Sustainable and Scrumptious: NYP’s Eco Muffins Take Centre Stage

NYP students and staff from the School of Applied Sciences (SAS) are developing commercially viable food products by pioneering eco-friendly baking methods.

Published on 22 Aug 2025
School of Applied Science
Sustainability

With earthy brown and golden-yellow hues, and an aroma indistinguishable from any fresh-baked muffin, you’d never guess that these muffins were a classroom concept brought to bakery shelves at AJ Delights!

Eco muffins in three flavours: EcoSesame Muffins, EcoSesame Peanut Buddy Muffins, and EcoSmart Corn Cheese Muffins.

EcoSesame Muffins, EcoSeasame Peanut Buddy Muffins, and EcoSmart Corn Cheese Muffins shown at a soft launch event.

While this all started with a final-year project for a feasibility study, Sarah Ho from the Diploma in Food Science & Nutrition (Class of 2024) teamed up with her peers  – Trudy Lau, Jan Chua, and Tricia Eng – to enhance a sesame muffin recipe with an eco-friendly twist.

 

Using repurposed sesame oil supplied by sesame oil maker Oh Ai Guan Food Industrial, the team developed an innovative muffin recipe under the guidance of lecturer Ms Lina Tan, project engineer Ms Emilie Heng, as well as local bakery brand AJ Delights. And their efforts paid off – the team clinched second prize at the World Food Innovation Awards 2024 (Best Bakery Product category).

 

Building on this success, Chloe Quek (Diploma in Food Science & Nutrition, Class of 2025) took the project further – also as her final-year project – by developing the Eco-Smart Corn Cheese Muffin recipe, working alongside Ms Lina Tan and Ms Emilie Heng.

 

This golden-yellow muffin blends the familiar flavours of sweet corn and cheese with a nutritious boost from upcycled okara, a protein- and fiber-rich byproduct of Super Bean, Mr Bean’s soymilk production. The team enhanced the recipe's nutritional profile while ensuring its soft, flavourful, and enjoyable texture, creating a healthier option specially designed for children in Singapore.

 

To prepare the product for large-scale distribution, George Yor and Axel Ng from the Diploma in Food & Beverage Business (Class of 2024) refined the Eco-Smart Corn Cheese Muffin recipe, ensuring that the recipe meets commercial standards. Together with AJ Delights, the duo ensured that the muffins retained their nutritional value and flavour while scaling up for production.

 

With two eco-conscious creations under their belt, the NYP team continues to demonstrate that innovation and sustainability go hand in hand. Following a soft launch, AJ Delights has been selling the products on an ad-hoc basis and will officially launch them at their main outlet at Fusionopolis and on their online platform in September 2025.

NYP Alumni Chloe Quek was inspired by the versatility and impact of food innovation through this project.

"Developing an eco-smart muffin with okara showed me how up-cycling can play a key role in product development! It deepened my understanding of sustainability and inspired me to explore R&D to create nutritious, eco-friendly products.”

AJ Delights Pte Ltd Director, Ms. Amy Tham, also shared her appreciation for NYP.

"The expertise of the lecturers and the innovative spirit of NYP students have been instrumental in the success of our Eco-Sesame and Eco-Smart Corn Cheese Muffins. We appreciate NYP's support in cultivating a sustainable future through delicious food."
Group photo of NYP students with AJ Delights.

Let's shape a sustainable future together

Whether you're a student, an industry partner, or a changemaker, we invite you to collaborate with us to experiment, co-create, and co-develop innovative solutions.

Explore with NYP today