3D dessert wins MBO Challenge on Food Waste

The winning team of the MBO Challenge Voedselverspilling 2024–2025 was announced on 15 May during the Food for Teachers LIVE EVENT hosted by CIV Groen. The top prize went to five students from Lentiz LIFE College and Lentiz MBO Barendrecht. They created a dessert with an intercultural twist, made from surplus fruit.

Dessert with international potential

Milon, Dieuwe, Jelle, Robin, and Bensu – students in the Food & Quality and Fresh Logistics programmes – used fruit surplus as an ingredient fit for human consumption. According to the jury, this is the most valuable destination for such a by-product. Their dessert, a ganache made from grapes, lemon, and white chocolate, blends Dutch and Japanese flavours. A white chocolate figure, designed with a 3D food printer, adds a refined finishing touch.

A preview for Japan

Van der Linde Catering, the client behind the assignment, plans to showcase the dessert at a food technology trade fair in Japan. Jury chair Esther Wouters, food cluster project manager at CIV Groen, praised the team for their use of flavour pairing and 3D-printing, calling it “chapeau”.

Final edition of the Challenge

Team Foodsaver from Yonder Tilburg came in second with an app that helps reduce food waste in the school canteen. Students can pre-order their lunch, pay at a discount, and collect it at a set time. Third place went to Team Fruitpulp from Yuverta Agrifood in Horst, who developed a way to turn fruit pulp into a hard material. This sixth edition marks the final chapter of the MBO Challenge Voedselverspilling, launched in 2018 to introduce vocational students to Challenge Based Learning.

Mbo-challenge.nl