Tim Grady, a senior at UW-Madison and 2007 graduate of Muskego High School, says there’s a big difference between introductory chemistry, which he took in high school, and organic chemistry, which is part of his studies in food science. And Grady is proving he has a handle on the subject, as he recently took third place in the International Food Technologists research and development competition in New Orleans.
“Our product was Blissful Bites,” Grady said, of the new food product he and nine other UW-Madison students developed, created and presented. “It’s elegant yogurt truffles on the go. Dehydrated yogurt center covered in a compound yogurt coating, rolled in a custom granola.”
The competition entailed university teams developing a novel product.
“Essentially, you submit a five-page proposal which highlights your basic target market, your process of production, and general concepts for the product,” said Grady, who plans a career in food product development. From that first proposal round of more than 20 entrants, six finalist teams were picked to present at the IFT annual meeting, and a requirement was to submit a 22-page proposal in May.
“That was an in-depth look at the individual steps for processing the economics of production, target market and branding, and problem solving,” he said.
Grady is currently interning at Seneca Foods in Ripon as a quality control intern.
“It’s checking that all your standards are in order, testing products, filling out paperwork, and then filling out paperwork that you filled out paperwork,” said Grady. “From a day to day perspective, it’s not the life of a rock star, but it’s very interesting.”
Problem solving is what Grady finds most engaging, he said, adding that UW-Madison is known for its technical problem solving in food science. During the team’s product development, they had a chance to apply their studies.
“During our shelf study, we found that our water level was rising over time,” he said. “Physics would dictate that you can’t have water going up the gradient from the inside to the outside…we finally found that we had lactose crystallizing to raise the water activity of the center.”
Elements of the competition included verbal presentation, Q&A, a marketing poster, and the taste test. Grady’s team dehydrated yogurt before they left for New Orleans, and then once at the competition site, they did the rest of the preparation in the locale’s kitchen.
“(Tasting) was a closed session with the judges,” Grady said. “They tasted it to look at its general appeal, and compared the resulting product to the product claims that we made.”
Though he’s not sure what the team is awarded for their third place finish, he said their work will be featured in IFT’s magazine and that he hopes the distinction will help him in a career search. Grady also works at the Babcock Dairy Store on the UW-Madison campus and said he didn’t really plan on majoring in food science but has found his niche.
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