For the first time in over 50 years, a team of New Mexico State University students participated in the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Competition. Four undergraduates (Jazmine Arreola (sophomore, ChME), Ashley Pham (sophomore, ChME), Ashley Medina (junior, ChME), Christina Lopez (junior, ChME) and one graduate student Andrea Soler (MS student, food science) represented NMSU in the 100th contest, in Milwaukee, WI on April 17th. Students representing nine universities evaluated quality attributes in milk, butter, cottage cheese, Cheddar cheese, yogurt and ice cream. In the contest, student judgments are compared to those of official industry judges, and students who are closest to the expert evaluations win awards... and even job offers.
The team coach, Dr. Stephanie Clark, a dairy food scientist, said that “during training, students learn about dairy food processing and improve their sensory evaluation skills and attention to details”. Clark started up the NMSU Dairy Products Evaluation Cub in January, after joining the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering as an affiliate faculty member. She previously coached teams at Iowa State University and Washington State University. “About a dozen students trained with the team each week, but we could only afford to take five students to Wisconsin”, said Clark.
While this was the 100th contest, the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Competition actually began in 1916. The contest was cancelled only for world wars and the global pandemic. NMSU students participated in the contest only three times, between 1916 and 1971.
The NMSU team placed 5th in cottage cheese and Cheddar cheese judging; 6th in milk, yogurt and ice cream judging; and 7th in butter judging; and Jazmine Arreola placed 12th overall. Ashley Medina said that participating in the contest inspired her to pursue a minor in food science at NMSU.
The NMSU team is grateful for the support of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES); Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering; Department of Family and Consumer Sciences; and Department of Animal Science who helped the club get started up this spring, train, and travel to the contest. If you are interested in more information about the club, contact the club president, Joy Agbawodike (MS student, food science, joyai@nmsu.edu), or Dr. Clark (milkmade@nmsu.edu). We look forward to many NMSU teams participating in the years to come!
