UC Davis Student Wins IFT Competition for Whey Protein Film Research
UC Davis Graduate Student Laura Pallas won First Place in the Graduate Student Poster Competition of the Food Packaging Division at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) 2006 Annual Meeting in Orlando. The award is based on scientific merit, as well as clarity and professionalism of presentation.
Laura conducted her Master’s Degree research under the guidance of UC Davis Professor John Krochta, the Peter J. Shields Chair in Dairy Food Science at the Department of Food Science & Technology. With presentations on advances in whey protein films, Professor Krochta’s students have placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the IFT Food Packaging Division Graduate Poster Competition a total of seven times since 2000—greater than twice as often as any other university.
The winning poster presentation, titled “Whey protein—hydroxypropyl methylcellulose blended film: mechanical, barrier, thermal and structural properties,” presented the results of Laura’s research showing that the addition of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), an edible derivative of cellulose, can improve the mechanical properties of whey protein isolate (WPI) films, without any reduction of the excellent oxygen-barrier properties of WPI-based films and coatings. These results extend the usefulness of WPI-based films to applications that require greater film strength.
An abstract and the poster presentation can be found at www.ediblefilms.org.
