Innovation Unleashed: 3-A SSI Announces Winners of Inaugural Student Hygienic Design Competition

What happens when you give the world’s brightest engineering and food science students five months to solve one of the industry's toughest sanitation hurdles? You get the Student Hygienic Design Competition.

Today, 3-A Sanitary Standards, Inc. (3-A SSI) is proud to announce the winning teams of this inaugural challenge. Students were tasked with solving a high-stakes challenge: removing dry powder residues from equipment without introducing moisture. This is critical because introducing moisture into dry environments is a primary risk factor for the growth and spread of pathogens like Salmonella.

The Winners’ Circle

After months of research, prototyping, and validation under the guidance of industry coaches, three collegiate teams stood out for their technical rigor and creativity:

• 🏆     1st Place: Kansas State University
  • The Solution: A dual-strategy approach combining a static-dissipative coating with a controlled, heated air system to eliminate powder "hang-up."
 
• 🥈     2nd Place: Auburn University
  • The Solution: An innovative air plasma-assisted dry sanitation system that uses reactive species to detach powder and inactivate microbes mechanically.
 
• 🥉     3rd Place: Louisiana State University
  
  • The Solution: A food-grade whey protein-starch coating that improves powder flow while remaining easily removable during standard cleaning.

Bridging the Talent Gap

"The food and beverage industry suffers from two critical challenges – the need for improved hygienic design solutions and a shortage of early-career professionals who understand hygienic design from day one," says Meri Beth Wojtaszek, Executive Director of 3-A SSI.

These students didn't just design a project; they engineered real-world solutions that adhere to strict 3-A Sanitary Standards.

"The ingenuity displayed by these students is exactly what our industry needs to solve sanitation hurdles,” says 3-A SSI Chair John Kuhnz.“Seeing these teams integrate advanced materials and engineering—while staying strictly within the framework of 3-A Sanitary Standards—proves that the next generation is ready to tackle even our most persistent food safety challenges while keeping pace with modern food and beverage processing challenges.”

See the Solutions in Action

The winners will be honored at the 3-A SSI Summit on Hygienic Design, May 4 to 7 at the Marriott Chicago O'Hare. They will presen  ttheir solutions during a dedicated technical session titled "Optimal Food Contact Surface Solution for Removal of Dry Powder Products Without Introducing Moisture."

Don’t miss the opportunity to meet these students at the Summit!

REGISTER NOW!

Congratulations to all the participants—including teams from George Washington/University of Washington and Wayamba University of Sri Lanka—for helping us move the needle on food safety.