SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ– After emerging as a gold medal awardee, the tilapia ice cream produced by the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) will go on world tour for shows and competitions.
The award was conferred last May 30 at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Metro Manila by the Salon International de L’Agroalimentaire (SIAL), a Paris-based global network of shows dedicated to the food industry.
This “novel dessert”, selected by SIAL from an array of 350 food and non-food items from 25 countries showcased at WTC, took a bow before the public during a Tilapia Food Festival in CLSU in 2011. It has undergone product innovation through a research funding from the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).
Little did the research team know that this product, which has been providing delight to customers in local outlets here, was up for big honors.
“We were invited to participate in the SIAL Asean Manila 2016 food exhibit and we gladly obliged. We didn’t know the exhibited products would be adjudged for awards,” said Prof. Dana Gutierrez-Vera Cruz, team leader of the CLSU Tilapia Ice Cream Research.
An e-mail from the SIAL communication officer from Paris made a big surprise, and hearty delight, for the research and development team.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate your company (team) for the SIAL Innovation Gold Award Manila 2016,” the letter said, adding that as a winner, the product “will take a trip around the world”. It was also granted the right to use the SIAL Innovation Logo in advertising the product.
In an interview in 2011, Vera Cruz, who is chair of the CLSU-CHSI Department of Hospitality Management, said that tilapia flakes are used as one of the main ingredients of the ice cream she concocted with the help of other team members.
“Our tongue can feel the flakes but there’s no aftertaste of fish,” Vera Cruz said. The secret of crossing out the fishy taste is through the use of other ingredients. These ingredients are revealed in the documents submitted as a requirement for the product’s application for a patent.
Vera Cruz further said her concoction was a result of the challenge issued by Dr. Tereso Abella, then director of the CLSU Freshwater Aquaculture Center (FAC) and now CLSU president, to teachers and students to come up with various dishes and refreshments using tilapia meat. The center is one of the agencies involved in the propagation of an improved breed of tilapia, an African freshwater species, in the country.
“Why not a tilapia ice cream?” Vera Cruz, who obtained a diploma in hotel and management course at Ashworth University in Georgia in the United States, asked herself then.
After some trials, Vera Cruz came out with her own version of the ice cream.
Three variants have since been added to the original Tilapia Ice Cream, namely Tilapia Ice Cream Sansrival, Tilapia Ice Cream Praline Crunch (with caramelized tilapia flakes), and Tilapia Ice Cream Sandwich. They are available at the Chives Café and Patisserie, here which is run by the CHSI department.
Last week, the tilapia ice cream was showcased at a fancy food show at Javits Center in New York, USA.
“We were also invited to present our Tilapia Ice Cream in the SIAL Paris 2016 food exhibit from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20 this year. The affair is described by SIAL as “the world’s largest food innovation exhibition,” Vera Cruz said.
The SIAL exhibition in Paris Nord Villepinde is in collaboration with the Specialty Food Association, a 3,200-member community of food artisans, importers and entrepreneurs, and the Comexposium Group which is described as one of the world’s leading event organizers.
“Our product will next go for the World Champions Tour in Jakarta, Indonesia on Nov. 9-12 this year, then to Abu Dhabi on December 5-7, also this year. Next year, it will be exhibited in the food show in Toronto, Canada (May 2-4), Shanghai (May 18-20) and Manila (June 7-9), she said.
