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Devine Foods
Denise Devine, WG'90
You'd think few things could be better for growing kids
than fruit juice.
You'd be wrong. Though kids love it and parents view
it as a natural, nutritious alternative to soda, fruit juice
isn't really such a wholesome thing for children to drink.
Most fruit juices contain mainly water and sugar. They
are high in calories but relatively low in nutritional value.
Pediatricians cite fruit juice as one of the main culprits
in America's growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
"Although juice consumption has some benefits, it
also has potential detrimental effects," the American
Academy of Pediatrics concluded in a 2001 policy statement.
"Excessive juice consumption and the resultant
increase in energy intake may contribute to the development
of obesity."
Having watched her own children guzzle fruit juice
with abandon, Denise Devine is dedicating herself to
improving children's diets with a line of products that
sneaks nutrition into foods that kids like to eat.
Her company, Devine Foods, has produced "Fruice" –
a "drinkable snack" that tastes like juice but contains fiber
and vitamins that juice doesn't have. The fiber is especially
important because it fills kids up, keeping them from
consuming too many calories.
"The key is that it contains the whole food," Devine says.
Devine came to food entrepreneurship as a frustrated
mother. Her son was a juice junkie, and there was little
she could do to slake his thirst. "He drank a gallon of
juice a day," she says.
She looked for more nutritious juices but couldn't find
any. After doing research on children's nutrition for years,
she started working with the International Food Network
at Cornell University, a laboratory that usually develops
technology for major corporations.
Devine had just earned an MBA at Wharton, an experience
she credits for teaching her to "think big." She also
had experience in the food business as manager of finance
and investment strategy at Campbell Soup Co., the job
she quit to pursue her dream.
It wasn't easy to abandon a successful career for an
uncertain new enterprise, but Devine says the dream just
wouldn't let her be.
"I got to the point that this was haunting me. This
feeling was haunting me," she says.
Inspired by Devine's vision, the International Food
Network's scientists developed a way of turning vegetables
and whole grains into a tasty, nutritious beverage. The
same patented technology can be used to create shakes
and a non-fat frozen dessert.
Devine now faces the daunting task of getting a
major food company interested in making juice better
for children. The industry has become more aware of
nutritional issues in the last few years but still may not
be ready to try something as different as Fruice.
"They realize that this isn't going away, the issues surrounding
obesity," Devine says. "But as big companies,
they move very slowly, and they don't quite know what
they want to do."
And because the food industry is market driven, most
companies want to see sales before they'll take on a new
product. Fruice is available in some health food stores
and a few supermarkets in the mid-Atlantic region, but
despite "talking with a lot of big companies," Devine has
not found one willing to distribute it widely.
"Hopefully, there will be some enlightened companies
out there," Devine says.
Meanwhile, she keeps innovating. Devine Foods has
deals to serve its frozen dessert in cafeterias at Villanova
and Temple and is working on one with Penn. Devine
has also submitted a variation of the Fruice technology
to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval
as an over-the-counter drug.
The important thing is not making money but "having
the products reach people so that they can be useful,"
Devine says. "You have to constantly be focused on
the end game."
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