Contest Seeks to Send Local Product to Market

Uradomo Farms pickled products. Photo courtesy Steve Brinkman Photography.

By Wendy Osher

The upcoming Maui County Agricultural Festival is in search of a new locally-made food product that utilizes the most amount of locally grown products.

Entries will be featured in a “Maui Food Product to Market Contest,” to be held at the fifth annual festival on April 7, on the lū‘au grounds of Maui Tropical Plantation in Waikapū.

Contest entries must have commercial viability, as the Maui Food Technology Center assists to help that local entrepreneur take the product from idea to the store shelf.

Important information for participants:

• Contest entry forms can be found at: http://www.mauicountyfarmbureau.org/latest/
• There is a $10 registration fee.
• Entrants must deliver 4-6 servings of the product to the Agricultural Festival’s Grand Taste Education tent between 9 and 10 a.m. on April 7.
• All ingredients in the recipe should be listed, along with specification of what local ingredients were used.
• A short story should be included about the product.

The first place winner will receive assistance from the Maui Food Technology Center to consult and complete the project.

The second place winner will receive two hours of free consultation with a Food Scientist and two free nutritional labels, a prize valued at $300.

The third place recipient will get a one our free consultation, and one free nutritional label, a prize valued at $150.

The Maui Food Technology Center was formed as a non-profit to assist local food product entrepreneurs.  The group helps by growing value-added food products through Hawaii’s food industry.

Services offered by the MFTC include scientific Measurements of food quality, product and process development, and nutrition food labeling.