For the first time in 34 years, the ISU Dairy Products Evaluation Team is back on campus, preparing for a contest with the help of a new faculty member, Stephanie Clark, associate professor of food science and human nutrition.

The team’s main purpose is to train for the annual Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest.

“Iowa State has had a rich history in dairy product evaluations,” Clark said. 

The 15 students on the team have to find quality defects in cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, milk, butter, vanilla ice cream and strawberry yogurt.

“The students have to find the little differences in each product, use the right words to describe them and then give it a value,” Clark said.

When the students tested cottage cheese, for example, they were looking at the flavor, texture and appearance. A perfect product would get a value of 10. Having a finely tuned palate is an essential part of distinguishing differences in products. Students decide if a product has an appropriate level of acidity or, in the case of cottage cheese, the whey content. They also judge the product’s appearance.

To add to the challenge, in the actual contest students will have 35 minutes to taste and judge eight samples of each dairy product. Next, the students’ scores are compared to the officials’ scores, and the team that most closely matches wins.

Being a part of the group provides students in food science a valuable skill set.

“Through this group, students could get more experience in what jobs are like in the sensory evaluation field,” Clark said. “This gives them the tools to notice fine differences in products.”

If students want to pursue careers in the field, they could work for the U.S. Agriculture Department. Taste-testing is a key component in giving products expiration dates and deciding what dairy should stay on the shelves.

The students involved enjoy the knowledge they can gain from participating.

“I am very interested in dairy products, and through this team I have learned a lot,” said Gerui Li, senior in food science and human nutrition.

The Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest will be held Oct. 31 in Chicago, and the team will hold fundraisers to pay for the trip.