Four U.S. engineering students have come up with a great invention that will help many who struggle with eating burrito, a product design that literally falls into their lap.
“Erin was eating a burrito, and Tortilla opened her whole mouth,” Tyler Guarino told CNN. “It hit him then – it’s a problem we can solve.”
Guarino, Erin Walsh, Mary Eric, and Rachel Nee, who were seniors at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, decided last year to make an edible tape to keep the wrapper and burrito together.
And today, the group is proud of their prototype product, called “Tasty Tape”.
Guarino said they spent months studying “ordinary tape” and its components – the spine that holds its structure together and a glue that sticks to the surface, in order to find their “edible replica”.
They had three main criteria for discovering their edible tape: it needed to be clean and colorless, no taste and no noticeable texture. After the group tested several combinations, they finally found their magic recipe, which is gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians.
“We tested about 50 different formulations,” Guarino said, before finding the winning “testi tape” recipe.
The ingredients used are a closely guarded secret because there is a pending patent application, but the team states that the ingredients used are “edible, food-safe, GRAS.” [generally recognized as safe]And common food ingredients or supplements. “
There are three simple steps when using Tastee tape, Guarino explains. The first is peeling a strip from a sheet of waxed paper. The second is to soak the tape to activate it before applying it to your tightly wrapped tortilla.
The team’s current prototype includes tape strips of wax paper, but the group also hopes to package in a roll similar to ordinary office tape.
On Monday, as the team graduated from college, Guarino revealed how the testy tape journey was “really exciting.”
“We learned a lot about product design, prototyping and patenting. We are all grateful that we had this opportunity before we graduated because it taught us a lot of valuable skills, “he said.