On the third Sunday of Advent and the lighting of candles at Gastroadvent Split, an unique event that is the promoter of the Mediterranean diet, the project MD.net - Mediterranean Diet presented the third innovative food product.
This time, the Braća Radić High School Kaštel Štafilić-Nehaj presented itself with its student cooperative "Trišnja" and its exceptional product: an energy bar – “100 percent”.
The student cooperative has been producing energy bars for a long time, which were primarily intended for preschool children in order to improve the quality of their snacks. Developing a new innovative food product as part of the MD.net project, they came up with the idea to be able to target people of all ages, athletes and people with celiac disease as it does not contain gluten. Some of the raw materials they used to make energy bars are not of Croatian or even Mediterranean origin, so this prompted them to research the market and search for "domestic" raw materials.
As this is the goal of the MD.net project, the promotion of the Mediterranean diet, but mostly the promotion of local foods and local producers, the students used their own school production of beans, lemons and olive oil. Almonds were found in a nearby family farm, and dried figs in an agricultural cooperative. Carob was bought on Vis, and raisins and dates in the store, keeping in mind the Mediterranean origin.
Since this is a new and innovative food product produced by the student cooperative "Trišnja", they wanted to bring it closer to potential customers and consumers. The funds from the sale are planned to be invested in further product development, listening to the needs and requirements of the market, but above all in the promotion of a proper, Mediterranean diet. It is important to constantly emphasize the positive effects of the Mediterranean diet on the health of the individual and to find adequate substitutes for the usual snacks, which are usually rich in energy and nutritionally very poor. “100 percent“ product is rich in both energy and micronutrients that contribute to an individual’s health.
With the MD.net project, students acquire entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, which will greatly contribute to their further professional development and future employment opportunities, and increase their competitiveness in the labor market. At the same time, the positive effects will be passed on to future students who will be motivated through this project for additional and extracurricular activities. By integrating this project into the work of the School, teaching will be made more innovative and interesting to students, present and future, which will strengthen the long-term competencies of the institution and bring teaching processes closer to future living and working conditions of students and teachers involved in this project. Also, this project is working on the continuous improvement of employees, which will multiply the positive effects of "investment" as new knowledge and skills will be passed on to many future generations of students.