Food Science

Emeritus Professor Owen Fennema and his wife Elizabeth were featured in CampaignOnCampus publication (December 2005 issue) of the UW Foundation. The Fennemas have initiated a $700,000 estate gift to establish the Fennema Endowment. The gift will support scholarship and research for new faculty hires and/or existing faculty. The endowment will support both the department of Food Science and the School of Education on a rotating basis.

Over 30 Food Science students from Verona High School visited Babcock Hall on December 6th. Beth Button, Lee Jensen, Bill Klein and Jim Steele and various tour guides exposed them to various food science aspects including food processing, the UW dairy plant, sensory properties, and they also had the opportunity to visit some research and teaching labs.

Ed Santos passed away after a long battle with cancer. Ed was employed in the Dairy Plant since February 2003 and was on medical leave since March of this year. A card along with a memorial gift was presented to his family. Before joining the Dairy Plant crew, Ed spent many years working as a baker. On several occasions he provided beautifully decorated and delicious cakes to help celebrate co-workers birthdays and holidays. In the Dairy Plant he worked on the new milk packaging line and often told his supervisor how much he enjoyed working here. He had a great sense of humor and was friendly to everyone.

The Food Science Club organized a Thanksgiving Potluck party on November 10 in room 111 Babcock Hall. There was turkey as well as plenty of other dishes.

Noland Johnson joined the Department in the position of Financial Specialist. His duties will include various dairy plant operations and other financial transactions.

A representative from the Safety Department conducted an on-site Chemical Safety Training here in Babcock Hall on Tuesday, November 8th in Room 119. Chemical Safety Training is mandatory for any students working in labs.

The Annual Beer and Pizza tasting social was held on Thursday October 27th . There was plenty of pizza from various Madison restaurants to sample and of course beer too!

A seminar was given by Dr. Joseph Kanner, Dept. of Food Science, ARO, the Volcani Center entitled “Lipid Peroxidation Inhibited by Dietary Antioxidants in Simulated and Human Gastric Fluid: Implication on Health.” The seminar was on October 12.

A seminar was presented by Barbara Meurer-Grimes, Program Director, Australian Cheese Technology Program, Dairy Australia. The seminar was entitled “The Australian Cheese Technology Program: Overview of the organizational structure of the ACTP and The Australian Dairy Industry.” The seminar was on September 28 and was part of a visit by representatives of the Australian Cheese research organization to the UW-Madison.

An ice cream social was held on September 15 to honor the IFT award recipients, i.e. Product Development Team, Rich Hartel (Fellow), and the graduate student paper/poster competition achievements of Anupama Dattatreya and Brad Bolling.

Congratulations to the Food Science Product Development team who won the IFT 2005 Food Product Development Competition at the annual IFT meeting in New Orleans, Cornell were second and Chapman University came in third. This is the third win for UW-Madison in the past 5 years, i.e. 2001, 2003 and now 2005. The product was Healthy sTarts, which is a hand-held, bowl-shaped crust of blended grains filled with a creamy strawberry yogurt spread topped with strawberries and blueberries. It can be stored in a freezer and quickly thawed in a microwave for use. Team members include: Rachel Ann Prososki (chair), Brad Bolling, Carla Ryadi, Corinne Otte, Dawn Preston, Devi Wijaya, Jamie Jordan, Laura Folts, Leah Anderson, Kristen Blaschek, Peter Weber, and Sivaraj Kaliappan. Another innovative product from our students that have now won more than seven national competitions (IFT product development, College Bowl, NASA food product development and Almond Innovations) over the past 5-6 years. For the sixth time in eight years, a team representing UW-Madison competed in the finals of the IFT Product Development Competition. Their achievements are a clear demonstration that the Food Science program at UW-Madison is one of the top programs in the country.

At the IFT meeting Anupama Dattatreya got first prize in the Manfred Kroger Competition for the best poster in dairy foods division. Brad Bolling won 3rd place in the graduate poster competition of the Food Chemistry Division at IFT among 81 entrants. Congratulations to both of them on their excellent performances. Rich Hartel was also made an IFT Fellow at the meeting.

At the annual ADSA meeting in Cincinnati Chinthu Udayarajan won the 2005 ADSA Graduate Student Paper Competition at the meeting here in Cincinnati. This is our second year in a row to win this competition. John Lucey was awarded the DSM Food Specialties award for research on cheese and cultured products at this meeting.

Graduate student Brad Bolling was named an honored student for 2004-2005 by American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) as special recognition of academic studies and research. Brad was featured in the July edition of the Inform magazine published by AOCS. In the article Brad's other talents as a comic strip artist were highlighted. Brad also received the Health and Nutrition Division student excellence award at the AOCS meeting in May.

The 43rd annual "Resident Course in Confectionary Technology" (also called the Candy class) is on this month and was featured in a press release by the university. The course is organized by the National Confectioners Association and run by a host of experts including Rich Hartel.

Recent research by John Lucey's group on cheese texture was featured in a CALS news press release entitled "Making a Better Cheddar: controlling calcium salt, not acidity, may be key to improving cheese texture and flavor". The story focused on recent work that showed that chemical changes in the state of calcium in cheese have a major impact on cheese texture properties such as melt and stretch.

The Cheese Grading Short Course was featured in a CALS news press release. This is an intensive two-day course covering the principles and practices involved in grading natural cheeses. Instructors include scientists and specialists from industry, the UW-Madison, USDA, and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The course coordinator is Scott Rankin.

Congratulations to Rich Hartel as Dean Aberle has informed us that the Selection Committee for the Winder-Bascom Professor of Food Science has recommended that he be awarded the Professorship for the next 5 years. The late Professor Winder provided some of the funds for this named chair. The Department also congratulates Professor Damodaran, the previous holder of the chair, for his outstanding contributions over the past 5 years.

Congratulations to Rich Hartel who received the Timothy L. Mounts award at the 2005 annual American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) meeting. This award recognizes research accomplishments related to the science or applications of edible oils or derivatives in food products. Rich gave an award address at the meeting entitled "surface phenomena related to crystals at the interface of a fat globule."

A seminar was presented by Christine Magala-Nyago on May 16. Christine is a visiting scholar in Dr. Robin Connelly's lab from Makerere University (Uganda). The seminar was entitled "Effect of malting and extrusion on the viscosity and antinutritional factors of finger millet (Eleucine coracana) based weaning foods and growth of rats."

The Annual FS Food and Wine Social for faculty, staff and students was held on Tuesday, April 19th.

The Food science department was featured in an American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) newsletter article written by Brad Bolling. Graduate student Andrea Cisneros is the editor of this AOCS student common interest group newsletter.

Molly Fischer Bjork received the Food Science Club Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award at the Club’s annual wine and cheese social on April 19. The club began presenting the award in 1998. Molly is the first administrative employee in the Department to receive the award. Students felt that Molly “...is always available, ready and willing to (direct students and answer questions)... She deserves to be recognized for her efforts.” Congratulations Molly!

An International Potluck for faculty, staff and students was held on Thursday March 31. The potluck was organized by the FS club to experience ethic dishes from around the world.

Rich Hartel has been selected as an IFT Fellow in 2005. His fellow status will be announced at the IFT Annual Meeting in New Orleans in July. We congratulate Rich on his selection as an IFT Fellow and thank him for his outstanding contributions to the field of food technology.

The Product Development Team has qualified as one of the final six teams to compete in the National IFT Contest in New Orleans in July. They have qualified with their new product, Healthy sTarts. We congratulate the team on this accomplishment and wish them continued success at the National IFT contest. Team members include: Rachel Ann Prososki, Brad Bolling, Carla Ryadi, Corinne Otte, Dawn Preston, Devi Wijaya, Jamie Jordan, Laura Folts, Leah Anderson, Kristen Blaschek, Peter Weber, and Sivaraj Kaliappan.

Dr. Ross Holland of Fonterra Research (formerly the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute), New Zealand visited the department on February 7th and gave a seminar entitled Fonterra's Strategic Research Plan and Esterases and Cheese Flavor.

The Annual Chocolate Social for food science students, faculty and staff was held on February 17th.

The annual Babcock Associates meeting was held on February 24-25th. The technology exchange portion of this year's meeting focused on electronic delivery of educational material.

We have just received word that the UW-Madison Food Science Club Food Product Development team has won the Grand Prize in the 3rd Annual Almond Innovations Contest sponsored by the Almond Board of California. This is the second year in a row that the UW-Madison team has won the Grand Prize in the contest. This year's entry is a snack treat consisting of a mini-waffle cone with an almond filling that is called "Cone-coxion". The team will now be invited to display their winning entry at the 2005 Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting in New Orleans in July.

We congratulate Rachel Prososki and her team on this outstanding accomplishment and wish them an exciting time in New Orleans.

Master cheese maker Gary Grossen started work in the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant on January 3. Gary is one of only 42 master cheese makers in the United States. To become a master cheese maker one must be a licensed cheese maker for at least ten years and must have been making the cheese for which they seek certification for at least five years. Additional course work and a three year apprenticeship are also required. Gary is a master cheese maker of Brick and Muenster cheeses. In addition to Brick and Muenster, he will make Cheddar, Swiss, Gouda, Dutch Kase, Havarti, and Juustoleipa cheese for sale in the Babcock Hall Dairy Store and for our holiday gift boxes. The Dairy Plant, the Center for Dairy Research, and the Department of Food Science staff welcome Gary and offer support as he carries on the tradition of making high-quality cheese in Babcock Hall Dairy Plant.

The important leadership role that the Department of Food Science has played in the leading food science organization, the Institute of Food Technology (IFT) was highlighted in a recent survey. When ranking which educational institutions had produced the most presidents of IFT, UW-Madison Department of Food Science was the clear leader. The UW-Madison Food Science department was also the clear leader in the other category, which was related to the leading sources of education and employment of IFT presidents.