The students who turned soy milk byproducts into pizza crust for astronauts recently won a national NASA-sponsored competition for their work.

Iowa State’s Food Product Development Team’s pizza crust was the winning entry in the second annual NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center Product Development Competition.

“We are thrilled,” said Safir Moizuddin, co-captain of the team of 11 students.

“This is a great honor for Iowa State and for the department.”

Last year, a similar entry was submitted to the competition. This win is a victory for both products, said Mark Love, faculty adviser of the team.

The idea was to use okara (oh-CAR-a), what remains after water is pressed out of soybeans while making soy milk, as the primary ingredient for pizza crust that could be fully produced in space. Okara is essentially dietary fiber that appears pale yellow and has a consistency similar to brown sugar when wet.

“Last year’s entry was really close,” said Love, associate professor of food science and human nutrition. “The team worked to advance the product. This was a two-year process that is really the success of both teams.”

Four members of the team will travel, all expenses paid, to Anaheim, Calif., in June to present the poster and proposal at the Institute of Food Technologists’ Annual Meeting and Food Expo.

In November four team members will spend a week at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to present the product to NASA.

Team members will meet to discuss options, including trying to raise additional funds to allow all members to attend the presentations, said Moizuddin, graduate student in food science and human nutrition.

“This is a great opportunity to see what food science people can achieve,” he said.

Each student involved in the cross-disciplinary process of developing a food product learned something different, Moizuddin said. For him, the start-to-finish aspect of the experience was the best.

For co-captain Stanley Prawiradjaja, graduate student in food science and human nutrition, it was the opportunity to work for earth and space.

“I think experiencing the challenge of predicting something unique for earth as well as space was wonderful,” said Prawiradjaja.