An unlikely success story which may inspire the food industry has spawn from a high school in the island of Mytilene, Greece. Specifically, the Agra high school students have created the world’s first antioxidant croissant with pomegranate and aronia jam, a superfood that was analyzed by the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the University of Thessaly and proved to be rich in antioxidants and anti-ageing properties. In fact, the school was recently awarded first prize at the Bravo Schools competition for this bio-food, named “BioLife” and students are now preparing to operate a virtual business so that their “antioxidant croissant” will be available in other school canteens or on the retail market.
Keeping in mind the value of healthy eating, the kids at the Agra high school, a mountainous region in Mytilene with only 2,000 inhabitants, decided to make the world’s first antioxidant croissant using 100% Greek ingredients. “We used a special flour with grape extract, which, as we have found out, does not lose its antioxidant properties after baking,” explains Mr Lazaros Chondromatidis, principal of the Agra high school and the children’s main advisor to the project. “We used pomegranate, a well-known superfood, and then the organic aronia from the island, and made the jam. We combined protein from local sheep and goat milk and made a croissant that has 475 units of antioxidants. The croissant has proven anti-aging properties, lowers blood pressure and boosts energy efficiency.”
The virtual business model
The students are now aiming to create a virtual business as part of a competition organized by the Junior Achievement Greece. Two old school warehouses have been cleaned, old furniture reused and with the installation of computer units, the business “headquarters” will soon be ready. The students’ major aim is to place their croissants and other bio-functional foods for sale into school cafeterias as well as convenience stores across Greece. Furthermore, they have far-reaching plans: they intend to create a service package available to hotels on the island; through an antioxidant measuring machine, they will be able to create the biometric profile of each tourist and by sending it to special laboratories, the hotels will be able to provide their guests with a personalized diet and leisure program during their stay in Mytilene!
