Food Product Development
This domain follows a food idea from concept to market: idea generation and screening, formulation and nutrition targeting, prototype trials, sensory testing, shelf-life and packaging, scale-up, costing, labelling and compliance. Exam questions often give a local raw material (maize, soy, groundnut, plantain, moringa) and ask you to justify a product, a formulation or a development sequence.
The stage–gate sequence
- Idea generation - market gap, underused raw material, consumer complaint.
- Screening - technical feasibility, cost, regulatory fit, likely demand.
- Concept testing - describe the product to consumers before making it.
- Prototype and formulation - bench trials, adjust ingredients, target nutrient content.
- Sensory evaluation - discrimination, then preference/acceptability with target consumers.
- Shelf-life and packaging trials - storage at controlled temperature and humidity; monitor moisture, rancidity, microbial counts, sensory drift.
- Scale-up and process specification - equipment, batch size, critical control points.
- Costing, labelling, launch - cost of goods, price, distribution, nutrition and ingredient declaration.
Formulation tools
The Pearson square blends two ingredients to a target nutrient level. Nutrient density per 100 kcal, not per 100 g, is the right basis for weaning foods.
Worked example
Formulate a weaning porridge with 16 % protein from maize flour (9 % protein) and full-fat soy flour (36 % protein). Pearson square: parts soy = 16 − 9 = 7; parts maize = 36 − 16 = 20. Total parts 27, so soy = 7/27 = 25.9 %, maize = 20/27 = 74.1 %. Check: (0.259 × 36) + (0.741 × 9) = 9.3 + 6.7 = 16.0 %. Reasoning: the square measures each ingredient's distance from the target, and the required ratio is those distances inverted relative to the ingredient they belong to. Then adjust for energy density (add oil or sugar), micronutrient fortification, and cost.
Regulatory and labelling points
Pre-packaged foods must carry product name, ingredients in descending order of weight, net content, date marking, storage instructions and manufacturer details; national standards are issued through ANOR with the NC mark. Health or nutrition claims must be truthful and verifiable.
Traps that cost marks
- Scaling up before sensory acceptability is established.
- Designing only on nutrition and ignoring cost or local availability.
- Skipping shelf-life trials for a product with added oil or high moisture.
- Inverting the Pearson square ratio.
- Forgetting that a weaning food must also be safe from aflatoxin in groundnut or maize inputs.