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Students practice sensory skills in dairy foods contest

Technology might be changing many aspects of agriculture and food processing, but some students are learning how to put their sensory skills to work.

Tori Boomgaarden-Gross tells Brownfield the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation contest allows teams from across the nation to judge taste, aroma, texture, and appearance of eight different samples of cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, and ice cream.

And, she says the people who can expertly use their eyes, nose, and tongue are highly sought after in the industry.  “They’re getting these skills in school, and then they’re able to go out and utilize them right away and help companies in Q-A (quality assurance), operations, and R & D (research and development.)

Boomgaarden-Gross tells Brownfield these product evaluators have to excel in all areas.  “Everyone wants to be a taster but to be a skilled taster is unique, so students that come into these skills are really valuable for the industry.”

The dairy product judging contest began in 1916. Boomgaarden-Gross has been volunteering at the event since participating in it eleven years ago.  Now, she’s a research and development team member from Kemps.

The contest was held as part of the International Cheese Tech Expo in Milwaukee.

There were several individual awards given along with the team awards.  Here are the final team standings:

BUTTER

1st place: South Dakota State.  2nd place: Clemson.  3rd place: Missouri

CHEDDAR CHEESE

 

1st place: Tennessee.  2nd place: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 3rd place: Clemson

COTTAGE CHEESE

1st place: Tennessee.  2nd place: University of Wisconsin-Madison  3rd place: Iowa State

 

ICE CREAM

1st place: South Dakota State  2nd place: Clemson  3rd place: Tennessee

MILK

1st place: Clemson  2nd place: South Dakota State  3rd place: University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

 

YOGURT

1st place: South Dakota State  2nd place: Clemson  3rd place: University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

ALL PRODUCTS

1st place: South Dakota State  2nd place: Clemson  3rd place: Tennessee  4th place: University of Wisconsin-Madison  5th place: Iowa State  6th place: Missouri  7th place: Cornell  8th place: Penn State  9th place: Idaho  10th place: California Polytechnic State University

COACH OF THE YEAR

Professor Lloyd E. Metzger, Department of Dairy & Food Science at South Dakota State