is now working together with Innovus, the technology transfer company of Stellenbosch University, to develop it further and to attract a potential manufacturer that can take it further.

  • The competition was won by a team from Costa Rica, for a nutritious tortilla mixture targeted at pregnant women. A team from the University of Pretoria received the prize for the best presentation.

Photo caption:

The proud S'coolBeans team from Stellenbosch University, after they earned a second place in the international product development competition for students, are (from left) Carin-Marie Engelbrecht, Shannon Howell, Megan Kleyn, Cenette Bezuidenhout, Taryn Harding and Nicholas Grobbelaar. Prof Gunnar Sigge (back row), chair of the SU Department of Food Science, travelled with them to Dublin. Photo: Supplied.