School children in the Northwest have come up with a range of innovative food design ideas as part of a competition to promote careers in the food and drink manufacturing industries.

The Future of Foods competition, launched in greater Manchester by the food and drink sector skills council, Improve, asked students to design a food that could appear on shelves in 2025.

Pupils at Verdin High School in Winsford scooped first prize with the concept of a low-fat chocolate yoghurt with fresh fruit, contained in edible packaging, called ‘Schloop’. They won a laptop and £100 spending money for their school, donated by Enterprise Learning.

‘Cosmic cookies’ took second place, while other entries included a glow in the dark milk drink and an organic ‘berry surprise’ muffin.

Pupils aged between 14 and 15-years-old from six schools took part in all, and were encouraged to think about ingredient selection, packaging, costs and the target audience of their product, with their final entries comprising drawings of their food product and their thinking processes behind the design.

All entries were exhibited at Reaseheath College in Nantwich, Cheshire and judged by a panel of industry and education experts, including representatives from local employers New Primebake and Made in Cheshire.

Improve’s David Hickman, who was on the judging panel, said: “The standard of entries was incredibly high. All the groups have really thought about the challenge and have come up with some great designs and ideas.

“The competition has proved an excellent way of engaging young people and raising their awareness of the exciting career options within food and drink manufacturing,” he said.

Improve says it also has plans to launch a similar scheme in the south west later this year, which will see pupils working to complete a design challenge created specifically for them by local food manufacturers.