Morgan Christy-Jones received her Gold CREST award this year and is currently studying Food Science at Massey University in Palmerston North.
Morgan developed a dental friendly lunch box snack for children by substituting sucrose with tagatose; Tagatose is a sweetener derived as a by-product from the production of cheese that is broken down from the lactose within the whey. Tagatose was recognised as a GRAS product in 2001 and has many unique properties. Unlike most carbohydrates it is low in calories, having only 1.5Kcal/g as opposed to sugar that has 4Kcal/g due to the fact that it is not fully metabolised in the gut so not all the calories are absorbed. Tagatose is also diabetic friendly, and does not promote tooth decay.