Three outstanding young scientists received the Hugo Geiger Prize for their outstanding theses. The first prize of 5,000 euros went to Andrea Hickisch from the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging. Her thesis deals with the antibacterial effect of hop extracts to 'naturally' preserve fresh ready-to-eat foods such as salads and bite-sized fruit. It goes one step further than beer production, where this effect of hops has been known since the Middle Ages. Hickisch demonstrates that the hop plant as a packaging additive or applied directly to the products opens up completely new ways of supplying consumers with naturally preserved, fresh food.