A team of five Malaysian food technology students from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has bagged the first prize at the International Food Technology Competition in Chicago.

The team, comprising Sew Chang Chew (leader), Tan Tai Boon, Mohd Asraf Mohd Zainudin, Kuan Chee Hao and Najla Gooda Sahib, won US$3,000 (RM9,585) and a trophy with their product "EnerTEIN", a food supplement to nourish HIV patients whose bodies face depletion of the immune system due to loss of energy and proteins.

This is the second time the group has won the competition, organised by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). The first was last year, according to Sew.

He said the Chicago event had two competitions one for candidates from North America (USA and Canada) and another for international candidates. The international contest had three competing teams one from Malaysia and two from Indonesia.

He said the competition, which was held on July 15, was part of a conference and a food expo and carried an overall theme of Producing Food Supplement to Help People Living with HIV, which encouraged participants to provide solutions in the form of nutritional food for the weak and sick who do not get an adequate supply of nutrition in their daily food intake.

We did some brainstorming within our team and came up with a few ideas. However, in the end, we developed an instant fish soup called EnerTEIN, a combination of energy and protein, which people suffering from HIV tend to lack because of their depleting health condition caused by viruses within their system.

"Their daily food intake does not provide them with adequate energy and protein which our product will provide them as a supplement, Sew said.

He said that last year, the team won the first prize which had a cash award of US$3,500 (RM11,183) with the product Vita-A-Go, an energy-booster that looks and tastes like gummy bears except it has mango texture.

Sew, 26, who is doing his masters degree at UPM, acknowledged the generous support the team had received from the university and the Malaysian Institute of Food Technology.