You love the zesty flavor of salsa, but a bagel would be more convenient and would see you through until dinner. So what do you have for lunch? Why, a "bagelrrito," of course! That was the thinking of a team of food science students at the University of California, Davis, that combined the best attributes of two popular foods -- bagels and salsa -- to invent what they hope will be an award-winning new food product. The bagelrrito has been chosen as one of six semifinalists in a national student contest sponsored by the Institute of Food Technologists, with final judging scheduled for June 23 in New Orleans. The other finalists are from Cornell University, University of Minnesota, Kansas State University, Iowa State and Michigan State University. It all started last fall when Professor Norman Haard's food product ideas class accepted the challenge of dreaming up a new food product to be entered in the annual contest. In previous years, UC Davis students have concocted a variety of new product entries such as an upscale oatmeal cup, a frozen-fruit dessert pizza, a heart-shaped liqueur-and-fruit ice cream, and a chocolate or vanilla-flavored coffee soda. "This year we wanted something that was healthy and convenient, and that students could take along for lunch," said Rosa Kwan, a member of the original 11-person student team. The students settled on the bagel-salsa hybrid because both products are nutritious and trendy. But that was only the beginning. After finding a basic bagel recipe on the Internet, the students split into four teams to work out the aesthetic and technical problems of the bagelrrito. While a salsa-stuffed bagel sounds great, it presents numerous challenges. For example, salsa is soggy. A bagel is not. Salsa is red. A bagel is not. And while refrigeration is good for preventing microbial contamination in salsa, it can send bagels right into the stale zone. "The most challenging aspect of this product is the interaction between the filling and the bagel," said Haard, admitting he was secretly pleased that the students had chosen a product with so many inherent problems. "The chemical interaction could create a safety hazard, allowing microorganisms to grow that normally wouldn't grow in either the filling or the bagel alone," he said. To solve these problems, the students tapped the expertise of UC Davis faculty members and experts in the food industry. After much consultation and experimentation, they decided to increase the acidity of the salsa to ward off microbial contamination, add enzymes to the dough to keep the bagel moist, and stir in special chemicals that would decrease the flow of moisture from the salsa to the bagel. And to further keep the salsa and the bagel dough in their places, the students came up with a scheme for encasing the salsa in an edible collagen tube, much as sausage is contained in links. Bagel dough mixed with herbs is wrapped around each salsa "link" to form a bagel. The bagels are boiled and then baked. The final bagelrritos to be submitted to the competition judges will be packaged in a plastic pouch by a commercial food processor, using a special mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen to keep the refrigerated product fresh for a full month. "The bagelrrito is not quite what we envisioned when we began the project," says Rosa Kwan. "We didn't want it quite so salty, but salt helps lower the water activity. We also had hoped to have a chunkier salsa." But all in all, the students and their faculty mentors are pleased with the bagelrrito and think they just may have a winner on their hands come competition time. Regardless of bagelrrito's competitive success, the experience of developing the product has yielded the most valuable, if intangible, rewards. "This was a great opportunity for the students to learn the importance of teamwork and communication," said Professor Haard. "This project gave them excellent preparation for life in the food industry." As for bagelrrito itself, will we ever find it in the deli case of the local supermarket? "Oh, no," said student Laura Tanumihardja. "On paper bagelrrito looks great, but with all of the necessary equipment, this would be a million-dollar bagel."