From L to R: Winnie Yeoh, Maddy Levin, Sarah Hermes, Molly Smejkal, Tim Grady, Joe Smith and Jim Waksmonski
Food, it’s what we eat. A group of eight college students are learning more about the science behind the food we eat in a small test kitchen at UW-Madison as they prepare for a product development competition.
The Institute for Food Technologists (IFT) hosts an annual competition for collegiate food scientists from across the nation. The UW-Madison team is once again among the finalists that have the opportunity to present a food product the team created at the IFT national competition in Las Vegas about.
This year, the UW-Madison IFT team, comprised of food science majors: Tim Grady, Jim Waksmonski, Sarah Hermes, Molly Smejkal, Bee Chiun, Winnie Yeoh, Joe Smith and Maddy Levin, are heading to the competition with the intention of “Winning!” said Grady.
“There’s a lot that goes into making the product, formulating, shelf-life, pricing,” said Tim Grady, group leader for the UW-Madison IFT group. “If somebody can’t afford the product, consumers are not going to buy it. If it doesn’t taste good, they don’t want it. If it can’t sit on a shelf to stay in a store, the company is not going to make any money,”
Students go through the entire process of developing a product including generating an idea, conducting sensory analyses, creating a marketing plan and determining a price.
These are some of the typical issues food scientists face when trying to get a food product on a grocery store shelf.
The IFT competition is designed to emulate what professional food scientists in the field encounter when working with new products. The competition is so realistic, that we can’t really even tell you much about the product – it’s confidential until the teams arrive in Las Vegas.
When asked why students participate in the competition, Sarah Hermes said, “I hope to gain experience in food science because this summer I have an internship and this is a preview of the things I will be doing.”
Recently, the group gained food science experience by putting the product through a sensory test.
“For sensory analysis we make up a survey and then have people come in and try our product. They take the survey and rate the overall appearance, and if they would actually buy it. Then we gather that information and evaluate it to see what needs to be changed, what can stay the same, what they don’t like and what they do like. It gives us a good range of how people feel about the product,” said Hermes.
These students not only learn food science skills, but also important life lessons.
“Cooperation among team members is really important,” said Winnie Yeoh when asked what she has learned from this experience that she could apply to her career. “Without teamwork the whole team would fall apart.”
When the day’s experiments were wrapping up, everyone gathered over a big container of leftover macaroni and cheese. The camaraderie between the members was like a family sitting down for dinner.
“Yeah, we just work well together. Nobody has a special role. This is a pretty good team this year because, according to our leader, everyone is really ready to work,” said Yeoh.
The competition will take place at the IFT Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Las Vegas from June 25th-28th. To find more information, go to IFT.org.
