College of Nutrition Hosts Its First Innovative Health Food Product Development Competition: Foodture Start! 2025

Inspiring Students’ Creativity and R&D Potential

The College of Nutrition at Taipei Medical University held its first “Foodture Start! 2025 Innovative Health Food Product Development Competition” on November 6, with 11 student teams participating. The competition brought together undergraduate and graduate students, international students, cross-college teams from the College of Public Health and the College of Pharmacy, as well as visiting graduate students from the Graduate Program in Food Science, Tohoku University, Japan.

The competition aimed to strengthen students’ capabilities in health food research and development, innovative proposal design, and scientific validation, while fostering a product development mindset through interdisciplinary collaboration and international exchange. Following a preliminary review, nine teams advanced to the final round to compete for Gold, Silver, Bronze, Honorable Mention awards, and etc.

To increase engagement and visibility, the College hosted a four-day Finalist Poster Exhibition from November 3 to November 6, along with a Final Poster Popularity Voting activity, encouraging faculty members, students, and visitors to interact with the teams’ innovative ideas.

Photo: Visitors Cast Votes for Their Favorite Proposals via QR Codes at the Final Poster Exhibition

The final round was held on November 6 in the Pharmacy and Nutrition Building. Three experts with academic and industry backgrounds served as judges, providing valuable perspectives on scientific innovation, feasibility, and market potential. The finalist projects covered a wide range of topics, including functional beverages, gut health products, innovative capsule technologies, and plant-based high-protein developments. Impressed by the overall quality of the proposals, the judging panel unanimously decided to add extra awards to recognize outstanding teams.

Photo(left): Indonesian PhD Student from the School of Nutrition and Health Sciences Presenting Her Team's Proposal

Photo(right): Gold Award Team with Dean Rong-Hong Hsieh (right 1) and Advisors Assoc. Prof. Shin-Ping Lin (left 1) & Assoc. Prof. I-Lun Hsiao (left 2) from the School of Food Safety

Looking ahead, the College of Nutrition plans to expand the competition in 2026 and integrate entrepreneurship workshops that combine lectures and hands-on training. Through systematic guidance, the College aims to encourage students to develop competitive, science-based health products and further strengthen industry–academia collaboration.

• Announcement of Award Winners
• Judges
  • Dean of the College of Nutrition, Professor Rong-Hong Hsieh: dedicated to research and industry development in health technology
  • Vice Dean of the College of Nutrition, Professor Suh-Ching Yang: specializes in geriatric nutrition care and functional food development from rice bran
  • Director of Regulatory and R&D Affairs, Ms. Tina Huang: Representative from the Industry
• Host: Vice Dean of the College of Nutrition, Professor Yue-Hwa Chen 

Photo: Group Photo of All Participants

(By College of Nutrition, TMU)