BYU undergraduate food science students win the $10,000 grand prize at the 2022 Idaho Milk Processor's Association Conference for their dairy product, "Cream Cheese clouds."
A group of BYU undergraduate students majoring in food science recently won the $10,000 grand prize at the 2022 Idaho Milk Processor’s Association Conference in the Intercollegiate Dairy Product Development Contest. This marks BYU’s eighth grand prize win since 2008.
The winning dairy product was a cream cheese-based frozen bakery product containing 67 percent dairy. Named “Cream Cheese Clouds,” the gluten-free snack is par-baked, individually frozen, and sold in a recyclable baking tray. Customers can simply pop the tray in the oven for twenty minutes to prepare.
Six undergraduate and graduate students, along with two additional students presenting remotely, represented the university in Sun Valley, ID. Food science professors Mike Dunn and Laura Jefferies served as the team’s advisors.
“The annual . . . competition is truly an outstanding opportunity for our students to gain experience with dairy products and to network with people in the dairy industry,” Dunn says. “I’m always blown away by what they do every year!”
Through this unique learning experience, students see firsthand the research and development process behind bringing a product to market.
The competition involved a written product report, an oral presentation before a large audience at the IMPA annual meeting, a formal presentation of the product to a panel of ten judges, and a poster presentation.