Contact: Sammy McDavid
The award-winning MSU Dairy Products Judging Team includes (seated, l-r)
Michael Tynes, Carrie Swoope, Cheryl Hickman, Lorena Albuja, Mary Edith King, (standing, l-r) Charles White, Justin Larsen, Eric Steer, Neil Bogart, and Julie Wilson. White and Wilson are team coaches.
Mississippi State's dairy products judging team continues its winning ways.
In recent competition at the International Collegiate Dairy Products Judging Contest in Chicago, the university student group finished second overall to a team from the California State Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo.
MSU senior Carrie L. Swoope of Ocean Springs took the individual first place honor--Best Taster in the Land Award--among representatives from 17 U.S. and Canadian schools. She achieved the highest ranking by finishing first in the category of cottage cheese, second in yogurt, fourth in milk, and seventh in vanilla ice cream.
Charles White, the team's senior coach, said participants are required to evaluate six different types of products. In addition to the four in which Swoope scored, judging categories included butter, Cheddar cheese and strawberry yogurt.
"There are eight samples of each type," explained White, head of MSU's food science and technology department. "In a typical contest, approximately four-and-a-half hours are needed to make more than 400 independent decisions."
MSU, which has a lengthy history at the top of the annual competition, now has finished in second place for three consecutive years. The team won the national championship in 1999--an achievement recorded in a major Wall Street Journal feature story about the highly competitive collegiate event.
"Winners are determined on the basis of written evaluations that most closely compare to those of official industry judges who earlier evaluated the samples," said Julie Wilson, a departmental research associate. Wilson, along with professor Patti Coggins, assists White with coaching duties.
Wilson said awards are presented in each of the eight categories, with a concluding award recognizing the best overall performances. Honors are presented at the undergraduate (bachelor's degree) and graduate (master's) levels, she added.
Other MSU winners included Cheryl A. Hickman of Gainesville, Fla., who was seventh in the all-products category, third in yogurt and fifth in both Cheddar cheese and butter; and Michael L. Tynes of Liberty, who was fourth in ice cream. Both are seniors.
In graduate-level judging, Lorena Albuja of Columbus was the second-place overall winner. She is a master's degree student from Ecuador.
White and Wilson agreed that, like members in past years, the 2003 team can look forward to successful careers in the food industry. "These students will be in demand because they've proven that they know if a product is 'good' or 'bad,'" White observed.
Four alternates in this year's competition will be eligible to compete next year. They include juniors Neil A. Bogart of Detroit, Mich., Eric L. Steer of Cottage Grove, Tenn., and sophomores Mary Edith King of Carriere and Justin Larsen of Decatur, Ala.
LOCAL EDITORS:
Swoope is the daughter of Burton Swoope and Bettye Swoope; Hickman is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hickman; Tynes is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Tynes.
King is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward King; Steer is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Steer; and Larsen is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Larsen.
Information on the parents of Lorena Albuja and Neil Bogart is not given.